COPUS–Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science
The KABT Board has recently voted to participate in the COPUS–The Coalition On the Public Understanding of Science network. From the COPUS home page:
“The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) is a grassroots effort linking universities, scientific societies, science centers and museums, advocacy groups, media, educators, businesses, and industry in a peer network having as its goal a greater public understanding of the nature of science and its value to society. This is an essential step in re-establishing the nation’s role in the global scientific enterprise. It is critical to ensuring the long-term social well-being of the American people.”
From their invitation to paticipate
“The foundation of our collective efforts is the development of the following three resources to help promote a greater public understanding of the nature of science and its value to society.
1. COPUS — the Coalition itself is the ongoing communication & collaboration network with like-minded organizations that we plan to keep in place for many years to allow the sharing of information about the public understanding of science among organizations and with the general public.
2. The Year of Science 2009 is a 12-month period of activities and celebrations of science put on by the organizations involved in COPUS that will be registered in the COPUS website’s publicly searchable database of events and programs. www.yearofscience2009.org
3. The Understanding Science website — COPUS and Year of Science 2009 efforts will soon be collaborating with this exciting new content-rich website being developed at the University of California Museum of Paleontology and set to launch later in 2007. The website will support K-16 science teaching with a conceptual framework for teaching the nature of science at all grade spans, a searchable database of vetted teaching resources, and strategies for integrating and reinforcing the nature of science within content areas mandated by state and national science standards. www.understandingscience.org”
