What is Great Ape Academy?
Great Ape Academy, through an educational partnership with the Des Moines Public School district, is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on Great Ape Trust of Iowa’s mission of science, conservation, education and ape well-being. Great Ape Academy, the only public education program like it in the world, begins in the fall of 2007 as a pilot program with Des Moines middle schools. Students will be exposed not only to the groundbreaking scientific research in language and cognition that occurs at The Trust, but will be able to connect it to other academic disciplines ranging from math and information literacy to ecology and conservation, from history and geography to anthropology, and from citizenship and economics to art, reading and music.

Why was Great Ape Academy developed?
Great Ape Academy addresses the forecast “talent gap,” an issue that goes to the core of U.S. competitiveness, growth and security. Educators, business groups and labor coalitions are jointly calling for increased focus by the nation’s schools on STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math – and the well-respected Business Roundtable, an association of some of the nation’s top CEOs, said recently the United States needs to double its undergraduate students in those areas over the next decade in order to remain competitive.

Great Ape Academy recognizes that to fully engage students in the issues that affect the future, science must be interesting and relevant. As Des Moines Public School Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring noted, “Most school children in their wildest imaginations do not know this is the kind of work they can engage in.”

Great Ape Academy also reflects a commitment to education that is the bedrock of any endeavor our founder, Ted Townsend, undertakes. He recognizes that, if properly engaged in the sciences, the young people of today will have the tools as well as the desire to address a myriad of issues that haven’t yet been identified or fully defined.

What is the cost of Great Ape Academy and how will it be funded?
The first-year costs of Great Ape Academy are estimated at $50,000 - $75,000 and will be incurred by Great Ape Trust. The Des Moines Public School district will not be responsible for the cost of the program. When Great Ape Academy expands to other grades and additional school districts in Iowa, Great Ape Trust will seek funding through endowments and the development of educational sponsorships with corporate partners, businesses, and private donors.

Who will develop and teach the curriculum?
Thirteen Des Moines Public School educators have been named to serve on the Great Ape Academy Advisory Council. Each educator represents a Des Moines middle school or middle school program and most are experienced science teachers. These educators will work with Jan Drees, education director for the project, to develop the learning experiences for middle school students. These same teachers will teach the curriculum to students at their schools. Some will collaborate with their teaching teams so the curriculum may be presented by several teachers as it is integrated in math, art, English, social science, information literacy and science classes.

Is the Great Ape Academy curriculum a requirement for students?
Several different models of curriculum delivery are being developed during this first pilot year of the initiative. In some schools, the opportunity to participate in an in-depth study of great apes through Great Ape Academy will be available to special-interest groups after school. Students participating in these enrichment groups will meet weekly throughout the school year and the study would be by choice and not a requirement.

In many other schools, the curriculum will be made part of the seventh-grade science class and concepts taught would become part of the required study for life science. Students have other opportunities to study great apes through their choices during their school day. They may choose to read books about great apes, or make conservation or preservation the topic of a writing assignment, etc.

Will Great Ape Academy supplant current curriculum?
The Great Ape Academy curriculum will provide compelling content for existing Des Moines Public School objectives. Teachers on the advisory council have met and already identified learning objectives in science, math, language arts, social science, art, and information literacy that can be taught using content about great apes. In social studies, for example, a student is currently required to research an issue, distinguish fact from opinion in the research, and debate the issue. The curriculum is enhanced rather than supplanted when the topic of that research and debate becomes ethical issues about great apes, the preservation of rain forests, endangered species, or orangutan orphans. Educators recognize learning improves when cross-curricular connections such as these can be made.

What current curriculum or studies will Great Ape Academy complement?
The current seventh-grade science curriculum includes an extensive life science unit. Concepts about great apes and their habitats, history, characteristics, communication and cognitive abilities, locations around the world, and survival will enhance the teaching of existing process objectives. Students will be able to learn about scientists and scientific methods, research and data collection, and conservation and ecology issues as they relate to great apes. The integration of these concepts with the study of great apes will give the students an opportunity to apply the skills and concepts they are learning to new and fascinating content.

The curriculum will go far beyond science, however. Math skills on statistical analysis, charting and graphing will be integrated as students examine research data collected about great apes. Ethical issues surrounding the debate on orangutan orphans or the bush meat trade will engage middle school students with their strong sense of social justice and lead to further study on economic and ecological concepts. The sculptures at Great Ape Trust are museum-quality and can be an amazing study by themselves. The language arts curriculum requires the learner to evaluate information provided in non-fiction text and the media. Information, misinformation and misrepresentation regarding great apes will be evaluated by the students as they acquire accurate factual information.

What might a typical class look like or involve?
Many teachers will use an inquiry-based model of curriculum delivery. The study will start with students listing what they already know or think they know about great apes along with dozens of questions about what they want to know. The list might include questions about the characteristics and cognitive abilities of great apes, where they live, their endangered status and the threats to their survival. Students would share their own background experiences: visits to zoos, movies they have seen, books they have read, etc.

Students or small groups of students would then pick a question of interest to them for further research. The teacher would also choose concepts for the whole class to investigate. If you walked into a classroom mid-way through the study you might see students creating a map showing great ape habitats throughout the world, viewing video clips of great apes in their natural habitats or using lexigrams to communicate, reading biographies about famous scientists who studied great apes, searching the Internet to determine what research is currently being conducted, reading articles and gathering information to prepare for a class debate, comparing information presented as fact in different books, working with the lexigrams to learn the meaning of the symbol used by the apes at Great Ape Trust, or cutting rope to represent the different arm spans of different species and genders of great apes for a class display. The instruction for the day might focus on ways the availability of natural resources has an impact on the survival of a species.

Some students will have a field experience at Great Ape Trust. They will meet some of the resident apes, observe them and collect data about their activities to report back to classmates. They may also make sketches of sculptures, interview caretakers and study the environment that has been created at Great Ape Trust.

How will Great Ape Academy utilize technology?
Great Ape Academy will provide students a new appreciation for what great apes can teach us about the world in which we live. We will provide a diverse range of educational opportunities through remote video cameras, advanced distance learning technology, a dynamic Web site (www.GreatApeTrust.org), interactive software programs and innovative classroom curriculum.

How will students be selected?
Each school will determine which students will learn about great apes. In some schools the decision will be made that Great Ape Academy will be an after school enrichment class. In other schools it may become the topic for one class of seventh grade science. Still other schools may include content on great apes in all seventh-grade science classes. Only a portion of the students studying great apes will have the opportunity to visit Great Ape Trust. Representatives from classes will be selected to visit The Trust in various ways. They will then report back on their experience to other students. The selection method for these individuals will be determined by the teacher and may include writing essays, nominations by peers or applications.

This year, each of the participating schools will have the opportunity to send up to 27 students for an on-site visit to Great Ape Trust. At the end of the year, the various models will be evaluated and the results used in decision-making for the program in the future.

Why is Great Ape Academy limited to Des Moines seventh-graders?
Developing and implementing Great Ape Academy as a pilot project for middle school students will provide a solid foundation for the program and allow us to advance the curriculum for high school students and make it age-appropriate for younger learners. Eventually, Great Ape Academy will be offered throughout Iowa, from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Which Des Moines middle schools are part of Great Ape Academy?
The Des Moines middle schools involved in the pilot project are Brody, McCombs, Hoyt, Hiatt, Meredith, Merrill, Harding, Goodrell, Callanan and Weeks. The program will also include middle school students attending Moulton, Orchard Place and the Bridges program.

When will it likely expand to other grades?
At the completion of the initial year of Great Ape Academy, the pilot project will be evaluated by Academy developers, Great Ape Trust scientists, and Des Moines Public School administrators and teachers. A program report will be presented that will include an assessment of The Academy and recommendations for expansion.

Will students have the opportunity for on-site visits to Great Ape Trust?
The students involved in the pilot group will spend a small amount of time on the Great Ape Trust campus to help us gather information on what works best for the 2008 program. These students make up a focus group of sorts to help us develop the most meaningful approach to educational programming. For this to be a successful program for students, we need the input of students.

How will academic outcomes be measured?
Students will continue to take the Des Moines Public School district science test measuring their acquisition of life science concepts and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills Science Test. In addition, teachers will evaluate students on the success of their work products and performance on specific objectives. For example, a rubric may be created to rate a student on their acquisition of knowledge and relative accomplishments to explain why great apes are on the endangered species list, or what decisions one can make for the conservation of great apes. Students participating in debates about great apes would be graded on their research of the issues and presentation. Students will also be surveyed about the study and the visits to Great Ape Trust and help evaluate the effectiveness of the program in increasing their understanding and interest in great apes and in science in general.