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The Digital Revolution: Consequences for Basic Science and Children’s Science Education

Join us in welcoming SOU Biology Department Affiliate Professor, Dr. Jim Bower, as he discusses the digital revolution and consequences on science education.

Historians have argued that the movable type invented by Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg in 1441 provided a critical technological underpinning for both the reformation and the renaissance. Certainly, the printing press has had a profound influence on universities, education, and science. Now almost 600 years later, we are likely only starting to sense the consequences for society, education and science of a new even more scalable and flexible information technology. This talk will consider the common underpinnings in two seemingly unrelated research projects conducted by Dr. Bower and his students over the last 35 years: GENESIS a simulation platform used by computational neuroscientists around the world to construct realistic models of the brain and Whyville.net an online simulation and gaming based virtual world that has so far engaged more than 8 million young children worldwide. 

Dr. Bower is a computational neurobiologist and was recently appointed the new Executive Director of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His career has involved a mix of basic research in Computational Neuroscience, inventing infrastructure and new methods for research, and innovation in K-12 science education. In addition to his academic appointments, in 1999, Dr. Bower founded Numedeon Inc. whose game-based virtual online learning space Whyville.net has engaged millions of young users around the world in STEM education. 

Friday Science Seminar is a free event and open to the public. Please visit our website for future lecture series details: https://inside.sou.edu/stem/friday-science-seminar-series.html

Light refreshments provided by the STEM Division.

Friday, February 8, 2019 at 3:30pm to 5:00pm

Science Building Room 151
1250 Ashland St Ashland, OR 97520 United States

Event Type

Lectures & Presentations

Target Audience

Students

Tags

STEM, Friday Science Seminar

Department
STEM Division
Hashtag

#FridayScienceSeminar

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