I-Corps: Opportunities for Creativity and Expression: Chromat-O-Art

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed product in this proposal promotes education through hands-on activities. Allowing people to use their imagination while learning about science creates an experience of fun and learning while simultaneously producing custom-made gifts. Hands-on activities such as this proposed kit provide real-world examples of chemical processes spurring Creative Explorers' interest and provoking a more personal connection to science. Exploration provides a motivational connection in a highly personal and individual fashion. And exploration teaches innovation. In this proposal, the proposed product "Chromat-O-Art" promotes creative expression using science to create art. Many of today's toys are battery-required; they often include some kind of electronic wizardry in a plastic shape that seem to 'play on their own' with sound and flashing lights. All that thinking, all that problem-solving has been done by someone else, not the youngster who has been given the toy. Children need the chance to create, to imagine how they might make something better. Thinking independently and learning to be creative take practice; they do not just happen automatically. Chromat-O-Art involves a process by which the user splays and disperses colored dyes onto and within a surface to develop a crude chromatogram. The user is then challenged to prepare cutouts by which to assemble colorful shapes onto a greeting card, or to prepare simple jewelry, or artistic design.