Science Leadership Institute IV – Drepung

Science Leadership Institute – IV

The fourth meeting of the Science Leadership Institute at Drepung Monastery in India was a great success as result of lots of hard work and planning of the Science Department at LTWA, the excellent team of teachers assembled, and the dedication and focus of the monks – the true trailblazers in this adventure to introduce science education to the Tibetan monastic institutions.

During the two week intensive course, the monks conducted four strands of work that allowed them to: (1) assemble and test lessons in neuroscience and cosmology, (2) conduct inquiry and hands-on activities, (3) develop science leadership and writing skills, and (4) share science to the local monastic community through an exhibition and dialogue.

Venue:

Originally established in the 1400’s in Tibet, Drepung Monastery has continued in exile, in South India on land in Karnataka leased to the Tibetan community. The re-established monastery in Mundgod, houses over 5,000 monks, within the two colleges of Loseling and Gomang.

Instructors:

Richard Sterling is the Executive Director Emeritus of the National Writing Project (NWP) and currently Interim Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Graduate School of Education. Since 2003, he has served as chair of the Advisory Panel to the College Board’s National Commission on Writing. Formerly he was the founder and director of the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, an Organized Research Unit at the City University of New York, and a member of the faculty at Lehman College. He was also founder and director of the New York City Writing Project and the New York City Mathematics Project, both of which are housed within the Institute for Literacy Studies.

Stephanie Norby is the director of the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies. As the director of SCEMS, she oversees pan-institutional educational initiatives including publications, websites, events, and partnerships. Previously she was director of curriculum, professional development and assessment in the Kansas City, Missouri School District. She received her bachelor of science degree from the University of California at Davis and a master’s of history degree at the University of Missouri. She also attended graduate school at the University of California Long Beach in education at the University of Kansas in museum studies.

David Presti is a neuroscientist at the University of California in Berkeley, where he has taught in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology for nearly twenty years. For many years he also worked as a clinical psychologist in the treatment of addiction and of post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco, where he treated thousands of individuals for these conditions. His areas of expertise include the chemistry of the human nervous system, the effects of drugs on the brain and the mind, and the treatment of addiction..

Linda Shore is the director of the Teacher Institute at the San Francisco Exploratorium. She has co-authored The Science Explorer, a series of Exploratorium activity books for children and their parents. When not at the museum, she teaches graduate courses in educational technology at the University of San Francisco and writes science fiction short stories.

David Barker is a Senior Designer and Art Director of Exploratorium Institutional Media. Having studied physics at the University of California at San Diego, David turned an interest in the relationship between science and perception into a studio art degree from UC Santa Barbara. At the Exploratorium, he has created exhibits exploring visual perception and illusions. He also works with Exploratorium Exhibit Services to help other museums across the country and around the world with their exhibition conception and design and with the development of marketing materials.