The Difference between Art and Science

Team members at Everything Dinosaur encourage people to try to draw their fossil finds and discoveries.  Photographs of objects are very useful but our dinosaur and fossil experts don’t really believe you understand an object until you have observed it carefully as it is sketched.

Art and Science in Palaeontology

So what is the difference between science and art?  This is quite a difficult question and we would not want to make any value judgements between these two disciplines but the best explanation we can find goes like this:

Science differs from artistic endeavours in that there is more emphasis on evidence than undirected interpretation.  Science is at its best when it is constrained by rules and discipline, whilst art is often at its worst when the artist concerned feels constrained and restricted by rules.

Science and Art Meet at a Fossil Festival

Prehistoric animal drawing fun at the Lyme Regis fossil festival.  Art and science meet at the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Encouraging Lots of Learning Activities

For young children, we encourage lots of different learning activities involving dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.  Some are art based with lots of drawing, whilst we also conduct experiments with fossils and dinosaurs as part of our company’s dinosaur workshops in schools programme.

To view the extensive range of educational, dinosaur themed toys, crafts and models available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.