Moderated by David Morrison, NAI Senior Scientist

Please address e-mail notes to dmorrison@arc.nasa.gov

Gene McDonald on Astrobiology Lab Exercises (05/01/03)

I agree with the earlier comment that astrobiology lab exercises need to be " real" labs and not just paper exercises. I have been helping some colleagues introduce some astrobiology material into a non-majors astronomy course that includes a observing lab, and it's a challenge to come up with an astrobiology-related "wet lab" exercise that's logistically feasible in an astronomy department (where most of these courses seem to be taught). Even if an astrobiology-oriented textbook like Bennett, Shostak, and Jakosky is used, it's also a challenge to give the students enough basic understanding of biology, chemistry, geology, etc. to appreciate a "wet" experiment that is worth doing. If anybody has any ideas or experiments that have worked I'd love to hear about them.

As far as source material, I've found a couple of promising lab exercises (which I haven't tried out yet) in the Journal of Chemical Education. Other science education journals are probably good places to look as well.

Gene McDonald <Gene.D.McDonald@jpl.nasa.gov>

Carney: On Life in the Universe Activities Manual (11/01/02)

I received a copy of the Prather/Offerdahl/Slater book [Life in the Universe Activities Manual] from Addison Wesley earlier this week and have been reviewing it. It is much more “activity” based and doesn’t include “lab experiments.” For our course, we are aiming for a combination of these two types of activities. Even for non-science majors, I think it is important that they “get their hands dirty” doing an actual experiment, recording their own data, drawing conclusions, and writing it up. Out of say, 9 exercises, at least 3 will be of this type. The AW activities manual has been very helpful, though, and I’m happy to know of its existence. It seems it is the first of its kind, other than K-12 type activities.

Diane Carney <diviana@u.washington.edu>

Gaffey: Distance learning (10/31/02)

I teach a course called “Life in the Universe” . We have a large number (~350) of students in our distance master’s program in Space Studies. So our courses are first taught on campus and video tapes made of those lectures. Then it is taught as a distance course the next semester, where the students are supplied with the tapes and the PowerPoint lecture notes, and discussions (one hour per week) are held during an internet chat session. My on-campus class had 22 students (undergrad and grad) in the spring semester of 2002, and my distance class had 38 students (all in the master’s program) during the summer of 2002.

Michael Gaffey <gaffey@space.edu>

Jakosky: Course emphasizing science & society (10/29/02)

Astrobiology and the potential for life elsewhere generate widespread interest with the public. They also represent one of the intellectual drivers of NASA’s solar system exploration program, as outlined in the recent NRC decadal report. We have the opportunity to take advantage of this interest by using astrobiology as a hook through which we can educate the public on the meaning of science, the value of basic research and exploration, and the broader roles of science in our society today. However, these topics are usually not discussed within the science community or in the teaching of future scientists at either the undergraduate or graduate levels, so that astrobiologists are not well positioned to take on this task. We have attempted to fill this gap with a graduate and senior-level course on the nature of science and society, intended for science majors and incipient scientists.

Topics that we discuss include a brief introduction to the science of astrobiology, the nature of science and philosophy of science as applied to astrobiology, the religious issues connected to life elsewhere, the history of science and the popular and scientific interest in extraterrestrial life, the definition of life, the recent history of astrobiology (the rise of exobiology, the Viking biology experiments, the ALH84001 controversy, the relationship between astrobiology and solar-system exploration, etc.), the nature of sentience and the potential for extraterrestrial intelligence, the interactions between the sciences and the humanities, the cultural influence of astrobiology (including science fiction, movies and TV, UFOs, and the Face on Mars), and the philosophical significance of finding or not finding life elsewhere.

The approach of the class is to discuss the relationship between science and society, from the perspective of the practicing scientist. Although undergraduate and graduate students usually are not well trained in the philosophical, historical, or societal issues, the students can play an important role in addressing the boundary between the doing of science and the influence that the science has on society. The goal is to eventually foster a true dialog between scientists and non-scientists, and to encourage scientists to think about the broader implications for non-scientists of astrobiology research.

Readings from the class include original literature in the areas of philosophy of science (Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend), history of science (Aristotle, Plato, Darwin), religion (Pope John Paul II), history of astrobiology (the scientific literature dealing with Viking, ALH84001), current status of astrobiology (the recent NRC reports on astrobiology), and science and society (C.P. Snow), as well as synthesis and integration of the issues by modern scholars.

Bruce M. Jakosky <bruce.jakosky@lasp.colorado.edu>

Neuenschwander: Hands-on course in Costa Rica (09/03/02)

Let me tell you about our astrobiology course. Actually it's an inverted astrobiology: instead of looking outward for life on other planets, it looks inward, to focus on the astrophysics that makes biology possible on this planet.

We team-teach the course in Costa Rica (in the Talamanca Mountains, where our university maintains a field station with lab and dormitory space). The course is called "The Astronomical Basis of Life on Earth." We presented a poster on it at the Albuquerque [AAS] meeting. The course's theme emphasizes how the conditions necessary for life are
constrained by astronomical realities. For example, stellar evolution provides the energy, elements, and timescale required for biological evolution. At our university's field station in Costa Rica, where every surface is ALIVE, the astronomy that makes it all possible hits you with an in-your-face immediacy. When discussing the nuclear reactions that power the sun, and having described its energy transport mechanisms, we take a series of hikes to see the diverse light-gathering strategies of the plants in the forest, how those photons are used. When discussing tides, we're up to our necks in one on the Pacific coast.

Astronomically speaking, Quetzal DNA is a metal, a way of thinking about biology and the history of atoms that is new to most of our students.When discussing volcanism on Mars and Io, we are within sight and earshot of the pyroclastic Arenal Volcano, standing in the craters made by projectile impact. The timescale necessary for biological evolution is made possible by the sun's lifetime and the mean collision time between stars... These are the kinds of links we make in the course. It generalizes immediately to outward-looking astrobiology too. I would like to add that our astrobiology course in Costa Rica has strongly influenced the "regular" introductory astronomy course that we also teach at our Oklahoma campus.

Dwight E. Neuenschwander <dneuensc@snu.edu> 09/03/02

Hanson: Course with enrollment of 300 (08/30/02)

I have now taught an astrobiology course for two years and will teach it again this spring. We've offered this course for more than 10 years, previously taught by the other astronomer in our dept., Michael Sitko. I had a much easier time putting the course together, I believe. Since I was starting from scratch (I can't teach from other people's notes), I was able to integrate all the most recent discoveries and theories into the course.
Enrollment was over 300 this spring!

I would be interested in sharing ideas/resources/pedagogy with others also teaching such a course.

Margaret Hanson <hanson@physics.uc.edu> 08/30/02

Bobrowsky: Article in The Physics Teacher (08/19/02)

I have taught Astrobio, although the university billed it as Astrobio 301, requiring Astro 101 (not Astrobio 101) as a prerequisite. I also include astrobiology in my Astro 101 course (which I teach both in the classroom as well as in an online [Web-based] format for "distance education" students).

My interactions with students on the topic of astrobiology prompted me to write an article for The Physics Teacher on teaching evolutionary ideas to skeptical students (The Physics Teacher, Vol. 38, p. 565, 2000).

Matthew Bobrowsky <mbobrows@nova.umuc.edu> 08/19/02

Cabanela: Suggestions for astrobiology website (08/19/02)

I am all in favor of the dissemination of information of aid in the teaching of Astrobiology, but what format do you want this website to take? I suspect that it might be more productive to not simply discuss _whether_ such a website should exist (I think most people would be in favor of it), but rather to discuss site contents....

Potential Contents that would be appropriate for the site:

+ Astrobiological News: This would be updated as major/minor stories break in
the field, so that we educators can be apprised of research in the field in
more detail than the New York Times offers.
+ Astrobiological Resources: This would be a listing not only of online
resources, but also of books, textbooks, articles, or other media. I
would base the initial version of this on your previously emailed listing
books of use in the field, which I found very interesting and useful.
+ Teaching Resources: This is a new field with major opportunities
for cross-disciplinary teaching. It is also a challenge because until
recently textbooks didn't exist in the field and most of us only have
formal training in "one subdiscipline" of astrobiology. It might be
nice to see what other people are trying. Starting with Course outlines,
lab ideas, etc.

Juan Cabanela <jcabanel@haverford.edu>

Olendzenski: Microscope website (08/16/02)

In our effort to make the micro*scope website a central place for Astrobiology education resources, I would like to offer that we also make your information for college-level educators available through our site (www.mbl.edu/microscope).

Lorraine Olendzenski <lco95001@uconnvm.uconn.edu>

Irvine: Video teaching resources 08/15/02

I have found that the parts of the video series "Intimate Strangers", produced by the American Society for Microbiology and the NSF for public television, are very good --- particularly "The Tree of Life". And I also use some of the videos in the Complete Cosmos series.

William Irvine <irvine@fcrao1.astro.umass.edu>

Durison: Experimental course (08/14/02)

I taught a somewhat experimental class in Fall 2001 to about 50 students here at Indiana University as part of our ``topics'' curriculum for undergraduates. It was called ``Finding Places to Live: Astronomical Constraints on the Existence of Habitable Worlds in the
Universe''. I couldn't call it Life in the Universe because some physicist had already claimed that title. The students were formed into groups based on a choice of book to read.
There were regular interactive exercises, book reports, and group presentations on their books, as well as standard lecture-style presentation of material. I also used a workbook I created based on the Drake Formula. I am not sure what exactly you want to know, but I am definitely interested in what others have done and plan to do. And I am willing, time permitting, to share aspects of what I did.

Dick Durison <durisen@astro.indiana.edu>

Theison: Bibliography and study guide available (08/13/02)

We met at the ASP meeting in Pasadena a couple years ago. At that time I was working on an "Astrobiology Bibliography: An Annotated List of Recent Books (1990 to present) on Extraterrestrial Life and Intelligence". This has now been updated and is available online:

http://www.astro.umd.edu/~theison/bibliography.html

In addition, I should have a paper called "An Upper Level Astrobiology Course with Discussion Sections" (that describes the Life in the Universe class I've taught for the last 15 years here at the University of Maryland) published in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 213 "Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the Stars". Part of this paper will be available online with the bibliography mentioned above. A student study guide on *2001: A Space Odyssey* that I use in this class is already available at

http://www.astro.umd.edu/~theison/2001/2001studyguide.html

Using science fiction in a life in the universe class is not for everyone but I believe this study guide would be useful for people who think this approach might be valuable.

Dave Theison <theison@astro.umd.edu>