You’re Invited. . .to Help the San Diego Science Alliance Celebrate Our 10th AnniversaryEducators, business partners, students, and all our friends and supporters are invited to help the San Diego Science Alliance commemorate our 10th anniversary in 2005. The theme for the anniversary year is “Celebrating the Past 10 Years and Looking to the Next Decade,” and a committee of current and former members of the SDSA Board of Directors is planning several activities. Here is how you can participate:
Please visit the new 10th Anniversary section on the SDSA web site at www.sdsa.org/10th/ for further information, other activities, and prizes for students. The following statements were created to start you thinking about all the scientific progress that occurred during the past ten years and the inventions that may change our lives in the future.
Please see the SDSA web site to find additional statements and submit your responses. |
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Educational Robotics Programs
As a teacher who seeks to inspire all students to pursue higher levels of education, I cannot say enough about the motivational power that Botball has for my students. I do what I can to teach science to teach mathematics to teach my students to be good citizens to be unequivocally responsible and respectful to inspire students to be life long learners. I realize however, that I cannot force students to be motivated because motivation has to come from within. I’m very proud to say however, that Botball is one of those things that seems to universally motivate students. For more information on the SDSA efforts in robotics please visit the web site at www.sdsa.org/robotics/. |
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SDSA Letter From Our PresidentAnother year has gone by and, as we prepare for the Annual Fall Event, I am proud of the accomplishments and changes made by our Executive Director, Pat Winter, the volunteer board of directors, and the many other volunteers whose passion and dedication to improving science education opportunities in San Diego County have enriched many of our youth. It is my pleasure to lead this elite group, and I heartily encourage any others who have the passion and time to join us in our pursuit. Remember, the youth of today are the scientists and engineers of tomorrow that will provide answers and solutions to the issues and problems facing us today and into the future. You can call (858-454-7622) or e-mail Pat Winter (pat.winter@gat.com) to discuss any opportunity to participate or contribute. Our programs and services continue to grow and improve, reaching more children and teachers than ever before. The online version of our Resource Catalog has been improved and can be accessed on our web site at www.sdsa.org/catalog. Check out the great search capability to identify specific information and resources to assist science education development and experiences. The BE WiSE program opens the world of science to many young women who might not otherwise have this exposure, and the number of students attending the annual High Technology Fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds continues to increase. In addition, we have launched a new program in Robotics. For information on these and other SDSA programs, please take a moment to visit our web site www.sdsa.org. Today, we are energized as never before with the addition of new board members and the significant contributions from the business and science communities. New board members include Julia Coronella, Ph.D. from Biogen Idec, Paul Zorner, Ph.D. from Diversa Corporation, Lynn Alba from Merck Research Laboratories, and Mark Shults from SBC. I welcome these additions to our board and know that they will provide valuable guidance and direction. We could not achieve the results we have without generous corporate sponsorships, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank new Support Members MANPOWER and ViaSat, Inc. and Sustaining Members Merck Research Laboratories–San Diego and Northrop Grumman. A special thank you goes to Biogen Idec for providing $30,000 to SDSA, $20,000 for the BE WiSE program and $10,000 to the PISCES project. In closing, it has been a busy year with new programs and ever increasing participation by students and teachers. As we approach our 10th anniversary next year, the SDSA will be unveiling a new logo at the Fall Event. You can see it on our web site and in the new Resource Catalog provided at the event. We are excited about the achievements in the past and the opportunities of the future. Please help us in any way you can, even if only to help spread the word about the great achievements to others. Gary Devan |
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PISCES Heading into Sixth YearIt seems like only yesterday when a group of school district partners, the San Diego County Office of Education Science Coordinator, a biology professor, and a physicist convened to discuss an innovative approach to improving elementary science teaching and learning. They conceived the Partnerships Involving the Scientific Community in Elementary Schools (PISCES) Project. Now in its sixth year, the PISCES Project has grown to serve more than 200 elementary school teachers and their students with the expertise of a Science Corps (university graduate students in science) and exemplary instructional materials. The many successes of PISCES are due to the involvement and contributions of the scientific community. The core classroom component of PISCES—partnership teaching and exemplary materials—is supported this school year with a generous gift from Biogen Idec, providing the final match of funds for the $50,000 challenge grant from Richard D. Winter, Jr . The inquiry-based curriculum is fully stocked and ready to use for active science learning. These materials and the dedication of the Science Corps/teacher partnerships are improving teacher expertise and student learning. The ongoing support of the Todd & Mari Gutshow Family Foundation for the PISCES Project is greatly appreciated. These funds extend science learning beyond classroom walls, which has proven to be one of the most effective learning experiences. The PISCES Project is grateful for the community support that ensures high quality science learning opportunities. The PISCES Project encourages others who are interested in sponsoring a classroom instructional materials kit or field study or providing “kit-mentors” to contact Project Co-Directors Nancy Taylor, ntaylor@sdcoe.net, or Dr. Walter C. Oechel, oechel@sunstroke.sdsu.edu. Photo courtesy of Debbie de Roma, PISCES Science Corps |
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KIDS Sets Up Camp In SpaceNow the news: K.I.D.S. (Kids and Industry Discovering Science), a classroom-oriented science outreach program staffed by volunteers from Northrop Grumman, set up their “tents” (actually canopies) in the middle of the Education Alley floor at the Space 2004 Conference and Exposition at the San Diego Convention Center. K.I.D.S. is one of many community resources and organizations that are networked by the San Diego Science Alliance. The canopies shielded two large mats, each covered with small circuit boards, wired as a simple 2 + 3 binary adder. Around each mat sat 16 students, competing against their fellow students on the other mat, to manually set all 16 single-gate switches correctly and quickly to add the inputs for the correct binary output. In short, the students become the computer. The logic mat concept is one of a series of one-hour lesson plans presented weekly at 13 classrooms over the school year. The emphasis is on hands-on science, meaning minimal lectures and maximum do-it-yourself experience with scientific concepts and engineering solutions. Engineers from the Radio Systems business of Northrop Grumman in San Diego bring the lessons to four local elementary and middle schools. Education Alley is a new feature at this annual conference of the space industry, organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and sponsored by Northrop Grumman. The theme this year is “Realizing the Potential.” For the lucky students at Space 2004, the “Alley” was full of potential, with booths and booths of touch-it, feel-it, hear-it science, all oriented toward space exploration and related fields. For the students on the floor under the canopies, the immediate task was managing a micro-slice of a computer and beating their opponents. Successful or not, they then began to understand how far computers, and space exploration, have advanced since the first manned space missions, and how far they themselves will go in the future. And they begin to think—maybe I could be part of this future. Perhaps here, the journey begins. |
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BE WiSE ExpandsProgram expansion is the word for the BE WiSE (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering) Program for the 2004–2005 school year. Three new offerings for the BE WiSE alumnae are drawing interest from among the current countywide alumnae in grades 8–12 .
Additionally, BE WiSE alumnae who wish to participate in the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair but are unable to do so through their school can now enter their science projects in the Fair as a BE WiSE participant. Additional funding for the BE WiSE Program from the Girard Foundation, Nokia, Qualcomm, and San Diego National Bank is also making this and other new programs possible for BE WiSE. Their funding will also allow us to have three spring overnights in 2005, a further expansion of the program. Two of the Spring 2005 overnights will be held at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Conservation Research, opening this month adjacent to the Wild Animal Park. CRES (Conservation and Research for Endangered Species) will provide workshops and the keynote speaker for the overnights. We are most appreciative to Dr. Alan Photo courtesy of Roger Scott, Info/Tech Development Dixson, Director of Conservation and Science at CRES, for making this possible. We will provide transportation to the site for those girls who otherwise might not be able to attend. The location for the third overnight is in the planning process. Hosts for some of the Saturday alumnae programs this year are Diversa, San Diego Supercomputer Center at UCSD, and SeaWorld. There will also be an alumnae program at the Beckman Center for Conservation. For this we thank Cindy Wallace in the Education Department at the Wild Animal Park. Plans are underway for a program where the girls will plant trees, and care for them occasionally, in a site in need of trees. These are for our alumnae in grades 8–12, usually one or two grades at a time attending one of the alumnae programs. Our 8th–10th grade alumnae will attend the Expanding Your Horizons Conference at UCSD on April 2. Several 11th and 12th grade alumnae have submitted essays for the BIOCOM Nobel Laureate Essay Contest. We hope this will be the third year that at least one BE WiSE alumnae and her science teacher will attend the Nobel Laureate dinner. Since the inception of the BE WiSE Program in 1999, its success has been measured by student, parent, and teacher comments. Of course the alumnae who continue to attend the events is also a sign of our success. Now, thanks to our many generous funders, we have brought on a professional program evaluator who will work with us for the school year. It is our hope that in the summer of 2005 we will learn more about our successes and have good guidelines about how to improve and plan for future growth. |
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SDSA Has a New LogoSo you noticed the new logo, didn’t you? As the San Diego Science Alliance expands and reaches out to more businesses, teachers, and students, we realized that we needed to update our image. Also, more than a couple of keen scientific minds pointed out that the new model of atomic structures rendered our electron rings quite obsolete. The new logo will take a bit of work to associate it with the good works of the Science Alliance. Look for it on our letterhead, our web site, our exhibit displays at meetings and conferences, our publications, and, of course, our Resource Catalog. The bold typeface and solid blue color stands for our commitment to enhance science literacy within the community. We gave up looking for a graphic image because nothing we found or could imagine did a good job of representing the breadth of scientific pursuits in K–12 education in San Diego County. We worried about similar logo designs so we will always include our name below the letters SDSA. And for large banners and exhibit displays, we adopted a fancy, three-dimensional rendering that really attracts attention. Thanks to Rick Clarke, the graphic designer who guided the SDSA Board through the redesign process, and to Cathy Akin of Viasat who referred Rick to us. |
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High Tech Fair in February 2005
As usual, we will stagger the arrival times of the schools to ensure that each student has the ability to see all of the exhibits as well as ask all of his/her questions of the exhibitors. Remember, this is an interactive event. Teachers are provided materials in advance to further enhance the students’ experience. Last year’s Fair
New for 2005
The Teacher and New Exhibitor dinner will be held on January 20, 2005 at the San Diego County Office of Education. Register now at www.sdsa.org. Bring science alive to our students! 2005 High Tech Fair Committee |
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SDSA Resource CatalogThe SDSA Resource Catalog continues to expand and improve our service to K–12 teachers and students in San Diego County. Look for the printed catalog at our annual event on October 20 at the Elementary Institute of Science. New to the catalog this year are Science Standards for each resource. We added the applicable standards by grade level to help teachers match what they need with resources that can help. The online catalog, www.sdsa.org/catalog, also presents a new tabular layout for resources that match your query. This layout mimics the published catalog and moves us towards the ability for teachers to prepare their own printed catalog. We are still working on making this feature easier to use and want the web server to create a PDF file of your search results. Thanks to SDSA Board member, Chris Smith of UCSD, who pioneered this PDF technique, and to Richard Wenn and the folks at WestEd who will be implementing it on the SDSA web server. During the summer, we contacted every organization and updated the resource information in our database. More than 500 resources from more than 200 organizations appear there. Thanks to Nina Drammissi and Adrienne Marriott for their diligence. And thanks to Washington Mutual Foundation who provided the grant funds to pay for all of these improvements in the SDSA Resource Catalog. |
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Working in the Middle: A New Approach to Developing Instructional Leadership
Through the efforts of the San Diego Foundation, resources were secured to begin this exciting project. Contributions were received from the Pfizer Foundation, the Wells Fargo Foundation, the McCarthy Family Foundation, the Hervey Family Fund at the San Diego Foundation, and the Engel Fund at the San Diego Foundation. The San Diego Science Alliance accepted fiscal oversight responsibility for the grant funds and provides in-kind support for the project’s web site. The goal of MSSELI is to identify talented middle school science teachers and provide them with an intensive professional development program that focuses on science content, leadership strategies, developing understanding of inquirybased instructional materials, and collaboration with area public and private scientific institutions. The MSSELI “fellows” also participate in ongoing academic year programs that support improved teaching practice that can model and be leveraged to support their middle school peers. The comprehensive design of MSSELI strategically plans for the use of standards-based instructional materials across the grades and teaching focused on developing student understanding of concepts and skills that prepare students for further study in science. The project is modeled after the National Academy of Curriculum Leadership, an NSFsponsored secondary curriculum implementation center directed by Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS). Representatives from BSCS support and co-facilitate with codirectors Bess and Taylor the San Diego effort, which is the largest project of its kind in the country. The integrated plan for MSSELI is built on four interdependent, research- based components:
The selected MSSELI fellows represent the diversity of students in the county, from high and low performing schools; demographics, such as language and ethnicity; geographic location from throughout the region; public and charter institutions; and all grade levels 6–8. Brief bios of the 2004 MSSELI fellows can be accessed at www.sdsa.org/msseli. It is anticipated that MSSELI fellows will be prepared to contribute leadership both locally and regionally. They are expected to share their growing expertise of the MSSELI components with teachers in their school and districts. The evaluation plan for MSSELI includes teacher-reported growth (Retrospective Pretest-Posttest, RPT), classroom observation (Horizon Research Classroom Observation Protocol), and improved student achievement (CST 8th grade science assessment which will be implemented in 2005). The MSSELI fellows have begun to establish a countywide professional learning community. Together they will deepen their understanding of teaching and learning by examining their practice through the lens of student performance. Local scientists, who will be recruited by the San Diego Science Alliance, will support this endeavor. The commitment by the business and science community highlights the timeliness of this initiative and the recognition of the need to encourage the development of the next generation of scientists. More information about the MSSELI program is available at www.sdsa.org/msseli. |
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San Diego Science Alliance Board of Directors—2004Barbara Abelin Cubic Corporation SDSA Newsletter Volunteers Newsletter Editor: Executive Director: Contributors: San Diego Science Alliance, a non-profit organization SDSA web site: http://www.sdsa.org |
Every year robotics programs are becoming more and more popular within the educational community. Struggling to address our nations deficit of students pursuing careers in mathematics, science, and engineering, many educators have turned to robotics to excite and motivate our engineers of tomorrow. In a nation that has become increasingly preoccupied by test results, it is refreshing to see the efforts of educators who have been willing to work robotics into their curriculum and/or after school clubs or activities. Due to time constraints and financial and technical resource availability, many programs are short lived. With the support of the San Diego Science Alliance, the RoboExpo held on October 7 is proof that educational robotics programs are here to stay in 
San Diego. People from local Botball, LEGO First, and JPL Mars Exploration Rover teams represented our future engineers, scientists, and mathematicians at the RoboExpo. These students showcased various applications of knowledge gained in the areas of physics, computer programming, mathematics, engineering, and technology through the use of their oftentimes autonomous robots. Present day engineers and scientists were on hand from SPAWAR and the Neurosciences Institute to illustrate the light at the end of the tunnel as it were. SDSU and Project Lead the Way, as well as others in engineering, rounded out the Expo. 
So what exactly is something like Botball anyway? Botball is an educational robotics program that engages middle, high, and college students across our nation. Middle and high school students compete at regional and national tournaments to design, build, and program autonomous robots. College students participate only at the national level and only against other collegiate teams. Unlike destructive Battlebot type machines, Botball robots foster problem solving without violence and without remote controls! Students learn to program their robots using C, one of the most popular computer languages used in science and business. Although the primary building materials are LEGOs, students learn how to build stable reinforced structures. In fact, many engineering design principals are learned first hand when student automatons mysteriously leap from overly excited hands! Teachers and mentors are not allowed to do much more than ask questions which allows Botball to be a truly student centered educational experience. The greatest strength of Botball is ironically one of education’s greatest weaknesses .motivation!! Students want to solve the mathematical, technical, and scientific challenges that Botball presents. 
Jeff Major, teacher at Preuss School, says the following about Botball:
The PISCES Project, a signature program of the San Diego Science Alliance, recently completed a milestone in building community awareness of science programs. Twenty-two PISCES Partnership schools conducted Family Science events, engaging students, parents and scientists in the fun of science learning! With support from the Boston Scientific Foundation, more than 1500 intergenerational family and community members enjoyed events planned to increase understanding of science phenomena in our daily lives. In fact, each well-attended Family Science event from Lakeside to Chula Vista to Vista was such a success that plans are already in place to host Family Science for additional grade levels and families this school year. A Family Science workshop will be held on October 11 at the San Diego County Office of Education (registration at www.sdsa.org/family). 
Thanks to a most generous contribution from Biogen Idec which capped a flurry of fundraising success for BE WiSE started in March with a matching gift from the Leo S. Guthman Fund, SDSA is offering the alumnae the opportunity to participate in a robotics competition. The BE WiSE Botball Team will then participate in the Southern California Regional Botball (Robotics) competition on Saturday, March 19 at the University of San Diego. 
Mark your calendars. The 8th Annual SDSA High Tech Fair will be held on Wednesday, February 23, 2005. Although the Fair will still be held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, we are moving to O’Brien Hall instead of Bing Crosby Hall and we will have more room and a nicer venue. 
This call to restructure has been met by the development of the San Diego Middle School Science Education Leadership Initiative (MSSELI). The concept of building a science leadership program that will significantly impact a sector of K–12 science education began in the Fall of 2002 with the leadership of the San Diego Foundation and two key science education leaders in San Diego public schools: Kim Bess, Director of Science and Technology, San Diego City Schools and Nancy Taylor, Science Coordinator, San Diego County Office of Education.