Dr. Jay Labov, COPUS Steering Committee Member and National Academy of Science Senior Advisor for Education and Communications, presented the plenary address at the 2007 National Congress on Science Education in San Antonio, TX, on 18 July 2007. This annual meeting is organized by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and is attended by delegates from each of the 94 NSTA chapters and associated groups. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Charting the Course for the Year of Science.”

Jay’s talk, “The Public’s Understanding of Science vs. the Science Community’s Understanding of the Public: Can the Twain Ever Meet?” addressed the history and key lessons learned from recent controversies surrounding the teaching of evolution in public school science courses. In discussing the public’s perception of science, Jay introduced the audience to COPUS and its prime objective: improving the public understanding of science. He described the advantages and resources the collaborative network offers to science teachers, including opportunities to collaborate with scientists and their affiliated institutions, access to information and exemplars about the process of science and how to integrate it into lesson plans, and a public database for locating science programs and events to engage students.

COPUS is pleased that NSTA has joined the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Geological Society of America, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology as a sponsoring organization.

We encourage NSTA local chapters and associated groups as well as individual teachers and schools to get involved in this growing coalition. For more information, please visit www.copusproject.org