Here's what's in the course

    1. Intro and Overview of Floral Spirals - ART, SCIENCE, MATH & CODE

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Personal Introduction from Chris and Kathy: What Makes Floral Spirals Beautiful?

    3. ART - Prepare for Sunflower Art Lesson - How to import spiral image into Kleki

    4. ART - Use Kleki to paint sunflower with a spiral at its center

    5. How to sign up with Scratch (free)

    6. CODE - Coding floral spirals in Scratch

    7. CODE - Brief note on stopping the spirals in Scratch

    8. CODE - Spiral turn angles as ratios (numerator & denominator) in Scratch

    1. Brief visual overview of Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio

    2. MATH & CODE - Irrational numbers and Spirals from repulsion

    3. MATH & SCIENCE - Fibonacci numbers in golden angle spirals

    4. ART - Prepare - Easily count spirals and paint pine cones

    5. ART - Painting and counting spirals with the computer

    6. ART - Make a pinecone spiral mobile

    1. CODE - Brief review of making spirals in Scratch

    2. CODE - Spirals in 3D (advanced)

    3. CODE - Convert our Scratch code spirals into Javascript

    4. Golden angle rose instructions

    5. Brief visual overview of golden angle rose

    6. CONCLUSION - Brief review of Golden Angle Spirals

    7. List of spiral models in Scratch

    1. Intro to Growing Fractals

    2. Beautiful Learning with Nature's Fractals

    3. ART - Frozen Fractals - Draw a frost fern in a "Scratchboard style" using Kleki

    4. SCIENCE - Compare with Frozen Fractals - Epsom salt crystallization

    5. ART - Frozen Fractals - Draw a snowflake in "scratch board style" using Kleki

    6. Folding a Hexagon Snowflake

    7. CODE - Grow a DLA fractal from center of screen in Scratch

    8. CODE - Grow a coral-like fractal in Scratch

    9. CODE - Translate coral growing from Scratch into Javascript

    10. Links to Scratch models of fractals

    1. Intro to Modeling Ecological Balance & Tipping

    2. CODE - Simple code for a rock-paper-scissors ecology in Scratch

    3. CODE - Rock-paper-scissors ecosystems in Scratch (with some surprising results)

    4. ART - Grazers & Hunters - How to use a computer to draw a wolf in Kleki

    5. CODE - Hunter and grazers, a NetLogo predator-prey model

    6. LINKS to Scratch ecosystem models, and a NetLogo Elk-Wolves Predator Prey Model

    7. ART - Coral Branching in Underwater scene - Computer Drawing in Kleki

    8. ART & CODE - Coral Branching like a Fractal Tree in SCRATCH

    9. Draw an Underwater Scene with Kelp, Sand Dollars, and Starfish in Kleki

    10. INSTRUCTIONS - Colored Pencil Drawing of an Underwater Scene

    11. DOWNLOAD - Drawing sheet for Colored Pencil Drawing of Underwater Scene with Kelp

    12. ART - Monkey See, Monkey Do - Draw a Monkey with a computer in Kleki

    13. ART APPRECIATION - Ecology at the Edge of the Meadow

    1. Introduction to deCODING bird patterns and rhythms

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. ART - Draw a woodpecker with computer drawing software (Kleki)

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. DOWNLOAD - Woodpecker sketch for computer drawing (Kleki)

    4. ART - Draw a woodpecker on a real drum

    5. CODE TIP - How to sign up in Scratch

    6. CODE - Woodpecker drumming rhythms and animations in Scratch

      FREE PREVIEW

    7. ART - Deep Looking at nature to draw a Blue Jay using a computer (Kleki)

    8. ART - Cardinal Pair computer drawing (Kleki)

    9. CODE - Model lovebird rainbow colors in Scratch

    10. CODE - Color cardinals - Modeling color change with sine function

    11. CODE - Model flocking birds in Scratch

    12. CODE - Modeling flapping wings in Scratch

    13. Using Blender and Scratch to turn chicken to gold - 19 minutes

    14. CODE - LINKS to Scratch models

    15. Download Blender and get started - 20 minutes

About this course

  • $199.99
  • 108 lessons
  • 11.5 hours of video content

Instructor(s)

Instructor Dr. Christopher Keane

Dr. Christopher Keane, MPH, ScD. is enjoying the world anew through the eyes of his 9-year-old daughter. He composes music, plays violin and piano. He enjoys looking deeply into patterns of nature, studying the underlying rules and hypnotic repetitions, and representing these patterns with code and graphic design. He practices deep awareness meditation, both in nature and in quiet solitude. He has published in over 30 prestigious peer-reviewed journals on a variety of topics relating to collective dynamics and social behavior and has published a textbook on these topics. He has many years of experience teaching, conducting research, and creating computational models of social-ecological dynamics. He applies his experience to code, models, games, graphic arts, and books, which he creates with his wife Kathy. With his wife KJ Keane, he co-created Beautiful Discovery, monthly lessons that spark passion-based learning with beautiful science and art.       

Instructor Dr. K.J. Keane

K.J. Keane has a B.S. in Art Education (grades K-12) and a PhD in Art History. She has taught students at the elementary, high school, and university levels. She has also taught adults art (drawing and painting) outside of an academic setting. She is co-creator of the Beautiful Discovery approach to learning STEM topics. This passion-driven learning approach mirrors her own interests in the arts, natural science, and complex design. These are the classes K.J. wished she had as a youth. Keane is inspired by her young daughter's joy and awe of discovering her world through the beauty of nature's patterns. K.J. Keane is fascinated with patterns found in nature—the veins of leaves, the spiral of fiddlehead ferns, a lone Blue Jay feather. Her current painting series takes bird feathers in extreme closeup, a “bug’s eye view,” and transforms them into bold abstractions. This challenges viewers to reconsider the common place. Nature, while possessing a simple elegance, can evoke profound awe. This awe and passion serve as the driving force for Beautiful Discovery.