News Release

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December 12, 2005

Boise State Physics Prof Makes Second Trip to India Over Winter Break to Teach Exiled Tibetan Monks
 

Top, Boise State physics professor Dewey Dykstra poses with monks he taught last year in Dehra Dun, India, as part of the Science for Monks program established by the Dalai Lama. Bottom, Dykstra uses a hands-on approach to teach monks about the nature of light and images in a workshop held last year in India.(Click to enlarge images.)

For the second consecutive year, Boise State University physics professor Dewey Dykstra will travel to Dehra Dun, India, over the winter break to teach a three-week workshop to exiled Tibetan monks as part of the Science for Monks program established by the Dalai Lama.

Dykstra and colleagues from the University of Washington and Black Hills State University will use interpreters and hands-on activities to engage the scholar monks, most of whom don’t speak English and have had little, if any, exposure to Western science.

“I’m thrilled to have been invited back to teach again this year,” Dykstra said. “It was an incredible experience last year. I’m looking forward to learning more about how Tibetan Buddhist philosophy influences how the monks think about the physical world and using this to more effectively engage them in making new sense of it.”

The Science for Monks program was established in 1998 by the Dalai Lama to introduce scientific knowledge and methods to Tibetan monks living in exile in India. Other goals of the program are to develop a scientific vocabulary in Tibetan and to introduce Western scientists to Buddhist philosophy.

“It is most important for the traditions of Western science and Eastern mental development to work together,” the Dalai Lama said in a statement at www.scienceformonks.org. “At some stage people gained the impression that these two traditions are very different and incompatible. In recent years, however, it has become clear that this is not the case. This kind of dialogue is therefore extremely important.”

Dykstra will teach the workshop with physics professor Andy Johnson of Black Hills State University, who also taught in Dehra Dun last year, and with Hunter Close, a post-doctoral associate at the University of Washington. He leaves from Boise on Dec. 17, and it will take him more than two full days by plane, train and vehicle to reach the Tibetan Children’s School campus on the outskirts of Dehra Dun where the workshop will be held.

Dykstra and his colleagues will lead the monks in explorations of thermal phenomena, and the nature of color in light. They will use an inquiry-based approach that encourages the monks to explore the phenomena and come to conclusions based on their own observations and experiences.

“For example, to explore the concepts of heat and temperature, we’ll start with a hot cup of sweet Indian tea. We’ll stick in a thermometer, find out how hot it is, and then watch the temperature drop,” Dykstra said. “We’ll encourage the monks to come up with explanations for why the liquid cools. Then, we will engage them in applying these explanations to other examples to test the explanations. They will adjust and re-test the explanations as new data comes in the tests.”

For Dykstra, the workshop is an opportunity to employ the inquiry-based pedagogy he’s developed during 24 years of teaching physics classes at Boise State. It’s also an opportunity to interact with students from a different culture and background.

Last year’s workshop was characterized by spirited debates as the monks raised questions about the nature of light and images, and debated the possibilities, Dykstra remembers.

“I found it extremely interesting that the explanations these monks came up with were very similar to those of my students at Boise State,” he said. “They were very willing to explore new ideas.”


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Contact: Dewey Dykstra, Department, of Physics (208) 426-3105, ddykstra@boisestate.edu 
Media Contact: Janelle Brown, University Communications (208) 426-1790, jbrown2@boisestate.edu


Boise State University is the largest institution of higher education in Idaho with about 18,600 students and 2,200 faculty and staff. More than 190 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and technical degrees are offered within eight colleges. A metropolitan university located in the capital city, Boise State is committed to life-enhancing research, teaching excellence and public service.
 

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Last reviewed on Wednesday, February 01, 2006