On the Power of Fine Arts Pictorial Imagery in Science Education

The paper describes and illustrates the potential of using pictorial artistic images in supporting teaching scientific concepts and the nature of science. In the first part, the case of Giotto’s fresco of stigmatization of St. Francis is described within the interpretation of relationship between the figures as between an object and its mirror image. Educational implications of this case study are suggested. The second part presents several pictorial images that can be used in classroom teaching of science for facilitation of hermeneutic discussion in science classes addressing the nature of scientific knowledge changed in the course of history.