The venerable University of Virginia in the eastern USA is teaching future American science teachers - and broadening their educational horizons - in the 2008 Semester at Sea Course, which takes place in the northern hemisphere's fall - probably a good time to come to dock at places like Walvis Bay in Namibia and Cape Town, South Africa. That's their route, above, on what is roughly a 100 day voyage.
While conducting experiments and learning how to make balloon-powered cars and fan belts, there's also a section where they find out how museums teach science. First stop: us, the MTN Sciencentre, in Cape Town!
Other stops include the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre in Chennai, India; Penang science centre in Malaysia, classrooms in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Shanghai aquarium, both in China.
Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? Semester at Sea has been running for nearly half a century - see http://www.semesteratsea.org
Ed Sobey, above, who will be running the course, specialises in Education and Environmental Sciences
Professor Sobey is president of the Northwest Invention Center (www.invention-center.com) to serve schools and museums with hands-on programs and exhibits, and to help inventors. and senior director of the Asian Institute for Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (www.asiainvents.com).
In these roles he develops creative learning programs and museum exhibits, and writes books on technology, inventing, and science. His academic background is diverse: first physics and math, followed by oceanography.
In addition to his academic work in peer-reviewed journals, 100 magazine articles and 21 books (some of which we show here) not to mention directing museums for nearly twenty years, Ed Sobey has also hosted tv shows such as The Idea Factory and Blow The Roof Off and received many awards for his work in community education.
Ed served as the first director of the USA's Inventors Hall of Fame and founded the American Toy Hall of Fame. Quite a cool guy, we look forward to welcoming him!
