By KAYLA SAMOY Published March 6, 2013 at 2:07am Updated March 6, 2013 at 2:07am

Paper timelines fan out across the floor, filled with pictures of the universe and human culture. Theyre all supposed to show moments between the Big Bang and now in chronological order, but all of them vary.

Around these pieces of paper stand groups of Tibetan monks debating and defending the timelines theyve arranged. To an outsider who doesnt speak Tibetan, the energy in the room would be overwhelming. The monks are shouting and shoving, but if you look closely, you can see the smiles on their faces and hear the laughter amidst the arguing.

Chris Impey, UA astronomy professor and deputy head of the department of astronomy, had set aside a half hour for this timeline building exercise. But an hour and a half later, lunch time had come and gone, and the monks were still debating.

For a teacher, the mother lode is just when you can be irrelevant, Impey said. When you can set up a learning and teaching situation, and then you dont need to be there, it all just happens.

This is one exercise Impey used in January while with the Science for Monks program in India. The program gives Western educators the chance to teach science workshops in the Tibetan monastic community in India.

I came in with a clean slate, but I learned a lot, Impey said. It changed me because they view the world differently, and its an interesting way to be.

Impey has taught cosmology with the program every year since 2008. Through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, he is in the process of publishing a book that details his experiences called Humble Before The Void: Teaching Cosmology to Buddhist Monks.

Impey says he hopes readers take away a real sense of who the monks are. Most of them have been exiled and living like orphans for most of their lives. Despite that, theyre lighthearted and fun. Theres a lot of laughing in the classroom, he said.

We had a lot of outbursts of laughter and jokes, said Tenzin Sonam, an education graduate student who accompanied Impey as a translator.

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UA astronomy professor participates in Science for Monks program in India