Life in the Universe - An Exciting Vehicle for Teaching Integrated Science

该项目建议为教师编写六本指南(小学和中学年级各三本)。每个指南将包含大约10个实践科学活动，适合10至12周的学习。这些活动将展示许多科学和一些非科学学科，它们由一个研究学科自然地联系在一起，SETI--“寻找外星智能”--利用了所有这些学科。每本指南中的活动将被安排成从观察地球、太阳系和宇宙开始，然后研究关于地球上生命的问题。这一部分以关于宇宙其他地方存在生命的可能性的问题和富有想象力的构造结束。在这样做的过程中，他们将展示生物学、地球科学、物理科学和其他标准课堂上教授的科学，从一个新的角度探讨它们对其他地方生命存在的可能影响。他们还将以SETI/宇宙生命联系所规定的自然方式，将科学与一些非科学学科，如艺术、历史和社会科学相结合。这些活动将强调实践学习，以及学习是如何获得的，以及以一种既能培养沟通技能又能培养批判性思维的方式学习的主题。我们预计，年轻学生对SETI的巨大兴趣，以及它所规定的学科的自然整合，将提升学生的科学技能，并保持他们在科学领域寻求职业的兴趣。

This project proposes to develop six Guides for teachers (three each for elementary and middle-school grades). Each Guide will contain about ten hands-on science activities suitable for from ten to twelve weeks of study. The activities will present many sciences and some non-science disciplines that are naturally linked and integrated by a research discipline that uses all of them, SETI--"Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence". The activities in each Guide will be organized to begin with a look at the Earth, solar system, and universe, then examine questions about life on Earth. This segments ends with questions and imaginative constructs on the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. In so doing, they will present biology, Earth science, physical science, and other standard classroom taught sciences from a fresh perspective of their possible bearing on the existence of life elsewhere. They will also integrate the sciences with some non-scientific subjects, such as art, history, and social sciences, in a natural manner specified by the SETI/LIFE-IN-THE-UNIVERSE connection. The activities will emphasize hands-on learning and how learning is acquired, as well as subject matter, in a way that develops both communication skills and critical thinking. We expect that the great interest to young students in SETI, with the natural integration of subjects that it mandates, will upgrade students skills in the sciences and sustain their interest in seeking careers in science.