‘This kind of opportunity comes along very rarely,’ superintendent says of collaborations with scientists on the cutting edge of research in their fields
 |
| Jan Drees, left, and Dr. Nancy Sebring, superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, spoke at a press conference announcing Great Ape Academy. Drees is Great Ape Trust of Iowa's K-12 education director. |
|
Des Moines, Iowa – July 17, 2007 – More than 1,000 Des Moines middle school students will have the opportunity to learn more about great apes and related topics through Great Ape Academy, an interdisciplinary education program headed by a respected educator who developed an innovative learning program at Des Moines Public Schools’ Downtown School.
The Academy, the only public education program of its kind in the world, is the first phase of multi-faceted educational programming to help fulfill Great Ape Trust of Iowa’s mission to provide sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, study their intelligence, advance their conservation and provide unique educational experiences about great apes. The Academy is a pilot project that officials at Great Ape Trust hope to eventually offer to K-12 students in other Iowa school districts. When fully developed, The Trust’s education program will include learning opportunities for students through post-graduate study.
A one-of-a-kind opportunity that begins with students in Iowa, Great Ape Academy responds to business-led concerns about the United States’ ability to sustain its scientific and technological superiority through this decade and beyond. “The scientific method is our only way of rationally understanding the world around us over time,” said Great Ape Trust Founder Ted Townsend, the chief executive of his family’s business, Townsend Engineering Co., until it was sold last year to the Dutch company Stork Food Systems.
“Early involvement by students in this professional inquiry can inspire their choice of careers in multiple STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” Townsend said. “By learning of advanced research with our great ape partners, students of all ages will find inspiration, fascination and enlightenment – in a setting available only in Iowa.”
If you would like more information about Great Ape Academy, view our FAQ section. |
Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring said Great Ape Academy, which is offered at no cost to the district, “is the kind of opportunity that comes along very rarely.”
“It’s not just a field trip,” Sebring said. “It takes a classroom experience and connects it to real-world important work that is very engaging for students and something they probably will remember all of their lives.”
School officials recognize the unique educational opportunities available at the world-class scientific research center in southeast Des Moines and have been eager to make them available to their students, said Jim Aipperspach, The Trust’s director of operations.
“Without much hesitation,” he said, “educational institutions, from kindergarten through graduate level, have embraced this work with Great Ape Trust because of their interest in the sciences. Importantly, it says that Great Ape Trust has a great deal of credibility among these institutions.”
 |
| Iowa Public Radio's Rob Dillard interviews Jan Drees, director of Great Ape Trust of Iowa's K-12 education program, at a press conference announcing Great Ape Academy. |
|
In the initial phase of the education program to be launched this fall, 300 students from Des Moines’ 13 middle schools and middle school programs will visit The Trust during regular public tour days, Tuesdays and Thursdays, in September and October. Students will be exposed not only to the groundbreaking scientific research in language and cognition that occurs daily at The Trust, but will be able to study science as it is integrated with other academic disciplines. For example, applications might range from math and information literacy to ecology and conservation, from history and geography to anthropology and biodiversity, and from citizenship and economics to art, reading and music.
Des Moines middle schools involved in the pilot project are Brody, McCombs, Hoyt, Hiatt, Meredith, Merrill, Harding, Goodrell, Callanan and Weeks. The program will also include middle school students attending Moulton, Orchard Place and the Bridges program.
Aipperspach, who brought with him a wealth of experience in corporate leadership, including 20 years in the telephone industry and a decade as the Iowa Association of Business and Industry president, when he joined Great Ape Trust in 2005, said the partnership with Des Moines schools addresses looming shortages of scientists and engineers that threaten U.S. growth, competitiveness and security. The Business Roundtable, an elite group of chief executive officers from leading corporations with a combined workforce of more than 10 million employees in the United States and $4 trillion in revenues, recently said the nation needs to double its undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics over the next decade.
“Creating an interest in science and math is fundamentally important to the education system so we don’t fall further back in spawning scientists and mathematicians,” said Aipperspach, who also served on the West Des Moines school board and is a past president of the group.
To view the Des Moines Public School's curriculum objectives for Great Ape Academy, go here. |
Business leaders and educators agree that careers in STEM subject areas form the backbone of a knowledge-based economy, yet they’re perceived as challenging and difficult and students may be reluctant to study them. Sebring said collaborations with Great Ape Trust scientists on the leading edge of their fields may demystify sciences for students and help them understand the need for them to take and excel in rigorous subjects.
“Typically, science, like other subjects, happens in the classroom,” the Des Moines school superintendent said, “but real science is active, engaging and helps students learn important skills like critical thinking and data analysis.
“Most school children in their wildest imaginations do not know this is the kind of work they can engage in,” Sebring continued. “I think it will be a profound learning experience.”
 |
| Elias Johnson, a reporter from KDSM-TV in Des Moines, asks questions of Great Ape Trust of Iowa and Des Moines Public Schools officials at a press conference announcing Great Ape Academy. |
|
Sebring credited Great Ape Trust for initiating a partnership to give students real-world educational experiences in areas that are critical to the future. “We have a lot of great high-tech businesses in the Des Moines area, but what is challenging and difficult is finding ways for school students to partner with them in an ongoing fashion because not every business wants to open their doors to middle schools,” she said. “There are a lot of hidden treasures in the city of Des Moines, and the more we in education are able to access those and have the opportunity to learn from experts, that’s very exciting.”
Jan Drees, the first and only principal of the Downtown School since it opened in 1993 until her retirement in 2006, has been retained as The Trust’s K-12 education director. The Downtown School, developed by Des Moines’ Business/Education Alliance, has received accolades nationally for its groundbreaking programs that offer small, multi-age classes that feature project-based learning and involve working parents in the children’s daily school lives. The school has been ranked among the top 10 schools in the country and has been featured by a plethora of national publications. Most recently, the Downtown School was the only school among seven businesses and organizations featured in a revised edition Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson's best-selling management book, The Disney Way.
Much of the Downtown School’s success has been credited to Drees, and to attract an educator who has developed a national reputation as an innovator and creator “says volumes about the vision of our founder, Ted Townsend, and the science being embraced here,” Aipperspach said.
“It acknowledges that the science of Great Ape Trust that seeks to understand the origin and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence is of fundamental interest and importance, and is critical to understanding humanity,” Aipperspach said, emphasizing that although he is not a scientist, he thinks the unique culture at The Trust that regards the resident apes – three orangutans and seven bonobos – as research partners rather than subjects will naturally pique students’ interest. “Who would hesitate to learn more about humanity through the eyes of living beings that are most like human beings?”
The collaboration with Des Moines Public Schools, and those in the works with a half-dozen colleges and universities to provide undergraduate and graduate degree programs in primatology and related fields, makes Great Ape Trust an important educational resource in central Iowa, according to Aipperspach.
“It creates the potential to perpetuate the work and science of Great Ape Trust by creating interest in it at an early age,” he said. “It also creates the opportunity for students to pursue their careers locally.”
Drees, who retired in June 2006 from the Des Moines public school system after 35 years in education, was eager to consult with The Trust and oversee its K-12 education program. “Great Ape Trust is an excellent resource for teachers,” she said. “Any time you can observe scientists involved in doing their research, it makes science real and it makes science relevant.
 |
| Clockwise from left, Dr. Rob Shumaker and William M. Fields, both scientists at Great Ape Trust of Iowa; Michael Munoz, who oversees middle school programs for Des Moines Public Schools; and DMPS Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring visit after a news conference announcing Great Ape Academy. |
|
“The research is clear: When you give students an experience, the learning is much more memorable – much better than if they read it or hear a lecture,” Drees said, citing long-held educational principles regarding students’ retention. Some models, including one endorsed by Dr. William Glasser, a psychiatrist who is a respected school improvement expert, suggest that students retain 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, 50 percent of what they both see and hear, 70 percent of what they discuss with others, 80 percent of what they experience personally, and 95 percent of what they teach to someone else.
Drees said the education program will introduce students to real-world problems, require them to seek solutions and inspire them to become the scientists of the future. “Students want to be involved in solving problems, and they have worthwhile, valuable ideas about how to do that,” she said. “They are going to be handed serious, complex issues, and they will learn that the choices and decisions they make today will have an impact on the Earth and its inhabitants.”
The idea for Great Ape Academy began early this spring. In May, teachers and middle school principals took part in a two-hour public tour to learn more about Great Ape Trust’s scientific inquiry and the different disciplines to which it can be applied. An advisory group made up of middle school teachers is continuing to meet throughout the summer to develop curricula.
Through an interdisciplinary approach to learning, experiences could incorporate lessons in science, art, writing, technology and other subject areas. “The curriculum might look different in each school,” Drees said. “The teachers are being very creative.” Technology will play an important role in future collaborations at all levels of education. “With Great Ape Academy, we will create the classroom of tomorrow today,” Aipperspach said. “Through remote video cameras, advanced distance learning technology, a dynamic Web site, interactive software programs and innovative classroom curricula, Great Ape Academy will provide students a new appreciation for what great apes can teach us about the world in which we live.”
The program to be launched this fall reflects Great Ape Trust founder Townsend’s belief that “apes present a powerful and unique opportunity to advance learning.” The 230-acre campus for the scientific research facility is a joint gift of the Des Moines City Council and Mid-American Energy Co., so it’s appropriate that The Trust’s education program begin with Des Moines Public Schools, he said.
Great Ape Trust Background
Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
