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NSF PR 97-24 - March 26, 1997
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Pulitzer-Prize Winning Biologist to Share Expertise,
Teaching Techniques on CD-ROM
Medal of Science Winner to Help
Create College Curriculum
Imagine the effect on scientific literacy if every
college teacher could turn at will to a Pulitzer Prize-winning
expert on biodiversity and gifted lecturer to explain
biology fundamentals to undergraduates.
This scenario is becoming a 'virtual' reality with
the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
NSF's division of undergraduate education (DUE) has
awarded a $50,000 grant to develop a CD-ROM-based
curriculum package that will give every student access
to the insights of Harvard University biologist Edward
O. Wilson. Wilson has won Pulitzers for two non-fiction
works, On Human Nature and The
Ants.
The CD-ROM, will contain video clips of Wilson as
well as teaching materials and techniques he accumulated
over many years. It will allow students "to conduct
their own investigations as if they were actually
on a field trip with him," said Herbert Levitan, who
heads NSF's undergraduate course and curriculum development
program.
Wilson's decision to involve himself in the project,
Levitan noted, fits well with NSF's strategic goal
to encourage working scientists to take an active
role in science and mathematics education. He pointed
out that few scientists are as qualified as Wilson
to undertake such a venture.
Wilson was awarded the National Medal of Science --
the nation's highest scientific honor -- in 1976 for
his work on the organization of insect societies and
the evolution of social behavior in insects and other
animals. He recently has earned international attention
for warning that the earth appears to be entering
a period of unprecedented extinction of species that
are largely human-caused.
Wilson's use of technology also is well regarded.
Among his several NSF grants over the years was one
to inventory and computerize the world-renowned beetle
collection at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology,
where he served as curator.
Wilson retired from teaching last fall. He was known
at Harvard as a skillful and beloved professor. "At
his last lecture, the students just showered him with
praise," said Susan Green, a university spokeswoman.
"He was very popular."
The CD-ROM project, said Charles Savitt, the president
of Island Press, which published Naturalist,
Wilson's autobiography, will allow thousands of students
who never will meet Wilson in person to benefit from
both his scientific knowledge and his talents as a
communicator and teacher. But just as important, he
added, it will serve as a model for incorporating
high-quality science content into a new medium that
is more versatile than a textbook.
Island Press will develop the CD-ROM as the centerpiece
of a package, called Teaching Tools for Biology.
The disk will include computer simulations, animations,
and slides. It will be designed for use in introductory
and mid-level biology courses to discuss basic concepts
such as evolution, ecology, and genetics as well as
such complex topics as biodiversity and conservation
biology.
Island Press, in partnership with Adobe Systems, Inc.,
of San Jose, Calif., one of the world's leading software
developers and a team of nationally prominent scientists
and educators, hopes to learn "how to pull pedagogy,
science content, and the new media together," said
Savitt. "And whether that new media can be used to
increase science literacy."
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