I had the pleasure and honor yesterday evening to attend and speak at the “Coating Ceremony” at Loudoun County’s Academy of Science High School. Loudoun County, home to Washington’s Dulles Airport and the Janelia Farm complex of Howard Hughes Medical Institute is one of the fastest growing places in the US. The academy of science idea for a high school is a variation of the magnet school concept but one that I think can be particularly powerful. In particular, the school’s director George Wolf, seeks to have high school students designing their own experiments and subsequently carrying them out, as distinct from the more common concept of “farming” science high school students out to mentor laboratories. I really think this is an excellent idea. The Academy is also conducting a very interesting collaboration exercise with a high school in Singapore. The research, into high school science education, is supported by the National Science Foundation. As I understand it, students at the Academy of Science will be paired up with students in Singapore and collaborate over the net to do their science.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 