Science Education and the Dominican Republic Project

Two recent developments – the retirement of the architects of the Dominican Republic Project (DRP) and the decline of the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel as a DRP research center – have provided an opportunity to re-envision sources of human capital for the DR project while expanding the diversity of individuals involved in geoscience research. In response to this opportunity, efforts are underway to engage new teams of students in geoscience research, especially those from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Of particular concern to some has been the persistent lack of Dominican and Dominican-American involvement in this research project over the past 30 years. The continued under-representation of minority groups in geoscience research (National Science Foundation, 1996), coupled with the erosion of science literacy in the United States (National Research Council, 2007), has caused many of the agencies that fund palaeobiological research, particularly the National Science Foundation, to encourage geoscientists to integrate basic research efforts with educational outreach activities. We briefly review two education efforts that have occurred in parallel to the empirical research discussed in this volume: Dominican American science education in the United States and international educational outreach and development in the Dominican Republic.