1001 Inventions: Development of Youth Program

FAIN: EE-50609-11

New York Hall of Science (Queens, NY 11368-2950)
Margaret Honey (Project Director: December 2010 to February 2012)

In collaboration with the Foundation for Science, Technology, and Civilization (FSTC), the New York Hall of Science proposes to host a two-day conference focusing on the advancement of scholarship, science and technology during a thousand-year period of history from the 7Ut to the 171h century. Spanning a geographic region that stretched from southern Spain, across the Middle East, as far as China, this was a golden age of discovery and innovation throughout the Muslim world. It was a time known for its tolerance, diversity, and commitment to the preservation of historical and scientific knowledge, as well as for its discoveries in areas ranging from algebra, geometry, physics, astronomy, chemistry, geography and medicine. The history of this period helps us to understand the power of humanity to coalesce around great ideas and to consider the role of science and scientists throughout history. The conference will bring together historians, scientists, engineers, learning science researchers, educators, experts from the US edllcation industries, and specialists from Federal agencies and philanthropic organizations engaged in advancing learning about science, technology, and cultural literacy. Our objectives for the meeting are two-fold: l)To identifY promising areas of future research and scholarship that is focused on indentifYing the connections between the scientific discoveries made during this thousand year period of history and their influence on Renaissance scholars and scientists, and 2) To identifY promising areas of scholarship, which are ripe for public dissemination and communication, with a particular focus on public exhibitions, multimedia productions, and products that have relevance to K-12 education.