by Edna DeVore - Deputy CEO
For one week, July 7-12, an experiment in partnership between scientists and educators played out at Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, Australia. Two professional meetings were held simultaneously, with attendees from both groups mixing together for selected presentations and events. For the educators, the focus was the "Fulbright Symposium 2002: Science Education in Partnership," and for the scientists it was the IAU meeting: "Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the Stars." More than 200 leading scientists from around the world met to explore the question of life beyond Earth. Bioastronomy 2002 was a cross-disciplinary conference: astrophysicists and planet hunters rubbed elbows with molecular biologists and social scientists. All were concerned about the search for life in our solar system and beyond.
And more than 50 educators convened for the Fulbright Symposium. Most were from Australia and the USA with a few attendees from Europe. High school teachers, university education and science faculty, astronomy professors, science center and planetarium directors, and NASA education and outreach leaders came together for the Fulbright week. Many Fulbright participants valued the opportunity to both attend the science meeting and to work with educators on bringing the science to their classrooms.
On Sunday, the Fulbright kicked off with a celebrity panel featuring Harrison Schmitt, the only scientist to walk on the Moon, and Paul Davies, a leading cosmologist and widely known science communicator from Australia. SETI Institute's Seth Shostak moderated the Q & A for the onsite teachers and those linked in from science centers in Sydney and Canberra. Later in the week, the Fulbright participants spent more than an hour in conversation with Schmitt, hearing about his experiences as an astronaut and his work as a geologist. Then, not to miss the chance to catch a few rays on a sunny, down-under winter day, we walked to the beach to learn how to model the seasons kinesthetically, and see a portable radio interferometer in action. Now, tell me again, how is it winter in Australia when it's summer in California?
Most people go to a tropical island in the region of the Great Barrier Reef to work on a golden tan, snorkel around the reef in search of the incredibly colorful marine life, and soak up the beauty of the sea and sky. To be sure, that ultimately happened, but for more than 40 hours that week, the Fulbright participants literally turned their backs on the sun and surf just out of the meeting room door, and focused on interdisciplinary science education and partnerships between scientists and teachers.
The Fulbright Symposium had two themes: partnerships and interdisciplinary science. Partnerships bring together people of diverse talents and skills to create a better outcome for students than any individual might produce. We learned about teachers participating in marine biology research missions to the hydrothermal vents of the deep sea, month-long field experiences for high school students on an island in the Great Barrier Reef region, and intensive summer astronomy institutes for both teachers and students in Hawaii. These case studies offered models for innovative science education. Others shared their experiences as teacher-partners with the scientists at NASA centers and with specific NASA missions; they shared a wealth of classroom resources from these projects. The theme of the Bioastronomy conference, Life Among the Stars, was reflected in lessons presented throughout the Fulbright meeting. Activities included "Fingerprints of Life?" "Habitats for Life," "Planetary Exploration," "Project Haystack: The Search for Life in the Galaxy," and many others.
Technology has invaded the classroom, bringing a wealth of science and scientific tools to students desktops. Beyond computers and the Internet as a worldwide resource, this means using telescopes with kids. Projects from Australia, Hawaii, the US and UK all demonstrated how teachers are bringing observational astronomy directly to the classroom. We even hooked up with a telescope on Mt. Wilson via the Telescopes in Education project to do some live-time, hands-on observing. Unfortunately, while it was clear and sunny in Australia, it clouded up in California. But, the point was well made that classroom access to remote telescopes allows for nighttime observing from the other side of the planet during school hours.
The two conferences combined for several plenary events and presentations. After an aboriginal welcoming ceremony on Monday morning, Harrison Schmitt took us to the Moon and back, Nobel prize-winning scientist and NASA Astrobiology Institute director, Barry Blumberg presented his vision for astrobiology, Australian planet-hunter Chris Tinney explained how to find extrasolar planets and reviewed the more than 100 systems now known, and SETI Institute's Jill Tarter explained how and why we are looking for evidence of ET by seeking radio and optical signals. A busy morning! Subsequently, panels and plenary presentations ranged across the subject of extrasolar planets, seeking other "Earths," the key issues in exploring for life in our solar system, science education and outreach, and the controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution in the US classroom. The meeting closed with formal groups of scientists and educators discussing science teaching and working together. Interestingly, teaching evolution is controversial in many parts of the US. According to a 1999 Gallup Poll, 68% favor teaching creationism along with evolution in public schools, and 21% oppose teaching anything about evolution. In Australia, evolution is part of the required curriculum. Australian teachers were surprised by the US experiences. For all, it was a week of interchange and learning that they wish to continue.
The Fulbright Symposium 2002 will publish conference proceedings--the talks, papers, lessons, and workshops presented--electronically on a web site as well as a CD-ROM. There are also plans to write a book on science education in partnership to share the experiences and knowledge that this symposium brought together. And, the participants are already talking about exchange teaching, and meeting next time in the US to continue the dialog about teaching across disciplines and working in partnership with scientists.