Education and Outreach
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A program that undertakes public awareness concerning the long-term future of the human species.
 The Education and Outreach Program includes financial support for educational workshops, films, and websites; papers delivered at futures conferences; and visits by Foundation staff and Foundation-event participants to schools and other organizations. An important element is educating young people on the choices they make in their lives that will affect the long-term future of humanity.
To support the teaching and understanding of science, evolution, and future studies, the Foundation has financially supported the Futures Research wing of the OECD and the United Nations University’s Millennium Committee. Foundation staff have also routinely written and delivered papers for future study-oriented organizations such as Tamkang University (Taipei), the World Future Studies Federation, and The World Future Society.
“The Future: Young Scholars’ Inquiry” Seminars
A pilot study involving elementary
school students culminated in a seminar in June 2005. Designed on the
format of a Humanity 3000 seminar, the event provided students an opportunity
to present their findings from research into specific subject areas
and to discuss the long-term future of humanity in view of their findings.
A second
seminar for elementary school students was held in February 2006.
In June 2006, in keeping with the Foundation's plans to expand the Young Scholars program to include more grade levels and schools, seminars were conducted with one class of high school students and three classes of middle school students.
The class of 15 physics students from Interlake High School, Bellevue, WA,
under the guidance of teacher Lisa Dossett, had researched a variety of issues
from global warming to solar and nuclear energy. These students reached consensus
that the two most critical issues for humanity, going forward into the far
future, are education and environment/resources.
At Odle Middle School, three
separate groups, totaling 105 middle school students, devoted two days to presentations
and discussions concerning the issues that will be most important for the survival
of our species in the future. The Odle students were guided in their inquiries
and presentations by their teacher, Debbie Benzinger.
Seminar 2
Pilot Seminar
The Foundation’s first science educators workshop was held in
1999 in conjunction with The
Wright Center for Science Education, Tufts
University. Two dozen of the top science teachers and science professors
from all over the United States gathered at the University of Washington
for an intensive workshop emphasizing the teaching of evolution and
the nature of science.
The Foundation maintains and continuously adds to a diverse and unique collection of books, tapes, and journals of over 3,000 volumes for facilitation of the study and understanding of the long-term future of humanity. Library resources can be made available for use by the public.
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