The students and teachers from the various
schools begin arriving at the reception at RAIN headquarters
shortly after 4PM-- bright, eager faces full of laughter and
exci
tement. They come
from Santa Barbara-- as well as neighboring counties-- Ventura
and San Luis Obispo, high school students who will be participating
in an amazing collaboration between scientists and the public
school system. This is going to be very cool, I think.
Previous to today's reception most of
the students have only met through the listserve and chats set
up by RAIN; today most of them will be meeting face-to-face for
the first time. The students are divided into four summit teams,
with each having the responsibility of developing a proposed
study project for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
The summit is part of the Sustained Seas Expeditions, whose aim
is to study the ocean
with unprecedented scientific rigor. The resulting data, it is
hoped, will equip environmentalists and policy makers to protect
this vital, and perhaps least understood, part of our global
ecosystem.
The goal of the summit is for students
and teachers to look at the k
inds
of baseline data collected during the expedition dives and recommend
a student research project for future Sustainable Seas Expeditions.
Later tonight each of the student groups will be presenting their
study recommendations to a panel of experts, including Ed Cassano,
the director of the Channel Islands sanctuary and Dr. Sylvia
Earle, Explorer-in-Residence for the National Geographic Society.
She is the driving force behind the SSE project. "An important role of an educator is
to foster within students the questioning attitude that is at
the heart of the explorer," Dr. Earle has said, and
these eager students seem to be perfect candidates for the upcoming
years of exploration of the Channel.
The students range in ages 14-17 and 9th through 12th grades. I am amazed by the poise they demonstrate as we video interviews with each of them. Perhaps I should not be so surprised; by choosing to be a part of the Sustained Seas explorations, these students have already displayed a remarkable degree of responsibility and leadership ability. It is a pleasure meeting them.
Very importantly to me, it also marks
a turning point in what I hope will be our fut
ure
relationship with students in the classroom. Thus far the primary
job of students has been to learn and for the teachers, to teach.
Students have not dealt with the creation of knowledge but the
understanding of things already known. The Internet offers the
opportunity for a fundamental shift in the paradigm. The ability
for shared chats, video conferencing, databasing of information
and collaborations across distance makes it possible for students
to become partners in the development and understanding of knowledge--not
facts gleaned from a textbook, but firsthand information gathered
using modern scientific methods under the guidance of trained
experts and classroom teachers.
It remains to be seen as to how we deal with these new opportunities, but for the first time, the SSE project offers these students a possibility to be part of creating the model on which future learning may be based.