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

本项目拟制定6份教师指南（小学和初中各3份）。每个指南将包含大约10个实践科学活动，适合10到12周的学习。这些活动将展示许多科学和一些非科学学科，这些学科自然地联系在一起，并通过一个研究学科来整合，该学科使用了所有这些学科，SETI-“寻找外星智慧”。每本《指南》的活动将从地球、太阳系和宇宙开始，然后探讨有关地球上生命的问题。这部分以对宇宙中其他地方存在生命的可能性提出的问题和富有想象力的构想结束。在这样做的过程中，他们将从一个新的角度来介绍生物学、地球科学、物理科学和其他标准的课堂教学科学，这些科学可能与其他地方的生命存在有关。他们还将把科学与一些非科学学科，如艺术、历史和社会科学，以SETI/LIFE-IN-THE-UNIVERSE连接所规定的自然方式结合起来。这些活动将强调实践学习，以及如何获得学习，以及主题，以发展沟通技巧和批判性思维的方式。我们期望年轻学生对SETI的极大兴趣，以及它所要求的自然整合的学科，将提高学生在科学方面的技能，并保持他们寻求科学职业的兴趣。

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.