The IAP/IANAS Program on Science Education has been very successful in its first year of activities. We have been able to implement a large part of the Action Plan which we approved last year in Santiago. This is due to active participation and enthusiasm of the Academies and the persons that represent them as Focal Points.

I- Activities and Achievements

1- Through the efforts of the IANAS Co-Chairs and also in response to the specific requests of several Academies to their respective national representatives, the IANAS Science Education Program was approved as a Hemispheric Initiative by the Science Ministers of the Americas who met in Lima on November 11, 2004.

The official declaration states

Ministerial Statement

11- “Scientific Education with Support from the Inter American Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS)

Support science education initiatives in the Americas, in particular the Inter American Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS) Enquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE), through which our peoples can understand the importance of scientific endeavor for their cultural and socioeconomic development. Science education is the most important way through which national societies of all countries learn about science, its values, concepts and objectives.”

2- Argentina

Second Inter American Course of Molecular Biology and Genetics for Secondary School Teachers – February 14-23, Buenos Aires, Argentina
12 Biology teachers from Costa Rica, Honduras, Uruguay and Chile and 16 from Argentina.
Received US$ 10.000 from IAP/IANAS.
Other sponsors: Ministry of Education of Argentina, Fundación Antorchas, Red Latinoamericana de Biología (RELAB)

3- Mexico

Third International Conference on Science Education, March 17-18, 2005 Monterrey, N.L. Mexico
50 participants from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Brazil, USA, France, United Kingdom.
Received US$ 5000 from IAP/IANAS

4- Colombia

Inter American Course for Leaders among Science Teachers of Latin America (Training the Trainers), May 23-28, Bogota, Colombia
This meeting had 50 teachers from Colombia and participants from the USA, Mexico, Chile, Argentina.
It received US$ 10.000 from IAP/IANAS
Other Sponsors were the Ministry of Education of Colombia, the French Government and the Foundation for Natural Gas.

5- Trinidad-Tobago

Meeting of Caribbean Focal Points for Science Education, May 13, Tobago
35 Participants from Jamaica, Barbados, Surinam and Guyana.
Received US$ 1900 from IAP/IANAS


6- Venezuela

Launching of the IBSE Project of Venezuela
Sponsored by Venezuelan Academy of Sciences and the Latin American Academy of Sciences. Supported by Fundación Polar, the ECBI Chilean Project.
Participation of representatives from Chile, Colombia and Peru and Dr. H. Chaimovich from Brazil, co-chair of IANAS – 40 participants
Received no financial support from IAP/IANAS

7-Canada

II Meeting of IANAS Focal Points for Science Education, September 26-27, Edmonton, Canada
20 participants
Received from IAP/IANAS US$ 10.000 to support travel of participants
Other sponsors: University of Alberta, Royal Society of Canada.

PENDING ACTIVITIES WITH SUPPORT COMMITTED

8- Argentina

Course on “Sustentable Chemistry” for Secondary School Teachers, November 13-18, Mendoza, Argentina
Will receive 10 airtickets for foreign participants from UNESCO
A total of 40 secondary school teachers will benefit.

9-Jamaica

Regional (Caribbean) Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, October 18-20, Kingston, Jamaica
A total of 150 participants is expected
Will receive US$ 15.000 from IAP/IANAS

10- Peru

Course on Mathematics for Secondary School Teachers,
January 2006, Lima, Peru
Will receive US$ 10.000 from IAP/IANAS

11-Chile

2 nd Strategic Planning Workshop for IBSE Projects – October 31-November 4, 2005 and Internamerican Workshop on Evaluation of IBSE projects, November 5, 2005 – Santiago, Chile
Teams from Bolivia, Panamá and Perú will participate. Staff from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil will work with local staff. These two meetings will be supported by the Chilean Ministry of Education. No IAP/IANAS funding considered.

II- FINANCES

III- FUND RAISING ACTIVITIES

1- A project was prepared and presented to the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) in the Program of Regional Public Goods.
This was done with the valuable effort of Dr. Smith Holt, who prepared this project in 2 weeks time. Unfortunately, 7 months later we were notified that the project had not been approved.

2- Contacts were made and a draft for a pre-proposal to be presented to the FEMCIDI of the Organization of American States.
This was submitted to the Chilean Agency which submits these projects to the OAS in March 2005. Two weeks later, we were
informed that due to lack of funds the OAS was going to consider new projects for 2006. For this reason, we were asked to re-submit the pre-proposal late this year. This should be an important topic of discussion of the meeting in Edmonton.

3- We have approached the Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO.
They are short of funds, nevertheless, they are supporting the Chemistry Course for Secondary School Teachers in Argentina and will co-finance a Pan-Ibero American Conference on Science Education that will take place in Chile during the Second Semester of 2006 (A topic of discussion in the II Focal Point Meeting). The UNESCO is also co-financing the meeting in Jamaica-

IV- SUPPORT BY NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF IANAS COOPERATION

Clearly, we could never carry out the Program of Activities that has been implemented with only the US$ 72.000 provided by IAP/IANAS. There has been a local counterpart that easily multiples the funds by 3 fold.
In addition, there are IANAS activities that do not receive any funds from IAP/IANAS. These are activities promoted by Science Academies that involve science education activities with participation of other Science Academies of the Americas.

Examples of this are :

•  The meeting in Venezuela in July 2005, supported by local funds

•  The Laser K-12 Strategic Planning Meeting in Washington that received a team from Colombia in July 2005 – Supported by the NSRC.

•  The Strategic Planning Workshop in Chile in November 2005 that will receive teams from Bolivia, Panama and Peru. This activity will be funded primarily by the Chilean Ministry of Education.

V- ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE THE AMERICAS

AFRICA

The Coordinator of the IANAS Program also acts as Coordinator of the iAP Program of Science Education. In that capacity, he participated in the organization of a Symposium to Generate a Regional Program of Science Education in Africa. This Symposium was hosted by the Senegalese Academy of Science in Dakar in March of 2005 and was supported by IAP and the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) and included the participation of representatives of the Academies of Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar and Cameroon. In that meeting the IANAS Program was presented as an example and was very favorably commented on. Observers from the NSRC (David Marsland and Smith Holt) and from the French Academy (Pierre Léna) were present.

Activities in Senegal, South Africa, Madagascar and Uganda were approved.

One of these activities, a meeting to demonstrate the Inquiry-Based Science Education operation for Anglophone countries will take place in Uganda next month and will have the participation of the NSRC (David Marsland) and possibly of the French Academy.

GLOBAL ACTIVITIES

The IAP Science Education Program also generated a major global activity in the IAP Workshop on Evaluation of Inquiry-Based Science Education Programs.

This Workshop was hosted in Stockholm, Sweden by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, September 21-23. The Workshop gathered approximately 60 participants from 27 countries, including from the Americas, representatives from Canada, the USA, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. It is hoped that this meeting will help to generate an international mechanism for experimental evaluation of IBSE projects.

I am proud to report that the considerable work involved in coordinating these activities at the IANAS and IAP levels have not cost these organizations any funds with the exception of my air travel to Africa, Sweden and Canada which was paid by IAP. I must recognize the great capacity and dedication of Monique Forton, my personal assistant who has worked very hard to make this possible.

I also thank all of the Focal Points, and especially Frank Jenkins of Canada who has organized the Edmonton meeting with great efficiency and hospitality.

September 2005