The Necessity of Teaching for Aesthetic Learning Experiences in Undergraduate General Education Science

Students should have aesthetic experiences to be fully engaged in science learning at any level. A general education science instructor can foster opportunities for aesthetic educative learning experiences enabling student growth. Drawing on the work of John Dewey and expanding on others in the field, Uhrmacher identifies the characteristics of the aesthetic experience, which include, but are not limited to, connections, active engagement, sensory experience, perceptivity, risk taking, and imagination. I argue that if instructors are not attending to these aesthetic characteristics, then students are not doing (learning) science and will therefore fail to meet any valuable outcomes identified for general education science.