Following are, in alphabetical
order, details about the members of the BtSM2009 Community (work
in progress).
Name & Affiliation
Biographical notes + statement of
interests
Yasmina Ahmed
École Mollégès, France
My name is Yasmina Ahmed, I live in France and
I am in 5th grade. I do piano, horse riding and theatre and I
enjoy those because I learn a lot of things which are useful
to me. At school I enjoy art, and I also like maths a lot. I
don't know much about science for now, but I would like to because
it is interesting. I think science can help me understand so
many things, and when you understand what is happening around
you, you can also help people, which I think is important. While
I am in Egypt I hope I can learn a little bit about ancient Egyptians
and all the things that they knew about science.
Motaz Attalla
--, Egypt
I have been working in education development
for the past several years. I studied Economics and Philosophy
at the American University in Cairo and International Education
Policy at Harvard University. At a personal level I am finding
mainstream education development work increasingly uninteresting
and somehow not in line with the values that initially got me
interested in the field. In parallel, I have become very interested
in work around learning/education (and social engagement in general)
that functions outside the paradigms of schooling and Development.
Professionally, I am yet to fully transition out of the role
of development 'consultant' but I have set foot in directions
that I am currently very excited about. Most recently I was editor
of an experimental temporary publishing house affiliated to PhotoCairo4:
The Long Shortcut, a biannual arts festival in Cairo. I have
also been coordinating for some months a loose collective of
individuals working on traditional foods and the localizing of
food production systems in and around Cairo. I am still committed
to addressing issues in education and I hope to do so in ways
that help expand our notions around the where, how, what and
with whom of learning.
Rasha Moustafa Awad
Information and Decision Support Center,
Egypt
I'm currently working at IDSC as Economic
Expert, and Director of Policies' Monitoring and Evaluation Department,
The Egyptian Cabinet - Information and Decision Support Center
(IDSC) since 2002. I start working at IDSC since 1996. During
this period I experienced different position, the latest was
the IDSC Executive Manager during the period 2003-2007, with
focus on IDCS Decision Support's Activities. Meanwhile, I'm working
as a Lecturer Professor of Economic Development at Faculty of
Economic and Political Sciences, Cairo University.
I had my Doctorate of Philosophy Degree in
Economics from Cairo University, Faculty of Economics and Political
Sciences (May 2006). The Dissertation was titled "Analysis
of the Inter-relationship between the Real Economy and the Financial
Economy, with Application on the Egyptian Economy". In 1998,
I've got my Masters Degree in Arts of Economics on the topic
"Determinants of Investment in Capital Markets" after
completion my Bachelor of Arts in Economics (1994) from the same
Faculty.
I've participated in a lot of local and regional
scientific events. On the local level, the most resent contribution
was a working paper titled "Towards Rooting Cultural System
to Support Development Efforts in Egypt: with Focus on Consumption,
Production, and Work", which presented during the Seventh
Annual Conference on Culture and Development, Tohoti Society
for Economic Research, Alexandria, Egypt, 24-25 December 2008.
Furthermore, the most resent contribution outside Egypt was titled
"Strengthening Competition Authorities Knowledge,
Power, and Law", during the Regional Conference on Achieving
Sustainable Development in the Arab Region Through Competition
Policy, which organized by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung with The
German-Jordanian University and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of
Business, Amman, Jordan, 7-8 July 2008.
However, I have a series of working papers
in different fields, covering my most research interests, which
include: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth;
Financial Economy; International Economics; Public Economics;
Management and Performance Measurement; and Culture and Values.
On the other hand, I provieded various training and academic
activities on different Topics. Among of them: Enhancing Decision
Support Process Using Strategic Thinking and Strategic Planning
Techniques; Early Warning Systems for Socio-Economic Crises;
Improving Country's Image Abroad focusing on Monitoring the International
Reports Technique; and Capital Markets Analysis.
Regarding my main interest beside the scientific
work, it is Drawing and Painting with Oil on canvas. I contributed
in Art Exhibition on "A Sense for Art" at Al-Hanager
Art Center, Cairo during the period 21-27 June 2001. In addition,
I won the Silver Medal prize from Shanker Competition for Children
- India (1989).
Soha Badry
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
Yasmeen Bano
Habib University Foundation, Pakistan
I am Yasmeen from Pakistan and associated
with the field of education for last many years. I am currently
associated with Habib University Foundation as a researcher and
planner. Before this I have worked for a variety of educational
projects and setting ranging from Early Childhood Development
to Teacher Education at Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan.
My professional career has been a rich learning experience for
me and the most exciting part is trying to unfold the mystery
of learning, human mind, human thinking and human attitude. I
started this journey with the notion of learning which is most
commonly held by people i.e. learning as an esoteric, externally
organized and externally driven process. Gradually I realized
about my flawed assumptions and the process of challenging them
and reconstructing them has been the most powerful learning process
for me which has raised many questions in mind and keep me in
search of knowing more. The other dimension of my work in the
field of education which has been quite challenging for me is
to understand its moral and ethical dimensions. The more I am
exploring the reality of a natural learning process and the innate
human potential the more flawed assumptions around which our
entire academia is built become obvious and raises more moral
and ethical questions. During this process of reflecting, deconstructing
and re-constructing, I question many of my own practices as well
and at times do not find answer as to how to bring true and honest
synergy between what I think, believe and what I do. To what
extent this synergy can be brought in the world in which we are
living is another question for me to explore. I am hoping to
have exciting discussions with my the colloquia participants
in this regard. Another dimension of learning which I am trying
to understand is the learning of cognitively challenged people.
Having an experience of be with children who are cognitively
challenged has pushed me to understand them more, how do they
learn, how can they be facilitated is another area of my personal
learning interest.
My current work is focused on developing a
learning framework for an upcoming university in Pakistan and
the biggest challenge is as to how to design it based on the
fundamental notion of natural learning and respect for human
innate potential and its diversity while following the regimented
compliance demands of so called education authorities and quality
assurance bodies. The five key themes which are fundamental to
shape our programs include Human Cognition and Learning, Environmental
Challenge, Learning Technology and Non-Western Knowledge Systems.
We are trying to understand the implications of each for various
aspects of university programs.
Adli Bishay
Friends of Environment and Development
Association (FEDA)
Adli Bishay started his professional career
after securing a Ph.D. in glass technology from Sheffield university
(UK) followed by a teaching career at the American University
in Cairo. This part of his life was spent on improving the teaching
programs in science , introducing a materials engineering program
and a postgraduate program in solid state science . He also introduced
a visiting professor's program through which he invited distinguished
scientists from the UK and USA and organized international conferences
at AUC in the area of solid state science. During this period
he spent three years (1959-1961) at Argonne National Laboratories
of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission working on the effects of
radiation on glass. He published a number of papers in this field
and secured five U.S. patents in his name in the area of glass
and atomic radiation.
In the mid seventies, his interest in academic
teaching and research began to waiver and to be replaced by development
interests. This coincided with President Sadat's call for "Going
to The Desert" as a means for dealing with the problem of
increasing population and limited resources in Egypt. He managed
to convince the American University in Cairo and the Egyptian
Government to initiate the "AUC Desert Development Center"
which was created in the western desert and based on a "holistic
approach" including agriculture, socio- economics and renewable
energy.
It was during this period (1978-1990) that
he got interested in environment and made sure to include in
the Center's activities aspects leading to protection against
pollution (water, soil, air etc) and activities rationalizing
the use of resources. As chairman of the International Desert
Development Commission (IDDC), he organized a number of international
conferences in the field of "Desert Development".
In 1990, he was approached by UNDP (Egypt)
to coordinate a task force of top national consultants to propose
strategies for sustainable development in Egypt . On his retirement
from AUC in 1993, he founded with the support of UNDP Friends
of Environment and Development Association (FEDA); an NGO
dealing with environmental and developmental issues with special
interest in fragile ecosystems: namely; desert areas (eg: Wadi
Natroun), coastal areas (eg: Rosetta), and historical areas (
eg . Gamalia/ historic Cairo). However , since 1999 he has concentrated
all his efforts in coordinating a major project on the sustainable
development of Gamalia which was based on renovation or rebuilding
of deteriorated old wekalas; building capacity and working towards
public participation of the community; and raising the standard
of living of residents of Gamalia with emphasis on education,
health, environment, training, employment,...etc.
His interests have evolved from very specific
technical items to the holistic approach (social/economic/environment)
and further to the sustainable development approach concerned
with the standard of living of present and future generations.
With the present increasing population and decreasing resources,
the impact of global warming on many basic activities, and the
recent bird and swine flue we need more than before to build
the scientific mind of our children and use the scientific mind
of our professionals to work together to secure a home in the
universe.
David Blanks
American University in Cairo
I am an Associate Professor and Chair of the
Department of History at the American University in Cairo where
I have been teaching, working and living since 1992. I earned
my Ph.D. at Ohio State University and my M.A. and B.A. at Michigan
State University. My early scholarly work concerned medieval
Languedoc (southern France), but since moving to Egypt I have
published a number of articles and book chapters on Muslim-Christian
relations in the Middle Ages and early modern period. Some of
my more important publications include Monks, Missionaries and
Mentors, ed. with Michael Frassetto and Amy Livingstone (Leiden:
Brill, 2006) and Western Views of Islam in Medieval and Early
Modern Europe: Perception of Other, ed. with Michael Frassetto
(New York: St. Matin's Press, 1999). More recently I have turned
my attention towards world history, both in terms of teaching
and research. This year I will be publishing a chapter on the
role of technology transfer from Asia to Europe in Popular Controversies
in World History, Steven Danver (ABC-Clio) and one on the history
of Islam in Europe in Muslim Minorities and the Issues of Citizenship
in Europe, ed. Heba Raouf (Cairo University: Center for European
Research and Studies). As for teaching, my focus now is primarily
also on world history and, over the past three years, Big History,
a course that covers the history of the universe in a single
semester.
Brandon Canfield
American University in Cairo
Dr. Brandon Canfield is currently completing
his first year as visiting assistant professor at the American
University in Cairo, where he is actively involved in the Scientific
Thinking course, required for all undergraduates, both in the
development of the curriculum and as an instructor. This fall
will also mark his introduction of a Scientific Ethics course,
the first of its kind at AUC, which will focus on research methodologies
and issues faced by all practicing research scientists. He is
interested in the development of critical thinking skills and
the "scientific mind" as they relate to responsible
citizenship. Dr. Canfield earned his doctorate from the department
of Chemistry at Arizona State University in the field of prebiotic
chemistry.
Virginia del Re
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Aziza Ellozy
American University in Cairo
Dr Aziza Ellozy is the founding Director of
the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT, Sept.2002) at the
American University in Cairo, Egypt. She has is also the Associate
Dean for Learning Technologies.
Under her leadership, the Center for Learning
and Teaching provides significant support for the enhancement
of teaching, learning, and faculty development. Dr Ellozy has
overseen the successful implementation of a large number of programs
and services such as the Faculty Development Institutes, the
Student Technology Assistants Program and the Midterm Assessment
Program, all of which are very popular among the faculty. She
regularly facilitates faculty workshops and writes for CLT's
bi-weekly newsletter. Dr Ellozy serves on a range of university
(and national) committees that focus on teaching, learning and
educational technology. As Associate Dean for Learning Technologies,
she is responsible to coordinate and integrate the activities
of Academic Computing Services with those of the CLT and is responsible
for training and assessment of classroom technologies. She has
recently been awarded the President's Distinguished Service Award.
Prior to this, she was a tenured faculty member
at Fordham University in New York in the department of Natural
Sciences, where she taught Organic and General Chemistry, as
well as interdisciplinary science courses in the Core Curriculum.
In 1994, she was among the first group of faculty in the US who
was chosen as "Faculty for the 21st Century" in the
National Science Foundation's Project Kaleidoscope. Dr Ellozy's
teaching was recognized with such awards as the "Best Teachers
in America" Award from the Who's Who Among American Teachers
(1998) and a Special Award from the Fordham Chapter of the Alpha
Sigma Lambda Honor Society (1999). As a teacher and researcher,
she was an early adopter of technology, and has since become
an advocate for its use in education.
Dr Aziza Ellozy received her B.Sc. in Chemistry,
a M.Sc. in Solid State Science from the American University in
Cairo, and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the University
of North Carolina (1973).
Nesreen ElMolla
Information and Decision Support Center
Nesreen Khaled El Molla is a political sciences
researcher and an international cooperation specialist at the
Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers' Information and Decision Support
Center (IDSC). She had been accredited her bachelor degree in
political sciences in 2004, from the Faculty of Economics and
Political Sciences, Cairo University. She is currently pursuing
her masters in the field of international relations on the European
Neighborhood Policy and its impact on the political reform process
in Egypt.
Ms El Molla was assigned to represent IDSC
officially at a number of international assignments. The main
assignments including her membership in the following programs
and groups:
* A member at the European Union Visitors Program and the study
tour for the European Union institutions, Belgium, 2008.
* A member of the official Egyptian delegation at the Joint Egyptian/
Vietnamese and Egyptian/Indonesian high level Commissions, Vietnam
& Indonesia, 2007.
* A member at the national taskforce of the United Nations Development
Assistance Framework (UNDAF, 2007 2011) monitoring the
implementation of one of its outcomes concerned with the area
of good governance and reform.
Moreover, Ms El Molla organized and participated in a number
of international conferences and events including; Egypt Invest,
Arab parliamentary conference on the United Nations convention
against corruption, The Egyptian German think tanks conference:
toward an innovative approach to think tanks' management, Globalization
and Economic Successes: policy options for Africa, as well as
other events.
In addition, she is engaged in a number of
voluntary and students' activities. This includes her role as
a volunteer in one of the youth NGOs; "Dreamers of Tomorrow"
as well as her role in organizing and implementing simulations
of international organizations; European Union, United Nations,
American Congress at both the Faculty of Economics and Political
Sciences, Cairo University and the American University in Cairo.
As for other extra curricular activities, Ms El Molla has been
a proficient tennis player and had been a member at the Egyptian
National Team; she had represented Egypt in many regional and
international tournaments.
Concerning the colloquium on "Building
the scientific mind", Ms El Molla is very much interested
to discuss the relationship between science and politics and
to have a brainstorming on how can both disciplines learn from
each other.
Carlo Fabricatore
Initium Studios
Carlo Fabricatore, Ph.D., is a computer scientist
and interaction designer, specializing in human-computer interactions
and software architectures in the fields of digital games, real-time
highly-interactive simulations and digitally-mediated learning
processes. He has a strong background and professional experience
in Information Technology project management, game design and
development, and digital entertainment research and education.
His journey in the universe human-computer interactions began
with his Ph.D. studies, focused on usability in digital games
and player-centered game design. His research made him realize
the central importance of understanding the individual in interaction
design, and the discovery of how little we still know about the
cognitive processes involved in human-computer interactions and
the impact of aesthetics on users. His interests focused specifically
on play and games after he realized that learning processes are
essential to any sort of gaming experience, and contribute substantially
to the "fun factor" of a game. And, on top of that,
they can generate in gamers development processes that transcend
the virtual gaming world and have a positive impact on the "real"
world (especially when it comes to epistemic and problem-centered
learning processes), breaking geo-political and cultural boundaries,
and transcending the constrains of traditional learning and scientific
environments. Carlo's eagerness to see games potential better
exploit, and a few regenerating fishing trips across tropical
jungles every once in a while, are the fuel that keeps his interest
growing, and sustains his efforts to contribute to the development
of the world of "serious gaming".
In the field of IT, Carlo has focused mainly on distributed software
architectures, simulations and highly-interactive applications.
He has provided consultancy for and developed collaborations
with entities such as the United Nations, Italian National Research
Council (CNR), the Italian National Computing Center for the
Public Administration (CNIPA), Accenture, the Italian Ministry
of Economy and Finances, and Telecom Italy, amongst others.
As a professional game developer, Carlo worked in the digital
game industry since 1996. He took part in projects for a number
of different platforms (ranging from the Nintendo Gameboy to
the Sony Playstation 2) and game genres, collaborating with Nintendo
(USA), Sony (UK), Atari (France) UbiSoft (France) and Appeal
(Belgium).
Carlo is an active member of the Academy, contributing to the
field of digital entertainment research through his affiliations
to the Italian National Research Council (Italy) and to the University
of Rome "Tor Vergata" (Italy). He also collaborated
with the Association for Educational Communications and Technology
(USA), the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Chile),
the Game Research Group of the IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark),
the Learning Development Institute (USA), the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the University
of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy), and the Italian National
Computing Center for the Public Administration (Italy).
In the field of game development education, Carlo has a strong
track-record as senior lecturer, and has designed and directed
numerous specialized study programmes, working for the Italian
National Research Council (Italy), the University of Rome "Tor
Vergata" (Italy), and the European Institute of Design (Italy).
At the BtSM2009 Carlo will propose insights regarding digital
games, learning and the development of the scientific mind, hoping
to uncover, through the discussion with other participants, new
ways and opportunities to exploit digital games for purposes
of scientific, social and cultural relevance.
Martin Gardiner
Brown University
Martin F. Gardiner, Ph.D. is a researcher at
the Center for the Study of Human Development, Brown University,
Providence, RI, and also teaches at New England Conservatory
of Music, Boston, Mass. In addition to music training, Dr. Gardiner
has his doctorate in brain research and further degrees in science
and engineering. Dr. Gardiner was lead author of a study showing
impact of musical and visual arts training on broader learning
published in the international journal of science Nature in 1996.
More recent work with colleagues continues to develop and explore
implications of evidence that musical experience and training
can affect intellectual, social and emotional learning and development
not only in children but also adolescents, and adults. Recent
work to be discussed at this conference involves developing a
view of learning that takes into account recent work on human
consciousness, and exploring implications and new opportunities
for world-wide education.
Samir Ghabbour
Cairo University
Author and co-author of some 250 publications
on ecology, biodiversity, environmental management, conservation,
protected areas, etc.
Chairman, Egyptian National Committee for the UNESCO Man and
Biosphere Programme (MAB),
Chairman, ArabMAB Network (Regional Network of Arab National
MAB Committees)
Chairman of the Egyptian Society for Environmental Applications
(Est. 2000)
Delegate to the meetings of the UNESCO MAB International Coordination
Council (since 1977), the UNIDO Conference on Ecologically Sustainable
Industrial Development (1991), and the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee sessions (since 2001)
Member of World Futures Studies Federation (and co-founder, 1973)
Chief Editor of the Egypt MAB Bulletin (est. 1977)
Member of Editorial Board of six international journals on biodiversity
and conservation
Latest publications:
Transboundary World Heritage Sites and nature reserves, in: Egypt
MAB Bulletin, 2008
The Oligochaeta of the Nile Basin revisited, in: The Nile: Origin,
environments, limnology and human use, Springer, May 2009.
Jennifer Gidley
Global Cities Research Institute, RMIT
University
Dr Jennifer GIDLEY is a psychologist, educator
and futures researcher. Her transdisciplinary career includes
experience as a school and community psychologist, teaching principal,
academic teacher and researcher, and consultant, spanning three
decades and all educational levels. A significant pedagogical
achievement was to found and direct an innovative private school
inspired by Rudolf Steiner's philosophy and pedagogy in rural
Australia (1984-1994). A significant academic achievement was
to co-design, develop, convene and instruct the online component
of the Masters in Strategic Foresight at Swinburne University,
Melbourne (2003-2006). She currently works as a Research Fellow
in the Globalization and Culture Program of the Global Cities
Research Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.global-cities.info/home
Jennifer has published widely in educational
and youth futures, and global socio-cultural change, including
co-editing two books: The University in Transformation: Global
Perspectives on the Futures of the University (2002) and Youth
Futures: Comparative Research and Transformative Visions (2002);
and co-authoring a monograph: Futures in Education: Principles,
Practices and Potential. Her doctoral research explored macrostructural
shifts in culture and consciousness within both macrohistorical
and futures contexts. She has recently co-edited two special
issues: one for the journal FUTURES on "Global Mindset Change"
and the second for the journal New Political Science on "The
Changing Face of Political Ideologies in the Global Age."
Jennifer works globally, creating networks-both conceptual and
human-between futures studies and other transversal fields, such
as integral studies, global studies, transdisciplinary studies,
postformal education, gender studies, planetary eco-philosophies,
and global youth movements. She has recently been nominated for
the Presidency of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF)
from June 2009 to 2013. As part of her role in WFSF she coordinates
the WFSF-UNESCO Online Centre for Pedagogical Resources in Futures
Studies. http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/wfsf/index.html
With respect to the colloquium, Jennifer is
looking forward to meeting other friends and colleagues who are
pursuing similar areas of interest, such as big history, transdisciplinarity,
sustainable learning futures, and integrating science and religion,
to name a few. She hopes to share challenging and supportive
dialogue with other partipants and continue to imbibe the wonderful
spirit of Cairo.
Gary Hampson
Southern Cross University
Gary Hampson is a PhD candidate at Southern Cross
University, Australia. His innovative conceptual research focuses
on the regeneration of global worldview and education, involving
a deepening of the scholarship of integration toward a possible
eco-logical future. Critiquing the overuse of modern
atomism and economism, it creatively addresses such items as
complexity theory, transdisciplinarity, cosmological postmodernism,
Gödels incompleteness theorem, postformal thinking,
Hermetic-Neoplatonism, poetics, and ecologies of mind, society
and environment. Critiquing the current dominant educational
paradigm, it looks toward the radical reconstruction of educational
identities including those of knowledge, curriculum, teaching,
research, and human being. The range of conceptual territory
perhaps reflects Garys eclectic background in the UK and
Australia including his work as a consultant in education, creativity
and empowerment workshop designer-facilitator, humanistic counsellor,
massage therapist, maths tutor, and musician. He has a degree
in Geography from University College London, and a Graduate Certificate
in Strategic Foresight from Swinburne University, Melbourne.
Epistemologically, he is interested in the meta-dialogue between
science and art as part of the quest for authentic transdisciplinarity.
Normatively, he is deeply concerned about the current state of
the world including ecocide, global warming, global social injustice,
dangerous technology, and mental dis-ease.
A. John Jordan
John Jordan received his Doctorate in Oceanography
(Zoology) from the University of Maine in 1972. After a post-doc
in the Antarctic, he joined EG&G consulting on marine biological
aspects of projects including oil terminals, dredging, ocean
disposal and baseline projects for thermal discharges from nuclear
plants. Moving to Vancouver in 1976, he continued consulting
on bulk liquid and dry bulk terminals in British Columbia, the
Middle East, Southeast Asia and China. Joining the Vancouver
Port Corporation in 1990, he established the first Port Authority
Environmental Service section in a Canadian port. He joined Trow
Consulting Engineers in 2002 to continue his consulting career
as an independent contractor.
Elizabeth Jordan
University of British Columbia
Elizabeth Jordan is a member of the faculty in
the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and
Special Education at the University of British Columbia. She
has been at UBC for 17 years. Her particular interests are in
Problem-Based Learning, Gifted Education and the classroom environment
that supports creativity. She has co-authored two textbooks for
pre-service teachers using PBL: Educational psychology: A problem-based
approach (2006) and Problem-based learning in inclusive education
(2000).
Amina Karim
Habib University Foundation
I am Amina Karim. I had started working for the
mainstream education sector in Pakistan ten years ago. The past
decade, and the myriad of settings and people I have worked with
during the course, has provided me with a much broader vision
then the one I had embarked with on this journey. This evolved
vision has helped me to view the constricted notions of formal
education with a more critical gaze to search for alternate models
and accept that I am still in the process of unlearning many
things ingrained into me through my own schooling in Karachi,
Pakistan.
My journey began as a science teacher in the Aga Khan School
Network in Pakistan, and took me through many routes as a teacher
educator, curriculum developer, program implementer, researcher
and student of Education - teaching and learning about various
levels of education from early childhood to secondary education.
Currently, I am working as a Research Associate at the Habib
University Foundation in Karachi and striving to contribute towards
building sustainable learning and cognition models for its different
projects, which range from a Science and Engineering University,
to developing frameworks for secondary education in rural Sindh,
to a Centre for Educational Research and Planning. I experience
the difficult task of working within mainstream education and
keeping the process of critical pedagogy and unlearning the conventional
notions of this system alive every day.
My own interests revolve around the human consciousness and its
innate capability of learning and making sense of its own environment.
I believe that human potential needs to be facilitated so that
the links that the human mind creates with its physical, geographic
and social environment are in harmony with the natural system.
I am a student of sustainable models of learning, grounded in
their context and inculcating a deeper understanding of the issues
and also looking for possible solutions.
Jinan Kodapully
re-cognition.org
I am an activist trying to understand, resist
and fight the hegemony of 'knowledge' on our consciousness. I
am exploring authenticity, originality, creativity which have
been destroyed by formal structured 'education'. In a way what
is the natural, original self un conditioned by schooling.
While studying design I realized how our aesthetic sense is getting
homogenized due to teaching of elements of design- colour sense,
form etc.
An added gift of schooling has been to feel inferior to the west.
I have researched on indigenous design process and education
since 1989 among non literate artisans and children.
In my search for knowledge three important steps I took was,
first I went to non literate communities to learn from them as
to how they access/ create knowledge, second I stopped reading
altogether to re activate my cognitive skills and also to see
things with out the framework of theories and the third was to
learn from a child who was then just 3 months old in particular
and from other children that I have come accross.
A total paradigm shift happened to me in this process.
Initiatives and web sites.
www.re-cognition.org explores the new insights of how knowing
takes place in various cognitive conditions or paradigms and
how human beings are really helpless and at the same time masters
in self deception.
Have been documenting how children learn in non literate communities
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNFM-uUzqE8 ) and also conducts
a workshop called sensing nature; knowing nature every year during
April/ may for children of Aruvacode. (http://my.opera.com/jinankb/blog/sensing-nature).
Working with teachers and parents to rediscover their child like
qualities which will enable them to appreciate the natural abilities
of children.
Exploring ways to undo the harm of homogenization brought about
through education especially in the area of design, architecture
and art.
Exploring cognitive damages of textualisation and virtualization
of experience.
As a design educator I have been developing a course that address
how to develop / re cover context specific and culture specific
aesthetic sensibilities as that definitely is the distinguishing
factor of each culture and this is what could prevent homogenization
to some extent.
As a Designer, craft activist I have been working with rural
tribal artisan communities to find new ways of using the craft
and at the same time trying to create awareness among the so
called 'educated' the wisdom knowledge of non literate communities.
Craft in Architecture is another initiative to explore the potential
of traditional craft in Architecture. Several projects of kumbham
has exaples of this potential.
Enable artisan. This is a two year project designed for enabling
the artisan's children to take forward their skills as a viable
livelihood option by equipping them with necessary skills- entrepreneurship,
communication, designing ability, functional computer and accounting
ability etc and also providing them with few basic tools and
equipments and linking them with relevant players.
Areas of focus
Exploring the fundamental paradoxes of life, researching on biological
foundation of knowledge & beauty. Deeply in love with children
and pained by the un natural schooling done to them by the so
called educated. May be one day I will free them from schooling.
Please feel free to contact me . [email protected].
Kathryn Lawrence
American University in Cairo
Dr. Kaddee Lawrence is just finishing a three-year
position at the American University in Cairo. She will be returning
to the Pacific NorthWest of the United States this summer where
she will continue as a tenured professor of Biology at Highline
Community College. Her primary teaching interests are in the
areas of animal anatomy and physiology, and she has taught in
the pre-allied health areas for over 15 years. She is also very
interested and involved in general education science education
at the university level. At AUC she has been involved in the
upgrading of the non-major's Biology laboratory curriculum, and
has been the coordinator of the CORE curriculum required first-year
course entitled "Scientific Thinking". During her time
as coordinator, the course has undergone a substantial curricular
revision with the cooperation and input of the teaching faculty.
She is primarily interested in increasing the student-perceived
relevance of the Scientific Thinking course, while also fostering
the development of life-long critical thinking skills. Dr. Lawrence
earned her doctorate in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire,
with her primary research conducted at the Friday Harbor Laboratories
of the University of Washington, in the field of invertebrate
neurobiology and neural networks.
Ximena López
Initium Studios
Ximena was born and has lived almost all her
life in Santiago, Chile. She studied psychology at the Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile (Catholic University of
Chile) and in 2001 she moved to Belgium where she got her Master
in "Interventions auprès des personnes en situation
de handicap" at the Université catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve.
In 2006, she began her graduate studies at Roma Tre University,
in Rome, Italy, where her main areas of research have been e-learning
and the educational aspects of the Web 2.0. At the same time,
she is working on her dissertation project on the educational
potential of video games.
Her first steps in the video game field were taken in 1997, when
she participated in a research project between the school of
Psychology and the school of Engineering (in Chile) designing
and developing educational videogames for the Gameboy platform.
The research was considered one of the most important developments
carried out in the Chilean educational arena, in first place
because it was developed in a time in which video games were
scarcely taken in consideration by the educational field. In
second place, it was carried out by a group of undergraduate
students under the guidance of 2 ("mad") professors,
in a developing country.
Back from Belgium in 2003, in Chile she worked at the Catholic
University of Chile in a research project regarding the use of
wireless technology to support computer supported collaborative
learning, funded by the Chilean government. The purpose was not
only to develop a new technology for educational purposes, but
most importantly, to propose a pedagogical model for its use
in the classroom.
Beyond her general interest in sharing and exchanging ideas with
other colleagues coming from different cultural and academic
backgrounds, at the Colloquium Ximena is looking forward to discuss
about the role that new media have in the emergence and development
of cognitive and affective processes involved in the scientific
thinking.
Natasha Mahendran
Alwan wa Awtar
I am currently the Non-formal Education Project
Manager at Alwan wa Awtar, an Egyptian NGO based in Mokattam.
I am helping to start up an alternative education project that
uses various creative arts methods to support the learning of
underprivileged children. Learning through cross cultural exchanges
to promote peace is a personal interest. I currently volunteer
as a facilitator in the Soliya Connect Program which is an online
forum that allows students in the Arab world and students in
the US/Europe to discuss various political, cultural and social
issues.
I have a Bachelor of Arts (Languages) degree
from the University of Sydney, Australia which included an exchange
year at Sciences PO (Institute for Political Studies) in Paris,
France. Since graduating, I have been working and volunteering
for various social development NGOs and have experience in fund-raising,
volunteer management, communications, website content writing,
donor relations and project design and management.
I am interested in learning more about the
role the arts can play in developing the scientific mind, particularly
for children in underprivileged communities. I hope to contribute
to the conference by sharing the experiences of Alwan wa Awtar's
work using arts as a tool for social development and my personal
learning experiences that I have gained by living, studying and
working in various countries such as Sri Lanka, Australia, France
and Egypt .
Roy McWeeny
University of Pisa
Roy
McWeeny grew up in a small industrial town in the north of
England, during the 1920's and 1930's. At an early age he had
to decide between Fine Art and Physics, choosing Physics but
keeping a lifelong interest in painting and sculpture. He has
degrees from Leeds and Oxford, where he developed his interests
in mathematical physics and quantum theory. After 35 years of
university teaching (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry), he moved
to a Chair in Italy, where he is now Professore Emerito di Chimica
Teorica, University of Pisa. He has held visiting appointments
in many European Universities (in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy,
Netherlands, Poland, Sweden); also in India, Israel, Japan and
the USA.
The first of his many books was "Symmetry
- An Introduction to Group Theory" (1963), which became
a 'classic' and was reprinted (2001) by Dover Publications. He
has a passionate interest in teaching and a strongly 'pictorial'
imagination - believing that difficult and abstruse concepts
can usually be conveyed through visual images. At present he
is editing (and writing for) the series of "Basic Books
in Science", a series of modules aimed at people with limited
formal education: the books are available gratis on the Internet
(www.learndev.org - For the Love of Science). His other publications
include about 150 research papers, mainly in the area of molecular
physics and quantum chemistry. He was elected (1973) to the International
Academy of Quantum Molecular Science; and (1987) to the European
Academy of Arts, Sciences and the Humanities. One regret - that
there was never more time for the Fine Arts, for working with
clay or wood or stone, which once gave him so much pleasure.
While attending the BtSM2009 colloquium, he
wishes to discuss ideas and exchange experiences about the problems
of printing and publishing science texts in parts of the world,
such as Africa, where such materials have been sadly lacking
for too long. He also hopes to open up a discussion of the "language
of Science". For many centuries, from Pythagoras to Einstein,
from Galileo to Feynman, Science has been heavily dependent on
Mathematics. But with the popularization of Science there has
been a tendency to talk about Science in the more fashionable
languages of the Social Sciences, emphasizing its social function.
To many working scientists this does not seem to be a useful
way of "building the scientific mind". Mathematics
remains unrivalled in the precision and economy with which it
can develop new concepts; but it is a discipline that has to
be learnt "in the field" by doing science rather than
talking about it. That is the mission of "Basic Books in
Science".
Shahinaz Mekheimar
Information and Decision Support Center
I'm Shahinaz Mekheimar , graduate of French schools
in Cairo , ( Beside the Arabic and the English languages I also
can speak fluently the Armenian language but not the French language
!!!!!! ) .
I Obtained the MD degree in Public Health from the Faculty of
Medicine , Cairo University . I also obtained an important certificate
from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, England ( a scholarship
from the British council ) after attending " Health Education
/ Promotion for Primary Health Care " course . The course
really empowered me in the first place and I learned the necessary
skills to empower others , it also enabled me to possess the
necessary skills to conduct qualitative research and to use pictures
for critical awareness . I'm really grateful to my tutor Korrie
de Konning .
I worked as a researcher in the area of Public Health and Health
education promotion and I worked as a consultant for many international
organizations in Egypt as a qualitative researcher and health
promoter ( I worked in the field of Gender based violence , child
maltreatment , health needs assessment , addiction , HIV/AIDS
, Family planning , Schistosomiasis , .) . Luckily I joined
recently the Information and Decision support Center ( IDSC )
where I'm appointed as a Qualitative research consultant .
My interest of course is in qualitative research and in Health
promotion .
Concerning "building the scientific mind" I'm very
much interested to join with groups interested in qualitative
research , empowerment and raising the critical thinking . Also
I'm interested to present a paper concerning child development,
where " Imagination" is the scope of interest .
Carolina Ödman
Leiden University / UNAWE
A Swedish and Swiss citizen, Carolina Ödman
studied physics engineering in Switzerland before receiving a
Ph.D in Comsology from Cambridge University in 2003. She took
a post-doctoral position at the University of Rome La Sapienza
after a short job at UNESCO and a brief lecture circuit at the
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
She has been the project manager of UNAWE since September, 2005.
Her research interests in Science and Development
are Early Childhood aspects of the development of the Scienti?c
Mind, Intercultural aspects of knowledge and sustainable development,
Citizen Science and Scienti?c Culture, science visualisation
and the new media, Gender Equality in Higher Education, Women
in science. In theoretical cosmology she has researched Bayesian
analysis, cosmological parameter estimation and models of Dark
Energy.
Benjamin Olshin
University of the Arts
Currently, I am an Assistant Professor of
Philosophy, History, and History of Science at The University
of the Arts. There, teach everything from Greek philosophy and
Chinese philosophy, to courses in cultural anthropology, history
of technology, physics, and industrial design.
My research covers a range of subject areas:
the philosophy of physics, the history of cartography, and culturally-dependent
models of reality. Most recently, I presented a paper on technology
and social policy at the Society for the History of Technology
annual meeting in Lisbon (in October), and I gave a lecture on
fifteenth-century maps at the Warburg Institute in London later
this month.
I completed an M.A. and Ph.D. at the Institute
for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (I.H.P.S.T.)
at the University of Toronto in Canada. My dissertation centered
around a visual history of cartography, examining early maps
and sea charts in both Europe and Asia.
Following the completion of my Ph.D. in 1993,
I shifted gears for several years, serving as an Associate Professor
of Fine Arts and Design at Ming Chuan University in Taipei, Taiwan.
I had previously worked for architects in the U.S., Brazil, and
Japan, and had done design and fine arts work during my graduate
school years. In Taiwan, I developed and taught a variety of
courses in the areas of drawing, painting, model-making, design
fundamentals, and the philosophy of design. During this time,
I also participated in two conferences, which led to an increasing
interest in the influence of culture (particularly in terms of
East and West) in the shaping of philosophical worldviews. In
one conference, I delivered a paper entitled "Teaching Concepts
of Quality", which discussed problems of quality in contemporary
design and manufacturing in Taiwan. This paper, which was presented
before a panel of Taiwanese designers and educators, addressed
the topic in terms of certain aspects of Chinese culture and
their philosophical underpinnings.
Later, having returned to the U.S., I worked
in a wide variety of fields, including as an executive in a design
and brand identity firm, Landor Associates, before returning
to teaching. At around the same time, I founded a consulting
firm, S2R, that specialized in cross-cultural communications
and global business issues.
In the course of my career, I have worked,
studied, and carried out research in a variety of places: Italy,
Portugal, Sri Lanka, Tahiti, Turkey, Ghana, and other locales.
I am interested in many, many things (which
is one of the problems I've had in academia!). At this colloquium
here in Cairo, I am interested in learning more and talking to
participants about education, students, and the learning process
(I am in a very cynical phase about this at present!); culture,
communication, and design; the future of physics and its connection
to philosophy; and getting at the core of truly, truly sustainable
ways of living.
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Evgeny Patarakin
Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University
Evgeny Patarakin
Researcher, author of "Network communities and learning"
book Leading Specialist at Public Opinion Foundation http://www.fom.ru/
Associated professor, Nizhny Novgorod pedagogical university
Teaching courses: Collaborative actions in the network, Social
services in pedagogical practice,Multiagent models in science
education, Coordinate educational network Letopisi.ru - MediaWiki
administrator:http://letopisi.ru Administrator and project manager
in a wide variety of education applications - MediaWiki, DokuWiki,
Moodle.
My interest in the Building the Scientific
Mind Colloquia is in the area of participatory design and metadesign
for learning in distance education. Wikis, Scratch, NetLogo and
other tools which help students to be more creative and participate
in collaboration.
Marion Porath
University of British Columbia
Marion Porath is from Vancouver, on the west
coast of Canada. She loves the beauty of the ocean, mountains,
and gardens of the Pacific Coast and the experience of living
in a vibrant multicultural city. She has been involved in education
for over 30 years, first as an elementary school teacher and
then at the university level as a teacher and researcher in Educational
Psychology and Special Education. She is currently a Professor
in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology,
and Special Education in the Faculty of Education at The University
of British Columbia in Vancouver. Throughout the yeaars of working
as an educator, Marion has been fascinated by the development
of conceptual understanding across disciplines, pedagogy that
supports and scaffolds this development, and the role of the
arts in the development of mind.
Marion's research has focused on the nature
of advanced development in drawing, narrative, and social understanding,
using a neo-Piagetian theoretical framework. She was drawn to
this framework because of its explication of how children's minds
develop and the "design for development" the theory
provides for consolidating and developing conceptual understanding.
This framework has also guided her investigations of children's
and adolescent's perceptions of learning in general, learning
of academic subjects in particular, and teaching. She also has
done research on developmentally-based instruction and problem-based
learning. With Elizabeth Jordan, she has co-authored two books
on problem-based learning, Problem-Based Learning in Inclusive
Education (also with Janet Jamieson) and Educational Psychology:
A Problem-Based Approach. Most recently, Marion has begun to
explore the characteristics of noteworthy pedagogy with a group
of colleagues who are all curious about the relationship of one's
inner work/inner life as an educator to successful teaching.
She has incorporated her own art in these explorations, seeking
to find expression in visual and creatively written forms.
At the colloquium, Marion hopes to engage
in discussion of problem-oriented learning. Recent research with
Elizabeth Jordan indicates the wealth of approaches that are
informed by constructivist principles of surfacing learners'
understandings and uniting these understandings with formal disciplinary
knowledge through authentic, contextualized experiences. We have
much to learn from each other in sharing the challenges and successes
of teaching in ways that are collaborative and co-constructive.
Marion also is looking forward to engaging in discussions about
early child development and education, in particular the role
of the arts in honouring children's understandings and facilitating
their learning.
Premana Premadi
Department of Astronomy and the Bosscha
Observatory of the Institut Teknologi Bandung
Premana W. Premadi is a faculty staff member
of the Department of Astronomy and the Bosscha Observatory of
the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in Indonesia. She received
her BSc in astronomy from ITB and Ph.D. in physics from the University
of Texas at Austin. She spent two years in the Astronomical Institute
of the Tohoku University, Japan, as a postdoctoral fellow of
the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The area of her
research work and courses taught cover topics in physical cosmology
and relativistic astrophysics, and occasionally philosophy of
science. Having deep interest and concern with education she
pushes herself to learn various themes about learning. Since
2000 she has been very much involved in the construction of curriculum
for the Department of Astronomy in ITB, its implementation emphasizing
learning to reason, and creating a better learning environment.
She works a lot with primary school and high school teachers
who are often frustrated with the science courses they have to
teach. Premana enjoys being with children, learning how they
perceive the world. She leads a team of about 20 people traveling
to remote places, and inner cities, visiting with children, introducing
them to the beauty of the universe. Since 2 years ago this activity
is sort of institutionalized by joining the Universe Awareness
for Children (UNAWE). Starting as a personal drive, Premana organizes
a study and discussion forum on the dialogue between science,
culture, and religion. The forum meets half a dozen times per
year and has about 30 members consisting of scientists, students
of science and engineering, philosophers, priests, and imams.
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Jaap Swart
Mind Venture International
Jaap Swart was born and raised in the Caribbean.
This caused intense interest in intercultural communication and
the problems of communication for development and education in
multi-cultural societies. Social Geographer and Cultural Anthropologist
by training (University of Amsterdam: UVA) Jaap worked for the
UVA and ISS (Institute of Social Studies), returned to Curaçao
in the Caribbean, joined the management of a secondary school
and became active in the teacher union movement. Returning to
The Netherlands he became General Manager of Radio Nederland
Training Centre(RNTC), the Dutch institute for media-facilitated
development, educational and intercultural communication. RNTC
was and is active in development communication projects all over
the world. Retired from RNTC in 2002 Jaap devotes most of his
time to the application and critical assessment of media for
journalistic, developmental and educational objectives (MOS.
Media on the Spot) and to the role of media in mental health
and cultural confrontation situations (MVI. Mind Venture International).
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Mohsen Tawfik
Ain Shams University, Egypt
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Rustam Vania
Srishti School of Art & Design
I have a professional interest in communication
design. With over a decades experience in creating popular creative
communication strategies for science, environment and development
education I enjoy interfacing between educational needs and creative
design/communication solutions. I was the founder editor and
designer of Gobar Times (cowdung times), a popular monthly magazine
supplement to Down To Earth, the science and environment fornightly
published by the New Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment.
Presently I am a faculty member at the Bangalore
based Srishti School or Art, Design and Technology. I coordinate
a interdiscplinary art & design program called 'Sangama'
(confluence). The primary pedagogical method is place based learning
(space, place and people) through real life contexts and/or projects.
Subjects range from heritage conservation and habitat studies
to design in education and ecological design.
Divya, my journalist wife, self and our adorable
labradour Noori live in a mud architecture house on the outskirts
of Bangalore city in South India.
Jan Visser
Learning Development Institute
Jan
Visser started out in life as a theoretical physicist. Studying,
researching, and later also teaching, the stuff of physics made
him keenly aware of the intracacies of what lies behind seemingly
ordinary things like knowing and learning. It led him to expand
his passion to know and deeply understand the things of nature
to seeking to understand the knowing subject. , i.e., the person
who learns and thinks to know. Working around the globe for most
of his professional life, he has had the opportunity to explore
the meanings of knowing and learning in hugely different cultural
contexts and dramatically diverse circumstances. One of the conclusions
he has come to reach while engaging in such explorations is that
it is less important to look at the short term static outcomes
of learning in terms of acquired knowledge, capabilities and
propensities and thus that it is much more important to develop
an eye for how learning alters the dynamics of how humans interact
with the world. He thus sees learning in the first place as "the disposition of human beings, and of the social
entities to which they pertain, to engage in continuous dialogue
with the human, social, biological and physical environment,
so as to generate intelligent behavior to interact constructively
with change."
This may explain Jan's interest in the human
mind. The fact that he has devoted much of his time during recent
years to promoting nurturing of the scientific mind may be excuses
considering his background. He does, however, recognize that
the development of alternate mindsets, such as the entrepreneurial
mind, the poetic mind or the artistic mind, is equally important.
Many of these mindsets overlap, he believes, and are distinct
mainly in terms of shifting emphases on the products of the mental
activity concerned.
As far as BtSM2009 is concerned, Jan is deeply
intrigued by the central theme of the colloquium, the search
for our home in the universe. Enhanced awareness of what we are,
where we come from, and where we may be going as a species, he
believes, is key to how humanity will respond to the challenge
of learning for sustainable futures. The Special Interest Group
on this issue will thus have Jan's special attention during the
colloquium. Related interests are transdisciplinarity; UNAWE's
and Jinan's work with children; the Big History approach to understanding
both our cosmic relevance and irrelevance; and the development
of the scintific mind across diverse cultures, worldviews and
self-perceptions. Having virtually no experience , yet having
a pretty negative feeling about the video games he has so far
seen, he looks forward with great expectation and curiosity to
learning more about the promising work that Carlo and Ximena
will be presenting. The question brought up by Roy concerning
the role of mastering mathematics is also close to Jan's heart.
Lya Visser
Learning Development Institute
Lya
Visser is an avid learner and more specifically a distance
learner. Her Masters degree was done at a distance with
the University of London, while living in Zimbabwe. The loneliness
of the distance learner and the consequential motivational challenges
inspired her to do her doctoral work in the area of motivational
communication at a distance, designing and distributing motivational
messages (first used by Jan Visser in a face-to-face context),
in order to increase completion rates and satisfaction levels.
My work with the Learning Development Institute
(LDI) as a training development and research associate has focused
on the development of workshops and alternative training events
related to the above mentioned interest so as to create learning
environments that care for people both emotionally and cognitively.
In addition to my affiliation with LDI, I
teach online courses in the area of performance improvement,
leadership and organizational learning for George Washington
University and Nova Southeastern University, I do research in
what motivates people to learn and what the role of affective
and effective communication is in surpassing the distance between
the facilitator and the student. Such research has therefore
important implications for the development of competencies of
people who, like me, are involved in guiding other people's learning
experiences, particularly if they do so in the rapidly developing
context of online learning and other forms of learning at a distance.
My interest in the Building the Scientific
Mind Colloquia is especially in the area of Problem Based Learning
and its role in a distance education context. I have often asked
myself how we can find a home in the universe when technology
is increasingly replacing human contact and thus augmenting the
danger of alienation. My aim is to work on humanizing learning
in such ways that the role of wisdom, scholarship, critical thinking
and empathetic acting are not only recognized, but also actively
used as important building blocks for a better and more just
society.
Related to Building the Scientific Mind I
propose to discuss the role of the instructor in building the
scientific mind. The focus could be on how we, instructors, teach
our learners how to think instead of what to think and move from
informing our students to convincing our students.
Yusra Laila Visser
Learning Development Institute & Florida
Atlantic University
Yusra
Laila Visser spent the first half of her life in southeast
Africa, and the second half of her life primarily in the United
States. Living in Africa, she learned much about the wonders
and the difficulties of postcolonial states, witnessing both
the splendor of the diversity of lifestyles and cultures in those
regions and the ravaging effects of war, poverty, and disease.
From these experiences, coupled with the unique opportunities
afforded her during her time in the U.S., Yusra has cherished
what she has learned about the value of a solid education, the
importance of political action and consciousness, societal service
as a lifes mission, and the role of systematic inquiry
in meaningfully observing and interpreting the attributes of
the surrounding world.
Yusra is vice-president and researcher for
the Learning Development Institute. Joining the BtSM colloquium,
Yusra is especially interested in exploring the role of formal
and informal learning environments in mediating the development
of facets of the scientific disposition. This interest emerges
from her research on the use of problem- and project-based instructional
approaches to address the myriad of diverse needs and opportunities
related to learning and development in a complex world. As part
of the 2007 and 2009 Building the Scientific Mind Colloquium,
she has focused on coordinating the Problem-Oriented
Learning special interest group. The common thread that connects
the members of the problem-oriented learning group is shared
interest, experience, and insight into inquiry, problems, and/or
problem solving as mechanisms for learning or as outcomes of
learning.
Yusra also serves as coordinator of the Digital
Education Teacher's Academy (DETA), a collaborative program between
Florida Atlantic University and the School Board of Broward County.
In this capacity, she is engaged in the design, development and
implementation of targeted in-service teacher training programs
focused on instructional design and technology integration. Much
of the focus of the DETA program is on helping in-service teachers
develop the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind integral to
implementing effective problem- and project-based learning approaches.
Muriel Visser-Valfrey
Learning Development Institute
Muriel Visser-Valfrey is an independent consultant
working on HIV/AIDS, education and health issues. Muriel has
an academic background in rural sociology, education and mass
communication (Ph.D. - Florida State University). She is an education
and health communication expert and is specialized in programme
development and evaluation work in these fields in developing
countries. Her professional experience has focused on the design,
management and evaluation of international development projects,
particularly in Africa and more recently on supporting education
systems in developing an effective response to the threat of
HIV/AIDS. Her most recent work has been in the Caribbean, in
South America and in Southern Africa. Before establishing herself
as an independent consultant in 2004, Muriel spent 10 years working
in Mozambique in the area of education and four years in Florida
doing her PhD and working for Florida State University in the
area of health communication.
Muriel participated in the first 2005 BtSM meeting in The Hague
and led the special interest group on HIV/AIDS and the scientific
mind. Muriel continues to be particularly interested in factors
(at an individual and collective level) that influence decision
making with respect to health issues. The way in which the scientific
mind can help or hinder such decision making processes is something
which she would like to continue to explore with other participants
during the present BtSM colloquium.
Tiffany Vora
American University in Cairo
Dr. Tiffany Vora is currently a visiting assistant
professor at the American University in Cairo. Her primary teaching
responsibility is a required first-year course entitled "Scientific
Thinking," although she also teaches a graduate course in
bioinformatics for the Biotechnology program at AUC. As a result,
she is especially interested in the role of critical thinking
in developing-world economic, political, and educational arenas.
She also investigates nontraditional media (problem-solving,
multimedia, collaborative techniques) for potential development
of the scientific mind. Dr. Vora earned her doctorate from the
department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University in the
fields of bacterial genomics and systems biology.