The Galileo Project, run by the HSIE faculty, is designed to help students wrap their minds around the whole of the past and understand the most important changes that have occurred during the 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang. They develop a sense of the huge scales of time and space and learn to see their place within the context of the entire Universe. The Galileo Project seeks to integrate knowledge from all disciplines to give students a unified understanding of the universe they live in and provide them with tools to contribute critically and creatively to it.
Students are taken outside of their traditional classroom environment and encouraged to investigate how knowledge is accumulated and tested. They are empowered to take control of their own learning and produce tasks that leverage their creativity. The course also exploits a virtual learning space that students collaborate within – this method of interaction is one that is proving highly relevant to our 21st century learners.