Christine Allred

Allred's award-winning program idea, "Journey to the Center of the Earth", is a unique way of merging two disciplines - literature and science. Incorporating both disciplines, students will learn about and study fossils, the geological time scale, the structure of the Earth and volcanoes and earthquakes while reading the novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. The concept is for students to compare the scientific ideas during the time of the book (the late 1800's) to current scientific thinking. They will look at the overall views of the Earth's structure during the 19th century and how they relate to and/or differ from the thoughts of today's society. Using a scale model of the Earth, students will simulate the journey of the main character in the book and take a tour of the planet. They will track their experience using journal entries. The goal is to promote analytical thinking in students and encourage them to want to learn. Allred resides in Phoenix.