While science plays a critical role in helping to resolve some of our most complex problems, science literacy among young Americans remains inadequate. To ensure that students actively pursue and receive an education grounded in science, new mechanisms are needed that make science less intimidating and more accessible. To accomplish this task, scientists and educators must collaborate proactively in the development and implementation of new educational technologies. Island Press is working with Dr. Edward O. Wilson to produce and disseminate new materials dedicated to science education and featuring interactive, multimedia CD-ROM. We are drawing from Dr. Wilson's experience in instructing Harvard undergraduates to create a series of CD-ROM teaching and learning tools that will enable the user to actively explore the biological sciences at a variety of levels of depth. Over the years, Dr. Wilson has accumulated and developed a series of "teaching aids" that he and his teaching assistants employ in lectures, sections, and labs. These aids include computer simulations to demonstrate the workings of important ecological processes and equations, as well as a library of top-knotch slides. We plan to harness this experience to create the next generation of teaching aids embodied in one CD-ROM, entitled "Teaching Tools for Biology." The CD-ROM will provide a collection of multi-media simulations, animations, and other computer-based tools that biology professors will use to enhance their teaching of key concepts in introductory and mid-level college biology classes. It is our experience that the most important concepts in biology, and those that are often the most difficult for students to learn, often discuss change over time, whether within individual organisms, populations, species, communities, or ecosystems. Through "Teaching Tools for Biology," we will provide tools that will enable teachers to present this material dynamically. In addition to giving educators new methods of deliv ering concepts, and providing students new ways of grasping these concepts, the CD-ROM will offer the same opportunity for exploration and student engagement that Dr. Wilson injects into his course. "Teaching Tools for Biology" will be an important resource for teachers in a wide array of classes, including introductory organismic biology, evolution, ecology, genetics, and conservation biology, among others. The CD-ROM will include a printed Teacher's Manual with instructions on using the CD-ROM and recommendations on incorporating the tools into curricula and instruction. We also plan to provide explanation via "dialogue boxes" within the CD-ROM itself, and will provide online assistance via our Web site. A non-profit organization dedicated to information dissemination and education in science and the environment, Island Press will work with Dr. Wilson to develop the substance of the package. We have entered into a partnership arrangement with Adobe Systems, Inc., which will work with us to develop the software. And our advisory committee will provide guidance on quality control and content.
