One very interesting highlight of Semester 1 was the NTU Pan Asian Liberal Arts meeting on 28-29 October. During the meeting, representatives from Hong Kong, South Korea, Macau, China, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore got together to discuss the new proliferation of interest in liberal arts and sciences in Asia. The meeting featured a number of very interesting talks from Presidents and Vice Chancellors from around Asia, including our Yale-NUS President, Pericles Lewis. Kenneth Young at CUHK gave a talk on liberal education and general education, and their very interesting year-long courses which are entitled “In Dialog with Nature” (an interdisciplinary science curriculum), and “In Dialog with Humanity” (an interdisciplinary humanities course). Like the Yale-NUS Curriculum, the courses blend ideas from East and West and offer an exciting synthesis of the key ideas from past centuries. Many of the speakers talked about the transition in ideas on education within Chinese culture, from Zhu Xi who in ancient times advocated a form of liberal arts, to Chairman Mao who wanted to integrate higher education with “productive labor.”

Anita Patankar from India’s Symbiosis University gave a great talk about how India is at “an important state in its history” that promises to be “tremendously amazing” or “tremendously scary.” She reviewed the history of higher education in India as it evolved from Tagore’s Vishwa Bharati towards the post 1947 goals of providing free education for everyone.  Anita pointed out the success of places like IIT, IIM and the research institutes within India TIFR, TISS, NCL, and RRI. However she said many of the other institutions left much to be desired, and students in India needed greater focus on working in teams, soft skills, communication, and cross-cultural understanding. Ultimately the development of improved higher education has the potential to transform Indian culture and improve civic life, and Anita is committed to this in her own institution, Symbiosis University. During the meeting I was able to discuss the possibility of Symbiosis hosting our third “Future of Liberal Arts in India” meeting in late May, and Anita indicated that this was of great interest to her and Symbiosis!

Additional talks by Da Hsuan Feng from U. Macao (a nuclear astrophysicist), Xiafeng Jin from Fudan University (a physics professor interested in history of astronomy), Steve Sung-Mo Kang (an electrical engineer; founding President of UC Merced, and now president of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), highlighted the role of physics and science in leading new curriculum in Asian higher education. The blending of new technologies, science education and liberal arts in Asian higher education is very exciting, and promises to usher in a renaissance within Asian universities. The students will benefit, and as some of the speakers pointed out, Chinese tradition tells of how a “gentleman is not a vessel to be filled” and that education should create students who are “broad of spirit and intellectually agile” – clearly goals of a good liberal arts and science education!

During early Semester 1 (September 2015), NUS hosted a remarkable visitor, Anthony Bryk, who is the President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Improvement of Teaching. During his visit to NUS, he offered a master class, gave a public lecture and met with the NUS Faculty of Science. I attended all of these events, and learned about his concept of the Networked Improvement Community (NIC) as well as some of his user of improvement science he has been applying to helping improve teaching in the US public schools. These concepts are extremely powerful and can be applied to any organization or system. Tony described a series of principles that should be followed to employ Improvement Science to solve a problem. These principles include  1). Be problem-focused and user centered; 2). Attend to variability; 3). See the system; 4). Embrace measurement; 5). Learn through disciplined inquiry; and 6). Organize as networks. He then described each of these elements in detail, and gave examples of how Improvement Science is being used to improve mathematics instructions in the US. He described this process as one of knowledge synthesis, which brings together research, professional organizations, and system theory. As applied to education, it is important to recall his point that education is an “intensely personal and social activity.”

Within the workshop was a remarkable demonstration of systems theory, where he took half of the class, and had them stand up in front. He told the group up front to secretly choose two people and then maintain themselves to be equidistant from both of them. Immediately the mass of people began to move in an amazingly complex and chaotic dance – illustrating how often in organizations unstated rules and complex behaviors can come together. It was a great discussion when we noticed that even a small movement from one person caused a ripple effect with a big shift in the positions of all the group. It illustrated that there was no single person in control, and that the system was reactive – causing the chaotic behavior seen in some educational contexts!

The workshop next discussed Causal Systems Analysis, which enables you to identify the causes of a problem. The tool used is a “cause and effect diagram” which arises from asking the five “why” questions – all in an attempt to identify the cause of a problem while keeping any discussions of solutions to later. The diagram is sometimes called a “fishbone” diagram that identifies a problem, and then finds the multiple causes of the problem. For an example, Tony used a broken faculty development system in many K-12 public schools – where teachers can fail without good feedback. The problem comes from several “why’s” – not enough time to give feedback; admins are too busy; only 2 admins in a school; instructional coaches were not deployed since they were covering classes; this because the process for substitutes was not working. The question of asking “why” ends when you hit a process that is not working. This becomes a leverage point and one that can suggest the proximal cause of a problem rather than the root cause.

Once the problem is identified, Tony suggests asking “aim” questions. The first one is “what, specifically, are you trying to accomplish?  The second is what change can we introduce and why? and the third is how can we measure this change, and what change would we consider successful?  Tony also described how to create driver diagrams, where your goal is identified, and you label it with several (3-5) primary drivers that will be part of the solution, and secondary drivers that include specific strategies that are part of the solution.  This diagram should identify leverage points, give a graphic representation of the solution, and should illustrate “what is happening” based on evidence.

Once the improvement is started, the Improvement Science recommends an improvement cycle, which involves iteratively studying causes, assessing current system, developing improvement hypotheses, trying an improvement protocol, measuring outcomes, analyzing results, and then revising and refining in a second iteration. Seeing this system in action, and with Tony’s examples was really amazing, and I look forward to trying out some of these systems in my work at Yale-NUS College!

A group of people engaged in solving the same problem, using this system of Improvement Science, can greatly add to their efficiency by adopting the same framework, driver diagrams, and testable and measurable improvement protocols. As the group of institutions begin their work, they are able to make use of the variability in their communities, and from this cross section of individuals a more robust measure of the solution can be found, along with a great range of new ideas and insights from the larger community. This structured form of improvement is known as a Networked Improvement Community. The concept is one that in some ways can be likened to a community of practice, but the difference is that the group is focused on solving the same problem, with the same set of explicit assumptions and hypotheses. These NICs have been used in a wide variety of K-12 public schools and some community colleges, and it would be great to see if this sort of focused and structured form of inquiry can be adapted to higher education!

One exciting development from the semester is the creation of a network for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at NUS. The network has been started during Sem. 1 of 2015, and includes leaders of Teaching Centers at the many excellent higher education institutions in Singapore – NTU, NUS, SMU, SUTD, SIM, SIT, and of course Yale-NUS College. I met with this group several times during the Sem. 1, and really enjoyed getting to know this interesting and diverse group. It includes Peter Looker from NTU, who has a long track record in Australia before leading his dynamic center at NTU, as well as Nachamma Sockalingam from SMU, Yong Lim Foo from Singapore Tech, and Eng Hong Ong from SUTD.  Johan Geertsema, the NUS CDTL director is leading the charge, and has not only convened several interesting discussions of our group but has also engaged the team at Lund University in Sweden and we together are discussing a course for Faculty Development Techniques for next academic year.

Johan Geertsema, the NUS CDTL director, and the NUS Associate Vice Provost Huang Hoon Chng arranged for a fantastic two day meeting on October 26, which included representatives from NUS (Alan Soong, Kiruthika Ragupathi), Lund University in Sweden (Katarina Martensson), University of Hong Kong (Grahame Bilbow and Trudi Chan), Hong Kong Poly (Angelo Ho), and U. Kyoto in Japan.  The group met for a day of discussions and presentations on a Friday and also a second weekend day for further strategizing about how best to develop SoTL in Singapore and across Asia.

Katarina Martensson and Dan Bernstein both gave talks during the day, and I took a LOT of notes and learned a lot!  Katarina is an expert on “communities of practice” and explained the theory and practice of these communities as they relate to both faculty development and curriculum redesign.  The interesting part of Katarina’s talk was that she was describing in many ways the very group we were assembling, and our community of practice is one that hopes to have a shared intellectual enterprise in developing a unique flavor of SoTL in Singapore and helping coordinate our efforts in faculty development in the coming months.  A few figures from her talk illustrate schematically how we are all connected in our efforts, and also that various models for fostering such connections can be applied to help accelerate development of innovations by “local champions” and dissemination and reinforcement of such efforts with carefully developed outside ties. The talk was just one of several amazing lessons in how universities can interconnect and can learn from each other.

(these slides are available online at: http://ctlt.ubc.ca/files/2010/08/Torgny-Roxa-PowerPoint-Presentation-11-28-08.pdf ). Further talks by Dan Bernstein were very instructive; Dan also came to Yale-NUS to meet with us and to give a talk on assessments and grading. A very exciting set of days!

Clearly one of the biggest events from last semester – perhaps of the year – was our official campus inauguration – on October 11 and 12, 2015. We were joined by 40 University Presidents – including those from Yale, Oxford, NYU, Shanghai Jiao Tong, University of Hong Kong, Pomona, Wesleyan, Vassar and many, many others. The Yale Corporation, Richard Levin, the NUS President Chor Chuan, and other supporters of Yale-NUS were all attending, and the energy and support was very gratifying. I spent most of the 2014-15 year helping plan the event with a small task force that included Fiona Soh, Casey Nagy, and Jenifer Raver, and it was wonderful to see it all come together so nicely!  The Public Affairs office had made impeccable arrangements for the various venues and meals, and our program included a full day of talks on Sunday October 11 which explored The Future of International Liberal Education (Andrew Hamilton from Oxford gave a great talk!), and discussed the founding of Yale-NUS College (with a panel that included Richard Levin and Chor Chuan Tan). I had a chance to open up the event with a short 5 minute speech, and also to introduce our President, Pericles Lewis, and help keep the various sessions on time. The NUS President Chor Thuan Tan wrapped up the session with a great talk, and we spent the next day enjoying the spectacle of our campus opening. This included a ceremonial precession of academics into our performance hall, and address from the Prime Minister of Singapore, student dance and music performances, and a series of talks and gift exchanges. The final segment was to dramatize the opening of the campus with a small model on the stage, which led to a wonderful video of the construction of Yale-NUS College (imbedded below). Those of us who have been working so hard on the new Yale-NUS College found the video very inspiring and touching!  It showed the dramatic building of an entire campus in two years, which was paralleled by a similarly rapid construction of a curriculum, and an academic culture. What an exciting weekend – and more such adventures are coming!

As part of the Yale-NUS College Week 7 program, I led a short course during late September 2015 entitled “The Ancient and Modern Chinese Universe.” With a team of 20 students, and a fearless staff member from CIPE, Charlotte Evans, we are visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing, and explored the ancient and modern cosmology of China, which includes visiting the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, ancient observatories such as the Beijing and Purple Mountain Observatories, and the Shanghai Sheshan Observatory, with the largest telescope in Asia – a 65-meter steerable radio telescope. Our modern component included riding bullet trains, visiting astrophysics research centers and political think tanks, and analyzing downtown Shanghai from a cosmological perspective, and meeting students and faculty at NYU Shanghai. This sort of thing is really one of the amazing parts of being out here in Singapore at Yale-NUS College, and a very exciting chance for me to learn more about China and ancient astronomy with students!

Some of the highlights of the trip included – a meeting with NYU Shanghai students, measuring skyscrapers in Shanghai with a theodolite app on ipads, and a laser rangefinder, riding the Chinese high speed trains, visiting the Shesan Observatory, with its nearly 200 year old tradition of astronomy begun by Jesuits, the visit to the Beijing Observatory and its 500 year old instruments, the Purple Mountain Observatory with its original bronze instruments from the 1400s, and a chance to see Asia’s largest telescope – the 65-meter Shanghai radio observatory. During our visit we also got to see a press conference for China’s new Dark Matter satellite, tour the science labs for the Purple Mountain Observatory, hear a talk about China’s geopolitics and linguistics from David Arase (a former colleague from Pomona, now at the JHU Nanjing center), and from Neil Kubler (Director of the JHU Center). It was also wonderful exploring China with our amazing Yale-NUS students, and enjoying dumplings, large hot pot dinners and other Chinese food. We had an amazing evening at the Beijing Temple Hotel where a Turrell exhibit allowed us to watch the sunset in a specially constructed room with a square portal viewing the sky.

One of the first “site visits” taken during the 2015-16 academic year was a visit to SUTD, a new university that is a partnership with MIT here in Singapore. The institution features a very interesting new curriculum, co-developed by MIT faculty and local SUTD faculty. It offers an interdisciplinary science and engineering education, and a top-flight education for Singaporean students interested in STEM. I visited there with our Associate Director of our Yale-NUS CTL, Nancy Gleason on 31 August. We met with Professor Pey Kin-Leong, Associate Provost of Education, and Allan Chan, the Associate Programme Director for Curriculum planning. Allan and Kin-Leong are long-time employees of SUTD, starting back in 2010 as some of the first people hired. They explained how tight-knit their graduating students were – of 130 students, nearly half were getting married!  Their campus has a very interesting schedule which includes 2 summer sessions, and which has a curriculum that builds from a 1-D disciplinary view point, to 2D projects that integrate Math, Chem, and Physics, and then a “3D” design class, in which the four “pillars” of the SUTD curriculum are brought together, and finally a “4D” session where the learning from SUTD students is integrated with the outside world.

(image from Otto, et al, “Integrated 2D Design in the Curriculum: Effectiveness of Cross-Subject Engineering Challenges” presented at the 2014 ASEE Annual conference)

The entire curriculum of SUTD is based on the idea of “pillars” which correspond to four areas of study. These include Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD), Engineering Product Development (EPD), Engineering Systems and Design (ESD), and Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD). They have also added Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) and integrate this to the program of study in some of the 2D work. The schedule is built into what is called a “Freshmore” period of three terms, and then the 3D and 4D sections come afterwards. Like other startups there is a tangible energy and excitement about SUTD. They are proud that their students build exciting things in their courses – an E&M course includes building a radio receiver, which can double as a radar. The faculty come from all over the world, with 1/3 from Singapore, and the others from around the world. One of the perks of the SUTD faculty job is a chance to spend time and collaborate at MIT, and work closely with a very interesting and international faculty. The SUTD has a “pedagogy day” where faculty share some of their new innovations. They are also closely working with the CREATE/SMART group in Singapore, and with some key faculty from MIT visiting Singapore. On our way out we visited their very impressive “Fab Lab” which includes literally dozens of 3D printers, engravers, and large spaces where students can build and test out some of their many creations. A very interesting day indeed – and we will look forward to further connections between Yale-NUS and the SUTD!

Now that the new year and semester are here, I am going to be posting a recap of some of the interesting events of last semester. Things were so busy I was not able to keep up with blogging!  The basic idea was that I managed to launch our new Centre for Teaching and Learning, while coordinating our very large Foundations of Science core curriculum class. This involved 8 instructors, and about 160 students. On top of that, I managed to take a certificate course in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), plan and implement our October Yale-NUS Campus opening, plan and implement a pretty cool “week 7 trip” to China entitled, “The Ancient and Modern Chinese Universe,” attend a number of meetings at Caltech, NTU, SUTD, NYU Abu Dhabi, and also plan and implement a project known as “Envirolabs Asia” which included roving about central Borneo with 8 faculty from Claremont, 5 from Yale-NUS, and 20 students. A few other things happened, as the subsequent blog posts will indicate! Enjoy!

A rainbow, viewed about 3 hours away from Miri, Sarawak, during our Envirolabs Asia trip in Jan. 2016. We enjoyed the rainbow for a while while waiting for help after our flat tire!  One adventure after another!

With the end of the Fall semester, I now finally have a bit of time to add some postings for the media platform! Suffice it to say, it has been a busy and very interesting semester – and so busy in fact that I have fallen a bit behind in my postings!  Unlike many of these “media platforms” my goal is to not necessarily document the moment by moment happenings of the semester and work life but instead use the platform as a vehicle for reflection. The educational research has shown how valuable structured reflection can be for learning, and this site is my way of reflecting on experience – and sharing some of the amazing adventures in Singapore with a wider audience.

One aspect of the end of the semester different this year than last is that the end – really was not an end. In other years, I would hand off my grades, and then be off for several weeks – completely unbothered by anyone and free to pursue research, attend a conference or even go on long bike rides. This semester since I have responsibilities coordinating our large Foundations of Science class (with 170 students and 8 professors), directing a Teaching and Learning Center, planning a group of visitors to Yale-NUS next semester, and organizing a conference on innovative undergraduate education at Yale University in June 2016, and a few other projects. This has meant that instead of coming to a complete end, the semester just sort of slowed down a bit as I could then catch up on my many projects. Such is the life of being an administrator I suppose!

Things however have slowed down enough so that I could catch up with my unused painting lessons. This enabled me to finish one piece which in the spirit of “reflection” is shown below. The painting is of a very important site for our family, called Long Lake, near Mammoth Lakes in the California high Sierra. I think having a bit of time for painting too is part of being a fully productive scientist – the way in which I can use other parts of my brain, think about color, and feel some of the lighting and feeling of painting is really a great way to regenerate. I will fill in with some other postings about the events during Fall Semester – this includes the Yale-NUS Campus opening, a number of very interesting meetings on Teaching and Learning with amazing people at NTU, NUS, and SUTD, a week 7 trip to China with a group of Yale-NUS students, and some exciting developments in our Foundations of Science course. More on that later – in the meantime, enjoy the painting!

On August 4, 5 and 6, we began our new Teaching and Learning Center at Yale-NUS College, with a series of workshops for incoming faculty. My role is to be the inaugural Director of the Center, and we have a wonderful group that includes Nancy Gleason, Associate Director, and several others from Yale-NUS. Each of the three workshops was geared toward the faculty in the Divisions of Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

During the talks, we presented ideas for designing courses with Assessable Learning Objectives, explored the Bloom Taxonomy of Learning and the AACU Rubrics, and described ways to create an active classroom, and the technique known as Constructive Alignment, and modified Learning Taxonomies. After the first set of workshops, we hosted a talk by John Kelley on “The Emotions of First Year Teaching” and are planning a number of other workshops during the semester and afterwards.

Our new web site is available at http://teaching.yale-nus.edu.sg, and will include a wide array of resources for faculty, video-recordings of many of our events, and useful materials for designing and assessing courses.

The mission of the center is below:

Topics and Questions the Centre will address with faculty:

• How does one best design and assess interdisciplinary courses?
• How can active learning be incorporated into larger lectures?
• How can experiential and international work be better integrated into undergraduate classes?
• How can teams of instructors be trained to work well together?
• What is the best way to develop faculty for excellent teaching?
• How can one create an institutional culture of teaching excellence?
• How do we assess and communicate what we have learned within our common curriculum to future instructors and to the world outside of Yale-NUS College?
• How does teaching and learning differ within the Asian context from North America?
• How can we integrate technology into our classrooms to create truly global classrooms?
• How can we more effectively assess student learning outcomes and attitudes?
• How effective is liberal arts and interdisciplinary curriculum for advancing student learning?

Efforts of the Centre in the coming Academic Year 2015-16

In the coming year the Centre will begin a series of programs to encourage a lively, social and stimulating set of conversations about teaching at Yale-NUS College. These programs will be developed through collaborations with Yale-NUS faculty and the Teaching, Learning and Assessment (TLA) committee.

1. New Faculty workshop for incoming and other faculty in August of 2015
2. Regular consultations and biweekly meetings with junior faculty and others by appointment.
3. Regular events within the semester to discuss teaching techniques at Yale-NUS College; developed in consultation with the TLA committee.
4. Set of workshops for Teaching and Learning at Yale-NUS for December 2015 will include Leading Discussions, Active Learning, and Technology in the Classroom.
5. A visiting scholar of pedagogy will visit Yale-NUS for an extended period in early 2016, to develop connections across Yale-NUS and NUS.
6. New web site and Teaching and Learning to showcase the best scholarship in Teaching and Learning, with an eye toward materials that can quickly and efficiently help faculty implement research-validated pedagogy in their courses.
7. Development of new forms of assessment at Yale-NUS College, including formative and summative surveys that accurately capture student learning outcomes and attitudes toward subjects.
8. A Conference and Workshop at Yale University on undergraduate education in June 2016 will gather thought leaders in undergraduate education and teams of leaders from top institutions in North America and beyond.
9. A third Liberal Arts in India conference in 2016 will bring together teams of faculty from Singapore, North America and India to work collaboratively on new courses and plan for global classroom sessions.
10. Guides for best practices in Discussion Leading, Active Learning, Assessment, and Team Teaching will be assembled collaboratively with the Yale-NUS College faculty and the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee.
11. Plan will be developed for an Asian Teaching and Learning and Undergraduate innovation conference for March 2017, hosted by Yale-NUS College.
12. Global courses will be offered, starting with an Environmental Science course simultaneously taught at Yale and Yale-NUS College.

Below are some photos of John Kelley (University of Chicago), during his presentation on the “Emotions of First Year Teaching.”

On June 15-22, I was one of three leaders for a very interesting exploration of the Four Corners region (New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona), sponsored by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Our itinerary included major archaeoastronomical sites in the region, ancient settlements from Chacoan peoples, and notable rock art panels. With the other scholars from the group, we climbed up ridges to examine 1200 year old settlements, interpreted alignments between archaeological sites and solstice sunrise and sunset points, and examined panels of very interesting rock art. We also had a chance to float in rafts down the San Juan River in Utah, where we were able to go on shore and see some amazing ancient sites in the Ute Reservation. As part of my work, I gave a talk on archaeoastronomy, and led a “star party” under the clear Utah Skies. We also got to watch the amazing sliver of light at Hovenweep Monument that slices through a sun figure – only on the Summer Solstice sunrise. It was an amazing sight!

Below is the itinerary for the trip!

Summer Solstice v. 7.2.14

Archaeoastronomy in the Four Corners

 Summer solstice in the Southwest! Join us for a week of exploration, discovery, and dialogue in places where the paths of light and shadow have long been observed by Pueblo Indians. In our study of archaeoastronomy—the astronomy of ancient peoples—visit centuries-old observatories, examine astronomical alignments and features, and look at rock art imagery. Learn how celestial cycles continue to influence significant events in the daily and ceremonial lives of Pueblo people. The highlight of the week: experiencing summer solstice among the masonry towers at Hovenweep National Monument.  Also on the itinerary: Chimney Rock National Monument, Ute Mountain Tribal Park, and a great house in southeast Utah. Summer solstice occurs on Sunday, June 19.

Tuesday, June 16 – Monday, June 22, 2015

Scholars: Dr. Bryan E. Penprase, Phillip TuwaletstiwaGuest Scholars: Virginia Wolf, Sally Cole, Jonathan Till

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Discover the human experience of the sky across the centuries and across cultures

Learn about the significance of astronomical events in Pueblo culture

The use of astronomy and astronomical measurements in archaeology to understand the past

ITINERARY

Tuesday, June 16:Arrive Durango, Colorado by 4:00PM. Dinner and introduction to the week’s activities. Phillip and Bryan discuss the many ways that societies around the world understand and describe celestial events. Overnight Durango, Colorado. (D)

Wednesday, June 17: Chimney Rock National Monument

Built in the late A.D. 1000s the Chimney Rock great house is located at the base of two dramatic stone pinnacles on an exposed ridge high above the perennial streams and fertile lowlands. Discuss the great house’s location for viewing a remarkable celestial event: the culmination of a 19-year lunar cycle marked by the full moon rising between the twin buttes. Dinner on your own. Overnight Durango, Colorado. (B, L)

Thursday, June 18: Ute Mountain Tribal Ute Park

With archaeoastronomer Virginia Wolf, visit seldom-seen sites in the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park, a vast and remote area of canyons and mesas located southwest of Mesa Verde National Park. Virginia was the first to document many of the sun calendars within the park and shares her knowledge of how shadows interact with rock art during summer and winter solstices. Phillip shares the significance of oral traditions from a Hopi perspective that help us learn about the interconnectedness of people, landscape, and the cosmos. Dinner on your own. Overnight Bluff, Utah. (B, L)

Friday, June 19: Montezuma Canyon

In Montezuma Canyon explore the little known site of Coal Bed, a large multi-terraced village site dating to the A.D. 1100s. Unique to this site is a line of standing monoliths. Virginia points out the celestial architecture and shares her observations of the winter and summer solstice. Bryan links the past to the present and discusses how modern societies are infused with cosmological symbolism. Dinner on your own. Overnight Bluff, Utah. (B, L)

Saturday, June 20: Bluff

Beneath the towering landform of Twin Rocks, visit a Pueblo I Site with archaeologist Jonathan Till and discuss the equinox relationship with the nearby Bluff Great House. Embark on18-foot inflatable rafts and float down the San Juan River to visit the Dance Plaza Site where Virginia is currently studying significant solar alignments related to the Bluff Great House. Enjoy dinner and a discussion of what we have experienced so far. Witness sunset from the Bluff Great House where the equinox and summer/winter solstice alignments can be observed. Overnight Bluff, Utah. (B, L, D)

Sunday, June 21: Hovenweep National Monument

Accompanied by rock art specialist, Sally Cole, we wake well before dawn and observe summer solstice at Holly House in Hovenweep National Monument. As the sun rises we consider the measurement of time and the sophistication of ancient civilizations. With keen observation and astronomical record keeping, societies around the world connected human activities with the cycles of nature. Later, visit the Square Tower Complex and Cahone, both of which are believed to exhibit astronomical alignments in their architecture. Enjoy a farewell dinner in Cortez. Overnight Cortez, Colorado. (B, L, D)

Below are some amazing pictures from this trip! It was a real joy to meet the very interesting scholars and participants – many of whom were scholars in their own right!