There exists a schism in my thoughts on the focus of writing in Biology. Scientific writing squeezes creativity out of a writer, creating a robotic writing style that echoes every thought of a researcher’s predecessors. Creativity is still a necessary trait in a scientist, but a scientist’s focus is on creating unique experimental designs instead of unique works of written art. The purpose of scientific writing is to transfer information to the reader as clearly as possible, so the writing style requires a straight forward, clear, and concise voice to achieve the article’s goal. Yet a masterfully written creative piece is a form of artistic expression many individuals need for stress relief. In teaching students only how to write scientifically, are we robbing them of one of humanity’s most fulfilling past times?
The schism in my mind comes from my passion for the hobbies I choose to pursue. Since childhood, my hobbies have included theater and creative writing. I’ve carried my love for theater and writing into adulthood, as I volunteer at community theaters and write in my spare time. The amount of stress relief I obtain from losing myself in the mind of another character on stage or in my writing is priceless. Creating new worlds and stories provides me with a certain ecstasy that composing a research paper never achieves. Without acting out the written word or creating stories in my spare time, I am not sure if I could handle stress as well as I do.
As a teacher, I want to create multi-faceted students able to tackle scientific writing for research journals and creative writing for stress relief. A lot of my students aspire to become researchers, but perhaps showing students the world of creative nature writing might convince them to pursue a career as a nature writer. My goal is to make my students aware of all the stress relieving methods available to them and all career pathways open to them, including the world of creative writing.
However, students cannot learn to love writing without experiencing the writing process. Many of my students claim they have not written a paper in a class for years, and I assume most tested out of composition courses and opted out of other writing-intensive subjects. My students are malleable in their style of writing, which works to my advantage in creating scaffolding for scientific writing. Yet since my students lack instruction in college writing, they only learn how to write scientifically. They need more experience in writing with creativity, instead of writing to please the editors of a scientific journal.
I noticed in my conferences with students that when we asked them to reflect on their thoughts about A Sand County Almanac, they struggled with implementing the creative writing necessary to complete the task. People usually assume the book is like a farming almanac, but Aldo Leopold examines the importance of protecting natural resources in a style like Thoreau’s Walden. Gino D’Angelo, the professor that created the assignment, impressed me with his ability to create a writing prompt that reinforced the concepts he discusses in his course while allowing students to have creative freedom in a writing assignment. Unfortunately, most of the essays I read contained summary instead of students’ own thoughts. I wondered if this could be tied to the rigorous standards of scientific writing and research. Perhaps the formula for creating professional scientists forgets to emphasize the importance of personal identity and creativity.
There is beauty in the ability to create poetry from natural observations, as art is inherent in the DNA of all living organisms. To highlight life in a unique and artistic way using language as a conduit is missing in science.
I want to implement a balance of traditional scientific writing as well as poetic nature writing in the courses I teach, as Dr. Gino D’Angelo attempts in his curriculum. Since students seem to struggle with creative writing, I plan to implement low-stakes creative writing assignments in my courses before asking students to tackle a higher-stakes creative writing assignment. There is beauty in the ability to create poetry from natural observations, as art is inherent in the DNA of all living organisms. To highlight life in a unique and artistic way using language as a conduit is missing in science. If a student is able to connect to nature with the existential exploration necessary to create art, my hope is they will develop an undying passion for the preservation of the nature that inspired their creations. Instilling that passion for conservation is a major goal in teaching aspiring scientists about the preservation of natural resources. Not all minds think scientifically, and scientists alone cannot bear the burden of fostering a public endearment for nature. Artistic and scientific minds must work together to educate humanity about the importance of conservation through effective and thoughtful writing skills and subsequent publications.