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Leonardo da Vinci as a model for a holistic education
Leonardo was a painter, architect, inventor and scientist, crossing many disciplines to achieve a true, holistic education.
According to History.com, “his natural genius crossed so many disciplines that he epitomised the term ‘Renaissance man’” and is often described as a role model for holistic, trans-disciplinary education. Why then, in the majority of education systems throughout the world, do we begin to tag, classify and divide students according to whether they should study scientific or humanity-based subjects, rather than encourage true, multidisciplinary and holistic education?
Education systems, especially at early ages, should aim to foment cross disciplinary approaches. An example of this is STEAM, where science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics are combined with the use of languages so that students can express their creativity and solve problems. The original STEAM activities were introduced by the National Science Foundation (NSF) around 2001, more than 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci.
Notice that I included the A for “Art” in STEAM, which modified the original term of STEM, most commonly used in today’s educational systems. The “A” implies and introduces artistic creativity in this…
