Expressive cognition as a relationship experience of art and science in pre-university education

Abstract

Visual epistemology studies images that are vehicles of knowledge in both art and science. However, there is also plastic thought and knowledge that is meant through diverse objects which we can enjoy and experience in science and art exhibitions and museums that is carried out in both scientific and artistic contexts. From a comprehensive descriptive methodology, our journey through expressive (visual and plastic) cognition identifies the possibilities that govern this way of knowing and thinking through images and objects in which the “episteme” is produced or what Jean Piaget identified as “cognitive representation”, and that we can find in both art and science. Based on the analysis of images and objects, we can deduce that there are practices and projects whose actions articulate cognition and expression, connecting scientific understanding and practices inherent to the processes of artistic creation. Based on theoretical and visual revision, it means the opportunity to introduce learning spaces that are both cognitive and expressive at the same time in the pre-university educational context. These educational actions will allow learners to progressively become aware that creating images and objects from an expressive cognition process can lead to a better understanding of phenomena as complex as relativity, neurons and DNA as well as abstract concepts such as the dimension of time.