The Visual Art of HIV / AIDS : An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching About HIV / AIDS

Undergraduate education is shifting from fragmented subject areas to unified disciplines. To add to the growing interdisciplinary awareness, we are suggesting an approach to teaching the biology of HIV/AIDS by using the visual art that relates to this pandemic. Our reasons for formulating an alternative biology curriculum are: (1) to address different learning styles, thereby increasing the students’ understanding of the material; and (2) to affirm the interconnections between biology and art, and to stimulate creativity among students. We detail how pieces of art can be used to initiate discussions about biological/medical consequences of HIV/AIDS, history of the epidemic in the US, and the emotional ramifications of this disease. By describing this integrative curriculum, we provide a means of uniting intellectual boxes which academia traditionally separates.

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