From: Peter.Macinnis@p0.f508.n711.z3.fidonet.org (Peter Macinnis)
Newsgroups: k12.ed.science
Subject: Aussie at home
Date: Sat, 03 Oct 92 17:45:00 PST
Organization: FidoNet node 3:711/508.0 - The Bay, Neutral Bay NSW

Laura,
LF>doing sound pretty interesting, but Roger wouldn't go into detail about your
LF>side of things.  He said that he'd let you speak for yourself.
As I said in an earlier note, he knew better than to try -- now for some
info/opinion.

LF>University will accept our curriculum.  The idea of integrated
LF> science disciplines is a new one in the USA.
Not so here.  My 1950s high school science course was "combined phys.
chem." for 3 years, then I took up separate physics and chemistry.  A
few years later, the junior high school years were stretched to four,
and all of the sciences were integrated (i.e., phys, chem, bio and
geo, all written into the same curriculum: even now, people still tend
to do bursts of the separate disciplines, but attempts ARE made from
time to time to integrate the courses, with people teaching units suchh
as "marine studies" for a term or more.

LF>and high school.  We use themes to weave the content together.  For example,
LF>we may teach the biology of plants and include the chemistry of photsynthesi
LF>the physics of fluid dynamics, and the geology of minerals in soil.  It is
We talked about that in the mid-70s, but nobody ever worked out how to
get promoted by doing it, and so it died.  My wife teaches in a Catholic
girls' school, where they go further than most in integration of the
sciences, and where they even have "vertical semesters", where kids in
Years 8-10 (Grades 8-10 in your parlance) can be plugged into a course.
This sort of idealism takes a great deal of work to make it happen.

LF>the way, how many channels do you get in Sydney? When I lived in Kuranda, we
LF>only got four!) and I am doing work for the American Petroleum Institute.
We have three commercial, one national (they only advertise themselves)
and SBS which is the Special Broadcasting Service, which accepts
sponsorship, and which transmits mainly in "community languages".  Funny
how much French and German stuff we get, seeing how few native speakers
of these languages there are, and how many of the arty-crafty push speak
one or the other!

LF>How I got to Australia in the first place--my family is from Kohimaramar nea
LF>Auckland.  I then got involved with research teams.  As a teacher I try to
Kia ora!  They even have occasional stuff in Maori.

LF>done and my students catch it.  The only problem is after living in Australi
LF>I want to go back and back and back.  If the Immigration Laws ever
LF>change...watch out!!!   Good chatting with you again!
If you get here, try to visit  the Australian Museum.  I work there as a
science educator, and I also do some occasional broadcasting on our ABC
(rather like the BBC but less stuffy -- and try and catch our "Science
Show" on Radio Australia -- I know it reaches the US&A <Pogo lives!>
'cos I had a letter from a man in Houston who heard me talking about
statistics. I also write on science issues, mainly at the school level,
because at heart I am a teacher, but working in a museum also means
things like writing exhibition text for everybody.
I'm also heavily involved with the Museum's friends organisation, TAMS,
the Australian Museum Society, which reaches out more widely in
conveying the Museum's message.  One scheme which I have in the planning
stages may interest you: there is a young girl who just collected first
class honours at Sydney University in Anthropology for her work in
excavating a site where there are human tools, and ALSO Diprotodon
bones.  The Diprotodon was a giant wombat, rather larger than a cow,
long (~10 000 years) extinct, and there is fierce debate about whether
they were killed by humans or by climatic change.

(We are well aware of the publicised megafauna kill sites in the
Americas, but less sure of the role played by our indigenous people in
wiping out the megafauna.  We now realise that they influenced the
environmnet by their use of fire, and so may have indirectly killed off
the bigger beasties.  Then again, they probably gave each other a fair
old work-over: we have a delightful display showing a giant goanna,
Megalania -- a 20 foot version of the Komodo dragon, tucking into a
Diprotodon, with guts going in all directions.  One day I will succeed
in getting this moved to the Museum's restaurant entrance <big dark
grin>.)

Back to our megafauna: I hope to organise a trip out to her site for
members -- I'll be the chief cook and bottle washer, they'll do some
basic work, sleep in shearer's quarters, and learn a great deal while
contributing several thousand dollars to the youngster's research funds.
May never happen, but then again, it may be a whole new departure for
you, if you can tag along -- I'll keep you posted.

I say it may never happen because I will probably be too busy making
Sydney's first Festival of Science happen in October 1993.  It won'y be
officially announced for a couple of weeks yet, but it looks as though
we'll be going ahead with one, based on the Edinburgh Festival of
Science.  I'll keep this board posted on the details in general, but I'm
basically over the moon -- I've been working yowards this for three
years now, and suddenly, all doors are open before me!  Still, it WILL
cramp my style so far as other schemes are concerned . . .
Hooroo peter

 # SLMR 2.1 # Equal time for 4-legged insects (Leviticus 11:22-23)



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