The National Science Foundation has awarded the PISCES Project a $1.5 million renewal award.The award will be used to provide three years of fellowship support for a Science Corps of 20 graduate and undergraduate science fellows in San Diego area universities and Ilisagvik College of Barrow Alaska,to support the PISCES K—12 and graduate exchange program with institutions of higher learning in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico,and to expand the San Diego County PISCES Project.The PISCES (Partnerships to Involve the Scientific Community in Elementary Schools)Project is an ongoing, district-based, community-supported, elementary science improvement program for grades K—6 in twelve participating school districts in San Diego County.

San Diego State University, together with the twelve PISCES San Diego County school districts and a regional advisory board representing universities, school systems,and science-related business and industry consortia, have begun an ambitious plan for the three-year continuation of the PISCES Project. The PISCES Project builds upon the success of the partnerships established in the initial three years of the program and enhances a coordinated set of programs. Measures to institutionalize and export the well-regarded features of the PISCES Project will be a significant effort in the continuation phase of the project. The long term goals for the San Diego PISCES Project are: 1)improved commitment at all levels to support science learning in San Diego County; and 2) increased student achievement, enthusiasm, and understanding of science for all students.

The project embraces the National Science Foundation program themes by 1)providing professional development to 20 Science Corps and 90 teachers annually in San Diego, Barrow, and La Paz in appropriate and effective learning processes for science education; 2)facilitating science content knowledge transfer to participating teachers and enriched science curriculum implementation; and 3)utilizing educational technology to leverage project impact broadening fellow, teacher, and student understanding of a wide latitudinal range of climate, ecosystems, and human adaptation over 50 degrees of latitude in North America.

Each K—6 PISCES teacher participant is partnered with a Science Corps fellow for a 6- to-8 week classroom cycle. During the classroom instructional cycle the teacher and Science Corps plan and implement a standards-based, inquiry-centered science unit from the PISCES instructional materials matrix (www.sdsa.org/pisces). These unique long- term teaching relationships encourage lasting change in K –6 teachers’ attitudes about science, as well as their content knowledge. Exemplary instructional materials and correlated real-time data from the SDSU Global Change Research Group are the focus of science learning in more than 100 classrooms each year. For up to 100 hours each year all teacher participants are offered exciting professional development opportunities that emphasize relevant hands-on science and emerging technologies. More than 110 local teachers from 14 school districts have participated in the project, and Science Corps have provided more than 10,000 K –6 teacher/student contact hours each year.

The PISCES Project has provided training and in-classroom experience to more than 35 fellows (the Science Corps) in its first three years. Through a weekly seminar, fellows receive instruction in science teaching focusing on instructional strategies, pedagogy, and inquiry-based approaches consistent with the National Science Education Standards. Science Corps fellows also participate in the design of web-based lessons, correlated with inquiry-based science kits and California Science Standards, that integrate streaming real-time data from several locations along the Pacific Rim. PISCES Science Corps cite improved communication skills at all levels and an appreciation of the importance of elementary science education as major benefits of project participation.

The professional development of the participating teachers is co-funded by private sources through the San Diego Science Alliance and the participating school districts. The project will undertake a major effort to institutionalize the activities of the project through a major sustainability effort.

A unique aspect will be the incorporation of Dr. Walter Oechel’s NSF Polar Programs environmental research program in Arctic Alaska, chaparral research in California, and NSF-funded environmental research in La Paz, BCS, Mexico. The resultant outcomes from this activity include the exposure of Science Corps to a wide spectrum of field research sites spanning a range of climatic, biotic, and social/scientific conditions. The Science Corps utilize Internet video and data links for use in teacher professional development in the el- ementary schools involved in this project.

During the 2002—2003 academic year, PISCES is beginning an intensive quantitative assessment of the impact of science teaching partnerships that target 5th grade. Seventy five 5th grade teachers are being recruited to participate in the study over the next three years. Each year one-third of the participating teachers will receive a PISCES Science Corps partner. All teachers and 5th grade students will take pre-and post-assessments regarding science attitudes.

For more information about PISCES, please contact Nancy Taylor at ntaylor@sdcoe.k12.ca.us.

Welcome to the Fall edition of the San Diego Science Alliance newsletter! As I near completion of my first year as President, I continue to be impressed by the commitment, energy, and passion of the Board members of the Science Alliance. Attending a Board meeting is truly an incredible experience. Ideas fly, people get enthused, and amazing things happen!

This passion is fueled by the belief that all students in San Diego should not only learn science, but have hands-on experiences that allow them to put scientific principles taught in the classroom to work.

This year, the PISCES project began its fourth year, thanks in part to a very rare second grant from the National Science Foundation. Listening to the teachers, graduate students, and elementary students who participate in a PISCES classroom, you realize the impact of hands-on science and the extraordinary value this program brings to San Diego classrooms. Our goal is to further expand the program to more schools and classrooms. This year we received our first matching gift for $50,000 from Mr. Richard Winter, and these funds are allocated specifically for the PISCES program. Our Board is working to meet the challenge to raise the funds to match Mr. Winter ’s extremely
generous gift.

The great news is that San Diego companies know the value of providing our students with these wonderful experiences. Earlier this year we achieved a record for the number of companies that exhibited at the 2002 High Tech Fair. That meant that more than 2000 San Diego county students got to roll up their sleeves and spend time with scientists and engineers. Professionals let the students conduct some of their own experiments and “play ” with state of the art software to make the connection between science and fun. But even more important was the reality that in the future it was possible they will have the ability to earn a living doing similar work.

As the San Diego Science Alliance begins it eighth year, I am proud of the science educators, teachers, administrators, business people, and volunteers who contribute to the Science Alliance family. They are the ones who make science real for our students. They make it possible for students to think outside of the box created by the four walls of the classroom and see where their true talent lies—anywhere they want to take it. That is what the Science Alliance is all about!

Southern California Youth Botball Robotics Program Initiates 3rd Year

The KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KIPR), a nonprofit foundation in Norman, Oklahoma, is dedicated to attracting 6th through 12th grade students to mathematics, science, and engineering by merging these disciplines through innovative programs in robotics. KIPR (www.kipr.org) is organizing the 3rd annual Southern California Robotics program, to be held March 22, 2003 at West Hills High School in Santee. Activities involving students, teachers, and mentors are organized around a program called BOTBALL in which students work together in teams of 6 – 10 students to produce robots they design, program, and build from a standard set of components, for competition against contest rules provided by KIPR.

The BOTBALL program has been held across the United States for several years. This program is focused on building skills important to modern robotics through teaching and by allowing students to individually apply these skills through their preparation and participation in the contest. The program also builds relationships between students, schools, and the local technology community.

The local organizing committee is currently seeking teams and sponsors for this program, which provides several weeks of educational training in robotics and culminates in a tournament where students come together to showcase what they have learned. The 2003 competition involves a roughly 7-week period prior to the tournament for the students to conduct their work. The time involved requires several hours per week, especially just before the tournament. Teachers also need to attend a training session just prior to starting work with the students. There is a $2000 entry fee per team and about $500 in further expenses for training and travel to the tournaments. Entry of a team also requires a teacher/coach and, if possible, a technical "mentor" who can help the team prepare. The San Diego Science Alliance is helping to find sponsors and mentors to help with these teams. 14 teams have registered so far, with more expected. Among the underwriters are Cubic Corporation, SAIC, General Atomics, IEEE, SDCS School to Career, and a local PTA.

Interested teams, potential mentors, and sponsors are encouraged to contact Patricia Winter (pat.winter@ gat.com)or Paul Zorner (paulzorner@msn.com) for further information. Information is also available at their web site: www.sdsa.org/botball.

For the sixth consecutive year, the San Diego Science Alliance is leading the team hosting the San Diego County Educational Technology Fair. The Tech Fair is made possible through partnerships between the region’s five Congressional Representatives, the San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego City Schools, and the San Diego Science Alliance. Preparations are underway for the Tech Fair scheduled to run from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on February 19, 2003 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ Bing Crosby Hall.

The Tech Fair is neither a trade show nor a job fair. Its purpose is to get students excited about mathematics, science, and technology. High technology companies throughout the area are invited to bring their scientists, engineers, and others helping to implement or develop their technology and to set up a hands-on, interactive exhibit for the students. Last year, 52 exhibitors accepted the challenge with booths that excited and informed more than 2,000 students at the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ Bing Crosby Hall. This year ’s event promises to be even more interactive and educational.

Taking part in this hallmark event is now a few clicks away. With the new interactive web site, exhibitors can view the Tech Fair experience and register for the event online. As we begin adding registrants, we will update the Tech Fair web site to bring you all the latest news about this very worthwhile event.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.sdsa.org/hightech or you may e-mail this year ’s cochairs Jim Ritchey (jim.ritchey@mail.house.gov), Patricia Winter (pat.winter@gat.com), or Judi Berlin (judi.berlin@trw.com).

A three-year rollout plan begun last school year is bringing an inquiry-based, hands-on science program to the elementary classrooms in San Diego City Schools through multilayered professional development for teachers and new instructional materials for students. The National Science Foundation awarded a three-year Urban Systemic Program (USP) grant to raise literacy in science and mathematics. This award enabled the Science department to plan and schedule in-depth professional development this past summer for leaders and coaches in 64 elementary schools in San Diego City Schools. The professional development program focused on four areas:

• Adult-level learning for Physical Science content correlated to the district ’s adopted instructional materials: FOSS
  
• Pedagogy
  
• Curriculum support from the Science Resource Center
  
• Leadership

"We've just scratched the surface," says Kim Bess, Director of Science and Educational Technology. "Next year we plan to add 64 more schools for the third phase, as the district continues its collaboration with the K—12 Alliance and the San Diego California Science Projects, to provide quality professional development under the USP. Aligning professional development with exemplary materials helps support the in-depth science instruction that will prepare our students for the 21st century," says Bess.

Last fall, the Science department offered elementary teachers a professional development session on six possible dates during October and November. The teachers’ interest was phenomenal—more than 700 teachers faxed their responses during the enrollment period. "We were elated over their interest in teaching science," said Bess, "but disappointed that we were unable to accommodate them all on these dates." Additional dates were scheduled in January and February to address the overflow.

This fall, site teams from the 64 elementary schools involved in the current roll-out of elementary science attended a community science evening led by Dr. Ramon Lopez, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas, El Paso. Dr. Lopez developed the Teacher-Scientist Institute at the American Physical Society to support scien-tists and community members who wanted to help with classroom instruction for elementary kit-based science. Dr. Lopez has worked with communities across the country to broaden the understanding of why this type of learning is important and successful in supporting students’ conceptual development of the big ideas in science. Each site team included the principal, the vice-principal, the lead teacher, and a community member. In addition to gaining deeper understanding of the science and the design of the FOSS kits, teams were able to network with other site teams and discuss common issues.

A collaborative is delivering a nationally recognized space science program—Challenger Center’s Journey to the Universe—to San Diego City, Lemon Grove, Chula Vista, and South Bay Union school districts as part of 2002–2003: San Diego’s Year of Space Science. Five vital educational entities—San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego Science Alliance, University of San Diego, Reuben H.Fleet Science Center, and San Diego City Schools—are partnered in the collaborative. The initiative engages school districts,community partners, and visiting space science researchers to focus on space science through the lenses of science, mathematics, and technology.

The Year’s Honorary Chair is Captain Wally Schirra, one of the original seven astronauts,and the only one to have flown on all three missions (Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo).

With the resources and expertise of Challenger Center’s Journey through the Universe, the San Diego collaborative is leveraging resources to provide:

Okay, I admit it, I’m a nerd and proud of it! Yes I think science and engineering are fun, and I even wore a pocket protector when I was in high school. And I get a big kick out of helping others get fired up about these subjects—it's really great when you see the "light in their eyes." As the chief nerd at my company, Wireless Innovation, and as an instructor of engineering courses at UCSD Extension for a couple of decades, I've been lucky enough to have fun getting paid to do the fun stuff I'd do for free. Along the way I’ve tried to make some small inroads in education as a way of giving back to the community. The members of SDSA do that and much more on a much larger scale that particularly appeals to me because they are doing the things that really need to be done, but can't be done by individuals or the educational institutions themselves. SDSA clearly helps teachers and students get fired up about science.

As a new board member I attended the September meeting, representing the San Diego Chapter of the AeA (aeanet.org/sandiego), and my firm, Wireless Innovation (winov.com). The AeA is a national trade and lobbying organization of high-tech businesses with a number of common goals. One significant goal is to advance the level and quality of skills and ability in science and mathematics acquired by the local potential pool of employees. Science and mathematics education topics are also very near to our hearts, as most of us have backgrounds in science and engineering.

By facilitating local science education through fun and interesting events like the Botball tournament and the High Tech Fair, the SDSA helps to connect educators, industry, and other organizations on a personal level. And these folks don ’t just make the connection between these oft isolated groups, they also follow through to help

SDSA Strategic Planning Update

Last spring, the SDSA Executive Committee and Board members recognized the many accomplishments of the SDSA and realized that the organization would be celebrating its ten-year anniversary in 2004. Now seemed the perfect time to build on the ideas generated at our November 2001 retreat and begin making strategic plans for the future.The Strategic Planning Committee was formed, co-chaired by Melinda Bateman and Kendra Jeffcoat, and includes Barbara Abelin, Rick Beach, Kim Bess, Arlene de Strulle, Gary Devan, Gwen Rosenberg, Roger Scott, Nancy Taylor, Pat Winter, and Joy Wolf.

In less than five months, numerous meetings, conversations,and e-mails have generated more than 40 pages of draft ideas in an effort to: define the Science Alliance; define our target markets; confirm the rationale for our programs and services; propose strategy; develop tactics and objectives; and identify

what we need in terms of funding and leadership to meet our goals. Melinda Bateman has included in the strategic plan important information about challenges for science educators, giving this document the chance to play an important role for City Schools and the County Office of Education. Rick Beach served as both analyst and official "scribe" of our proceedings. This draft outline will be reviewed by the Executive Committee in November and analyzed in detail by the Board at the January 2003 retreat. A final binder will include the strategic plan, organization bylaws, operating procedures, and a new annual report.

The Strategic Planning Committee is excited about both the past accomplishments of the SDSA and the unexplored potential to have even greater impact on science education in San Diego in the future. Watch for more on this in our Spring 2003 newsletter.

2003 Physics Team Competition

The San Diego County Office of Education(SDCOE) and the San Diego Science Alliance(SDSA) are presenting the 2003 Physics Team Competition. This is a unique collaborative experience for 48 students taking Physics in San Diego County High Schools. These students will be randomly assigned into teams that will tackle experimental problems typically found in College Preparatory Physics courses. Students that demonstrate excellence in this competition will participate in the Physics Team Competition in be held at Mission Bay High School on May 17, 2003. Registration deadline is October 25, 2002 and there is no cost for the competition.

Teachers that choose to register up to four students are asked to attend regular meetings at the SDCOE where the experimental problems will be developed by teachers, and reviewed by university faculty

members. SDCOE and SDSA will provide the resources for the lab kits that will be used in the competition and ultimately distributed to the participating teachers.

Local scientists and engineers from the business community will have an opportunity to work with San Diego Physics students as question writers,Team-School Coaches, judges, and/or proctors. You can register online at www.sdsa.org/physics. Teachers will press the "Team Registration" to submit their school and student information. Local scientists and engineers will press "Physics Competition Support."

For further information send an e-mail to Dr.Susan Weinshanker at sweinsha@mail.sandi.net or call (858) 273-1313 x 341.

Science Alliance Resource Catalog to Expand

With a bright blue cover, the 2002/2003 edition of the Resource Catalog will be distributed this fall and made available to teachers in San Diego county who want to enhance their science education experiences. Thanks to the continued support of Xerox people in San Diego, this is the 4th year that we have a 200-page catalog incorporating more than 500 resources from almost 200 organizations, organized by 20 subject areas.

Special thanks to Jeff Johnson, Lee DeCesare, Heather Lopez, and Sylvia San Nicolas who handled the production, and to Curt Truman and Delana Hardacre who made the Xerox commitment to support us again.

Next year will be even better. Thanks to financial support from Washington Mutual, the Science Alliance will expand the Resource Catalog effort by forming a committee of teachers and volunteers to manage and update the content,to seek referrals and recommenda- tions from teachers, and to explore ways to link instructional materials to our online catalog at www.sdsa.org/catalog .

If you are interested in helping to expand the Resource Catalog, contact Rick Beach by e-mail at rick.beach@amazingpossibilities.org.

San Diego’s First Expanding Your Horizons Conference

On Saturday,October 12th,more than 600 young women and 150 parents joined industry professionals at San Diego ’s first Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) conference, held at UCSD. The goal of the EYH Conference was to enhance girls’ exposure to mathematics, science, and technology. Dr. Aprille Joy Ericsson of NASA Headquarters/ Goddard Space Flight Center kicked off the day-long event with a motivating presentation, encouraging the girls to “reach for the stars.” The girls then attended four of the 60 different hands-on workshops offered, while the parents attended a separate track geared specifically towards ways that they can support their children in mathematics/science/technology education.

Among the throngs of excited 6th—10th graders were 10 BE WiSE Alumnae who participated and two 12th graders who helped as volunteers. “It ’s really cool to see how stuff works,” said one student. “It makes me think that I could do this myself one day!”

This successful inaugural event closed with a panel moderated by Karen Rostadha of KPBS, where girls lined up to ask questions of industry leaders about careers in mathematics, science and technology. The panelists were Dr. Martha Dennis, Windward Ventures; Dr. Tina Nova, Genoptix,Inc; and Dr. Catherine “Kitty ” Mackey, Pfizer La Jolla, all members of SDSA.

Plans are currently underway for next year’s event.