Valery and I would like to thank you for an amazing trip to the Gyeongju National Treasure Site. It was a real gift for us.
We will try to learn more and will come back there ; hopefully with our children. IT was a very special experience for us. We enjoyed all the historical sites (now I am inspired to learn more about it).
It was also very special for us to be in the company of amazing and very dedicated science teachers and to see how much they respect their professor. It was very inspirational. I also realized how important mentorship of teachers by university faculty is. The professor is a very inspirational role model for me.
I already e-mailed my colleagues in Vancouver, as soon as we are back, we will e-mail you an official invitation to become our STEM collaborating members.
This is the information for the summer 2014 STEM conference at UBC: http://stem2014.ubc.ca/ I realize you might be too busy to come this year but I hope to be able to invite you to vacnvouer n the future.
Daniel, thank you so much for the invitation and for the opportunity to meet so many amazing teachers and teacher educators. It was also wonderful to see your family and your students. You organized a fantastic conference!!!
As a teacher I like to provide specific feedback, so let me outline in a few sentences what I think were the most memorable and special parts of the conference (for me):
Meeting a professor and having an opportunity to spend a day with him. His passion for science education and his ability to see science in everyday life; especially in the amazing cultural treasures we visited in Gyeongju . The trip was organized perfectly so we could see a lot of things in a very short period of time. It was a unique opportunity for us. I am always inspired to see people who made such a profound difference for science education in their country
I was able to see how a professor mentors younger teachers and graduate students; this was a special lesson for me. It was also great to see that we do a lot of similar things; such as physics Olympics, science fairs, etc. Meeting a professor's colleagues, visiting the Invention Science Centre, the Temples and the museum was certainly a special opportunity. The workshop organized by him was extremely helpful.
It was a great a great pleasure to be with you in the two-days tour in the beautiful Gyeongiu. It was very educative and enriching to us... We will keep very warm memories about you and so nice people around who all provide us with an exceptionally good atmosphere. I hope we will have another chance to see your beatiful country, people and enjoy your special culture. We also hope you will have another chance to see Jerusalem again that we may show you.
As promised, I am sending you few but the best pictures I keep after the trip. I also attach my paper which might be interesting to you.