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Event-Based Science® |
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The Event-Based Science concept was the creation of Dr. Russell G. Wright, long-time "traditional" science teacher with Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Maryland. The idea for Event-Based Science began in September of 1989, when Dr. Wright--after 19 years of teaching and three years as State Science Supervisor--found himself teaching earth science for the first time in his career. Without his repertoire of Dittos, Dr. Wright lacked some of the constraints of the traditional teacher. In mid-September, when Hurricane Hugo became a nightly segment on the evening news--destroying tropical island after tropical island--videotaped news coverage became a daily feature of his classes. His students enthralled, the focus of Dr. Wright's classes turned to meteorology. With students' questions determining the curriculum, a hurricane had established a context in which almost all of the science concepts in a traditional meteorology unit were covered. In mid-October it happened again. During game-three of the World Series a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit California. The event became a big news story and Russell Wright again used videotapes of the news to engage his students. This time their questions dealt with the structure of the Earth, Plate Tectonics and baseball. The unit of study became the dynamics of the Earth system. From early fall of '89, until spring of 1992--and the award of a $1.03 million grant from the National Science Foundation--Dr. Wright wrote a proposal and assembled the team that would ultimately produce EBS modules. Turner Educational Services (the education arm of CNN) signed on first. They agreed to provide (for a small fee) tapes of appropriate news coverage. USA Today was next to join, agreeing to provide permission to reprint relevant articles and graphics. Addison-Wesley joined the team as publisher, and federal science agencies in the Washington, DC, area pledged scientists to verify the accuracy of the science in the units. Nine modules were produced with funds from the original grant. In 1995 a second award of $850,000 allowed nine additional modules from the life and physical sciences to be written and tested. Titles for the complete set of Event-Based Science modules include: Oil Spill!, Hurricane!, Earthquake!, Toxic Leak!, Flood!, Asteroid!, Volcano!, Gold Rush!, Tornado!, Gold Medal!, Outbreak!, Thrill Ride!, First Flight!, Fraud!, Blight!, Survive?, Blackout!, Fire!, and Global Warming? NBC News is now the television partner, USA Today remains the print partner, the publisher is now Prentice Hall, NASA has provided funds to add remote-sensing activities to eight EBS Units, and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation has funded the addition of 15 math and science activities. In 1992, at a locally-televised press conference announcing the original Event-Based Science award, Dr. Walter Massey, director of the National Science Foundation, stated: Today, the award-winning EBS program is spreading across the United States. The future envisioned by Walter Massey has arrived.  Last updated on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 <webmaster@eventbasedscience.com> |
