James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Combating the spread of weapons of mass destruction with training & analysis

U.S. and Russian High School Teachers Study Space Security at the Critical Issues Forum Teacher Development Workshop

Dr. Clay Moltz discusses Space Security

As part of the 2006-2007 session of the Critical Issues Forum (CIF), CNS staff are collaborating with U.S. and Russian teachers to develop materials for teaching space security issues to high school students. At the CIF Winter 2006 Teacher Development Workshop, held from December 7-9, 2006, high school teachers from ten U.S. high schools and ten schools in Russian closed nuclear cities met to discuss the 2006-07 CIF topic, "Outer Space: Next Frontier for Proliferation or Forum for Cooperation?". Experts from the NASA Ames Research Center also shared their expertise with the workshop.

Teachers from high schools in California and Texas attended the workshop along with Russian teachers from the cities of Lesnoy, Novouralsk, Ozersk, Sarov, Seversk, Snezhinsk, Trekhgorniy, Zarechniy, Zelenogorsk, and Zheleznogorsk.

CIF teachers at workshop

Dr. Will Marshall from NASA discussing Physics of Space Security

At the workshop, teachers were introduced to curriculum and teaching materials on space security issues jointly prepared by CNS staff and CIF teachers (CIF Benchmarks). The workshop also included a series of lectures by CNS staff and NASA-Ames guest lecturers on topics including: the history of space security, the physics of space, current civilian and military uses of space, and the space programs of several countries. The workshop participants also discussed tools and methods for implementing the CIF Project in the classroom.

CIF topics are chosen by CNS researchers in consultation with experienced high school teachers to encourage interdisciplinary exploration of international nonproliferation issues. The results of the December 2006 workshop illustrated the high level of interest by the participating teachers in space security issues, which reflects increasing international reliance on space for scientific, commercial, and military purposes.

Participating teachers will now return to their schools to begin work on the space security curriculum benchmarks developed at the workshop. Both students and teachers return to Monterey in May 2007 to present their findings at the student-teacher conference that represents the culmination of the yearlong program.

View the workshop agenda.
View the workshop participants.

CNS thanks the following funders for their support of the CIF Teacher Development Workshop: the U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Ford Foundation, and the Ploughshares Fund.

For more information on the CIF program, visit: http://www.criticalissuesforum.org/

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