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Launched at the United Nations (UN) in New York on October 17, the Human Security Report 2005 documents a dramatic, but largely unknown, decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights violations over the past decade. The Report argues that the single most compelling explanation for these changes is found in the unprecedented upsurge of international activism, spearheaded by the UN, which took place in the wake of the Cold War. Professor Andrew Mack is Director of the Human Security Centre at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia. He was Director of the Strategic Planning Unit in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan 1998-2001. He has held research and teaching posts at world-class institutions all over the globe, and his career has included periods as a pilot in the UK's Royal Air Force, as a meteorologist in Antarctica, as a diamond prospector in Sierra Leone and as a journalist with the BBC. (An Office of UBC International
Global Citizenship Speakers Series lecture originally presented on 21-Nov-2005)
Dr. Carl Wieman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001, discusses the failures of traditional educational practices, even as used by "very good" teachers, and the successes of some new practices and technology that characterize this more effective approach. Research on how people learn science is now revealing how many teachers badly misinterpret what students are thinking and learning from traditional science classes and exams. However, research is also providing insights on how to do much better. The combination of this research with modern information technology is setting the stage for a new more effective approach to science education based on using the tools of science. This can provide a relevant and effective science education to all students. (A special lecture sponsored by the
Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the Offices of the Vice Presidents Academic and Provost, Research, and Students, the Faculty of Science, and the Faculty of Education, originally presented on 21-Nov-2005)
