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AAAS Biodiversity Education and Action Initiative: Forging
Collaborative Links between Science Educators, and Ethical and Religious
Community Educators and Leaders
INTERESTED? : We would like to document the interest of the informal
science education community in this project. If you would like to
learn more about the Initiative, and/or contribute a letter of support
and interest, please contact Connie Bertka, Director, AAAS Program of
Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion, [log in to unmask], by July
30, 2004.
ABOUT: The American Association for the Advancement of Science is
currently seeking funding to support the AAAS Biodiversity Education and
Action Initiative. The Initiative will address the need for
environmental education, specifically on the topic of biodiversity.
Through this effort a model for the informal science education community
to expand its reach and increase its impact with ethical and religious
communities will be explored. Values and beliefs exert a strong
influence on what an individual expresses interest in and contributes
resources towards. Ethical and religious communities play a key role in
developing and nurturing values and beliefs. These communities also
provide a social context in which many people engage in informal
learning, which often results in informed action, on a variety of
topics. The topic of biodiversity loss provides an inviting avenue
through which to explore opportunities for collaboration between
informal science educators and ethical and religious community educators
and leaders.
PARTICIPANTS: The Initiative will encourage participation from both
informal science educators who seek to forge a strategic collaboration
on the issue of biodiversity loss with educators and leaders in ethical
and religious communities, as well as the educators and leaders within
those communities. Informal biodiversity science educators from a range
of organization types are likely to benefit from this collaborative
effort in terms of the potential for their associations and institutions
to gain effective access to the public at large through ethical and
religious communities.
EVENTS and PRODUCTS: Collaboration will be encouraged through three
events. A national biodiversity symposium, designed to attract the
primary target audiences as well as to appeal to the public at large,
will be used to launch the Initiative. Subsequently, two
multidisciplinary workshops will be convened at informal science
education facilities to advance practical opportunities for
cross-education of the primary target audiences and to initiate
subsequent efforts by the participants. A website promoting the work of
the Initiative will be created and a CD-ROM and booklet will be produced
that highlights the results of the events and enhances the ability of
informal science educators to engage ethical and religious communities.
BENEFITS for PARTICIPANTS: Through participation in this Initiative,
science educators will gain an increased understanding of ethical and
religious communities concerns and perspectives on the issue of
biodiversity. By incorporating this understanding into their work,
these science educators will be able to engage these communities more
effectively on environmental issues and open up new possibilities for
communicating current science to the public at large. Likewise,
educators and leaders within the ethical and religious communities,
through their interaction with the science educators, will be better
able to present their members a scientifically informed view of
biodiversity and develop models for action. Seed money is also being
sought to support collaborative projects proposed by participants in the
workshop events. The Initiative will help forge collaborative networks
that could ultimately be exploited on other topics of interest.
Connie Bertka, Ph.D.
Program Director
Program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion
American Association for the Advancement of Science
1200 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington DC 20005
Phone: (202) 326-6618
Fax: (202) 289-4950
Email: [log in to unmask]
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