

In June 2025 I took a course through Idaho State University’s “Moodle ISU Community” (ISU affiliated courses that include users from outside of ISU) that sought to instruct educators on means of incorporating science in their art classes and/or art in their science classes. The course was titled The Art of Science: Methods for Scientific Drawing in Public Education. While the course was a bit basic, I enjoyed it and it helped me reflect on how I could integrate art into my classes.

These courses are part of the ISU Albion Center for Professional Development. These courses are online and self-paced. When I signed up in June 2025, I received a $200 credit just for registering…so my first course was entirely free.
Links to a collection of links from the course
I’m recording links from the course that I think might be useful to others. There are many more resources if you take the course. The course includes units on ‘plants and bugs,’ ‘birds and fish,’ and general techniques and the history of scientific illustrations; I have included the units I’m most interested below.
Earth Science
- Geology and the Scientific Method (National Parks Service).
- Putting Rocks on Paper: The Art of Geological Illustrations (Scottish Geology Trust, video on YouTube).
- Palaeoart: The history of bringing dinosaurs back to life (Natural History Museum, London, UK).
- Creating the Mural – Rudolph Zallinger’s masterpiece, “The Age of Reptiles” (Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, video on YouTube).
- Modeling Our Climate (2013, SciToons YouTube video).
- Drawings as a Tool for Understanding Geology in the Environment (2014, Pena and Gil-Quilez, University of Zaragosa).
- Flipping a Geology Class (2015, Geoscience Videos, YouTube video).
- The Painting that Inspired a National Park (2020, Smarthistory, YouTube video).
- How to Draw Dinos for a Living (2018, Science Friday).
Astronomy
- The History of Astronomical Illustration: Q&A with Lois Rosson (2021, UC Berkeley Social Science Matrix).
- The First Photograph of the Earth from Space: Why was a 1950 Prediction so Prescient? (2023, Emyln Koster, PhD, Museum of Science [Boston] website).
- Galileo and the Telescope (Library of Congress; Finding our place in the Cosmos collection).
- Recovery of Degraded-Beyond-Recognition 19th Century Daguerreotypes with Rapid High Dynamic Range Elemental X-ray Fluorescence Imaging of Mercury L Emission (2018, Madalena S. Kozachuk, Tsun-Kong Sham, Ronald R. Martin, Andrew J. Nelson, Ian Coulthard & John P. McElhone, published in Nature).
- The first Photographs of a Solar Eclipse (2017, Allison Meier, Hyperallergic).
- Solar Eclipse 101 (2018, National Geographic, YouTube video).
- Sci-Art: Visual art approach in Astronomy of teacher education students (2021, Marshall James P. Dantic, MAEd; study that included four forms of visual arts produced, painting, digital art, diorama and drawing—it’s a fairly academic paper that starts with the research techniques, but I skimmed down to the methods and results).
Microscopy
- The History of Microscopy (2021, Professor Dave Explains, YouTube video. Includes use of crystals for enlarging objects as far back as 710BCE in Nimrud, now in Iraq; I appreciate that the video doesn’t just start in 1595 with the invention of the compound microscope).
- Micrographia (The Huntington, San Marino, CA; a summary of Robert Hooke’s 1665 text, including multiple Questions and Prompts sections).
- The Development of Microscopic Imaging Technology and its Application in Micro- and Nanotechnology (2022, Frontiers in Chemistry; includes good descriptions of several microscope types, including optical, electron, scanning probe).
Color printing
- The Science of Color (Smithsonian Libraries; includes details about early color printing).
Anatomy
- Anatomy: Art and Science (2019, Science Museum, London. Good history of art in the study of anatomy).
- Kevin Petti, Ph.D. Lectures About Art and Anatomy in Italy (2016, YouTube video; short discussion of the history of anatomical drawings and wax models).
- It Takes Artists and Scientists to Understand the Human Body (2022, Monique Kornell, Getty Magazine; a look at the history of dissection for anatomical drawings).
- Reinvigorating anatomy through art (2016, TEDMED talk on YouTube; “Anatomical artist and curator Vanessa Ruiz shares how she fulfilled her dream of taking anatomy to the streets, by forging an intersection between medical illustration – and a resulting public knowledge of the human body – with contemporary art.” I enjoyed the last section on street art.).
- A Creative Way to Teach Your Students the Art of Anatomy (2018, The Art of Education University; using skeletons as models for art).
- Delving into the art (instead of science) of anatomy (2023, School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan; an instructor uses 3d printed human bones and animal bones from a butcher in as models in an art class).
Other tips
“What to do if you are unsure about using a particular image in the classroom
If you are unsure about using a specific image in your classroom, I first suggest knowing why you are using that image. Is it necessary to reach your curricular goals? If uncertain, I would seek the input of your administration and learn if the district has specific policies on such usage.”
- History Brief: The Scopes Trial (2016, Reading Through History, YouTube video; a cautionary tale as many district in the USA try to prevent teaching of evolution in the 21st century).
Course description from 2025
“This course will take you on a journey through the fascinating history of scientific illustration, where art and science intersect to create something truly powerful. By uncovering how these two fields have worked hand in hand over the centuries, you’ll walk away with practical tools to bring cross-curricular opportunities into your teaching, making learning more dynamic, engaging, and impactful for your students. This course the interdisciplinary practice of scientific illustration, using visual storytelling and inquiry to deepen engagement, foster cultural awareness, and promote environmental and social equity. The course is 100% online and you can register at any time during the year. You will have 1 calendar year to complete the course from the day you register. It will be transcribed as a Summer 2025 course. We require you to be enrolled in the course for 14 days before the course can be marked complete. We will not grade a course before this two week period has passed. Once registered and paid, you will receive an email with instructions on how to begin the course. This email may end up in your spam folder, so please check there if you do not receive it within 24 hours. This online course is open to any K-12 educator seeking PD credit. Course number: EDUC 5598P-42564”
Other resources
If you’re a teacher looking for more science education posts, I share most on my science teaching website https://scienceteaching.trampleasure.net/ (I’m posting this one here because it’s my geology focused site).