MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State University teaching majors are using the moon and the Internet to increase their understanding of students from another culture.

The Moon Project allows science education majors to work with Native American students in New Mexico by using the Internet to conduct electronic discussions, said Walter Smith, a biology professor coordinating the program.

“The program is designed to enhance the observational skills of elementary school science teachers and increase their knowledge and understanding of Native American students,” Smith said.

Regular Internet-based discussions about the moon are taking place between fourth graders at Burris Laboratory School, science education teaching majors at Ball State, and Navajo elementary students at Dzith-na-o-ditlh-hle Elementary School, located northeast of Albuquerque, N.M.

The Moon Project is Smith’s participation in the Diversity Associates Program, designed to increase research and understanding of diversity issues in higher education.

“Our department, and elementary teacher education in general, will improve its efforts to increase multicultural teaching skills and understanding of its students,” said Smith, director of science and science education doctoral programs at Ball State.

Since starting a few weeks ago, students have been working together as “research buddies,” a term coined to describe the relationship.

Under the project:

• Research buddies observe the moon and use electronic conversations to discuss why the moon moves and appears to change shape.
• Research buddies exchange information about what people in their communities think about the moon in conversation, literature, dance and song.
• Students also work together by e-mail, computer videoconferencing and conventional mail to solve science, mathematics and language arts challenges.

Smith has been working with Native American students and teachers with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Southwest for the last 15 years. This relationship allows him to introduce Native American students into the project.

“I believe Burris and Ball State students have a great deal to learn,” he said. “The Native Americans have been studying the skies for centuries, while our students are not as aware of their surroundings.”

Smith said nearly a millennium ago the Anasazi, probably ancestors of today's Pueblo people, constructed an amazing observatory which marks the summer and winter solstices, the spring and fall equinoxes, and the moon's most northerly and southerly rising points during its 19 year cycle.

Plans call for the project to expand next school year by adding elementary schools in Australia, Indianapolis, and possible other locations around the globe.

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Smith by e-mail at wsmith@bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-8840. )