S A N    D I E G O
S C I E N C E     A L L I A N C E
N E W S L E T T E R

Teachers and Scientists: A K-6 Science Program Partnership

   SDSA + SDCOE + SDCS + SDSU + UCSD + GA + APS = PISCES. Alphabet soup? Not exactly; all of these acronyms spell successful opportunities for elementary science educators partnering with local scientists and engineers. Over the past 6 months, K-6 teachers and local scientists and engineers have been actively exploring hands-on science programs for San Diego County students. Early rewards of this project are already being realized. Partnerships Involving the Scientific Community in Elementary Schools (PISCES) was developed by the San Diego Science Alliance and the San Diego County Office of Education. Support from General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation and the American Physical Society as well as many other companies have contributed to this professional development program. The goal of PISCES is to develop a common vision of elementary science education and to explore ways schools may partner with local scientists and institutions. By examining tested hands-on science kits, teachers and scientists are preparing to partner and bring these inquiry-based science programs to students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The first Community Information Workshop was held on April 16 at General Atomics. Speakers included Dr. Tom Dillon, SAIC, Dr. Donald Short, SDSU, and Dr. Larry Woolf, General Atomics. Dr Ramon Lopez of the American Physical Society led participants in a goal setting discussion. The speakers and audience of 140 scientists, engineers and teachers discussed the essential elements needed to improve elementary science education. San Diego’s large and diverse community was well served, with representatives from 12 school districts and 26 businesses and universities, including: Alliance Pharmaceutical, Association of Women in Science, Burnham Institute, Corrao-Brady Group, Cubic Corp, General Atomics, Hewlett Packard, Hughes Network Systems, Litton Data Systems, Nasland Engineering, NCCOSC RDTE Division, NutraSweet Kelco, SAIC, Salk Institute, SDCOE, SDCS, SDG&E, San Diego Natural History Museum, SDSU, Sea World of California, Southwest Research Associates Inc., Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, TRW Avionics Division, UCSD, and WestEd.

A second workshop, on July 9 at QUALCOMM, focused on linking teachers and scientists through e-mail or professional development programs. Connections that Work: the Role of the Scientists in the Classroom was attended by 70 scientists and teachers. Featured speakers included Eric Nelson, Litton Data Systems, and Roger Scott of WestEd. They discussed building an electronic (e-mail) network between teachers, students, scientists, and engineers. (See Teacher’s Hotline article, page 1) Many of the teachers and scientists in the audience had just completed a day of Shadow-a-Scientist. These California Science Project teachers visited over 20 local SDSA member industry and research facilities where they had a first-hand experience in the dynamics of science in the workplace. Their "adopted" scientists and engineers were invited to "stay connected" through the San Diego Science Alliance. The third workshop brought scientists and teachers side-by-side, learning more about science education and what each other can share with students. July 29th’s Science Construction Work-shop, hosted by the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation, was an overwhelming success. This was a prototype for a professional development activity that we would like to see happen in school districts,” said Nancy Taylor, Science Coordinator, SDCOE, a setting where the science content of the inquiry-based activity is supported by scientists working alongside teachers. Over 60 scientists and teachers analyzed the science content of kits, and tried the activities out themselves. Scientists, engineers and teachers used wires, batteries and bulbs to build circuits, switches, and flashlights. Building on concepts and having fun in learning and doing science, reinforced the importance of inquiry-based science. Participants are now ready to share their joy in teaching science with local students. Early rewards of the PISCES project are being realized in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District. A team of Salk Institute scientists participated in their summer professional development program. Scientists from various institutions are also working with the Vista Unified School District’s science and technology workshops for teachers. New schools, scientists, engineers and other institutions can still join in this program. For more information, contact Nancy Taylor, County Office of Education at 292-3854, ntaylor@ sdcoe.k12.ca.us; or Patricia Winter at 455-3335.

High Tech Fair--Wednesday
January 14, 1998

 High school students throughout San Diego County are invited to experience the first San Diego County Educational Technology Fair, held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds (Bing Crosby Hall), on Wednesday, January 14, 1998, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The High Tech Fair is sponsored by the San Diego Science Alliance and supported by the County Office of Education, San Diego City Schools, San Diego Science Educators Association and the five members of the Congressional Delegation from San Diego County Congressmen Brian Bilbray, Randy Duke Cunningham, Bob Filner, Duncan Hunter, and Ron Packard. The Event Chairperson is Barbara Abelin from Cubic Corporation. The goal of the fair is to bring the concepts learned in science classes alive with hands-on, interactive exhibits from some of San Diego’s leading high tech businesses. Over seventy companies will exhibit the technology and science that has made their companies successful. Students will see the newest developments in laser communication, medical technology, electric cars, DNA and fingerprinting technology. A pre-fair kit for teachers preparing their students for this field trip is being developed. SDSA is inviting science, math and technology teachers to bring their students to this first-of-its-kind event. Space is limited. Schools should register by Oct. 15. San Diego City School teachers needing more information should contact: Bob Van Zant at 225-3402, bvanzant@mail. sandi.net. Teachers from other districts may contact Nancy Taylor, County Office of Education, 292-3854, ntaylor@ sdcoe.k12.ca.us. Companies and organizations meeting the criteria for this event are invited to request exhibit space. For information on exhibiting, please contact Judi Nelson at TRW Avionics Systems (Judi.Nelson@trw.com). Donations to cover school bus transportation are needed. If you can help sponsor a bus from your partner high school or another San Diego county high school, please contact Barbara Abelin at 505-2248, Barbara.Abelin@cubic.com; or Patricia Winter at 455-3335, pat.winter@gat.com.

Teacher’s Hotline to San Diego Scientists

   Are you stumped on science? SDSA’s Hotline will come to your rescue! The Science Alliance was recently awarded a grant from San Diego Gas & Electric to create a “Teacher ’s Hotline to San Diego Scientists. With these funds, we are developing a database to serve as a matchmaker between high school science teachers who want to make instruction current, exciting, and meaningful, and local scientists who are eager to share their knowledge. We expect the Hotline to be up and running by late Fall. If you are a high school science teacher and would like to use this resource, or if you are a local scientist and wish to volunteer your expertise, please send an e-mail to Roger Scott at WestEd: r_scott@ix.netcom.com. Teachers who have registered to use the hotline will be able to e-mail their specific question in 18 science content areas, and we will forward those questions to the appropriate scientist(s) who have volunteered to answer questions in that specific content area. Teachers will be supplied with guidelines for writing questions. Scientists will be given tips on how to provide helpful and understandable answers. Thank you to SDG&E and WestEd for making this project possible.

Agricultural Biotech Symposium

   A symposium on the ethical, legal and social issues surrounding agricultural biotechnology was held on Saturday, October 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at General Atomics. Dr. Chris Lamb from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Dr. Martin Chrispeels from UCSD Biology were the featured speakers. Hands-on activities such as Fast Plants and other take-home items were included. Lunch featured bioengineered foods. There were displays from many educational organizations and industries. This symposium was co-sponsored by the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation, San Diego Science Alliance, Southern California Biotechnology Center, and the San Diego County Office of Education.

Updating Our Website: SDSA

   We are happy to report that our website has been listed by Yahoo, one of the most popular Internet search engines, as one of a very few K-12 science-related organizations based in San Diego. Also, in keeping with our “family-friendly” philosophy, our web-site has been granted permission to include both the Webfliers Wings Award rating for All Ages, as well as the SurfSafe approval. This recognition reinforces our efforts towards maintaining a website for teachers, children and parents. The website now includes a list of all known San Diego County K–12 schools with their own websites. Some of them are quite sophisticated. If your school is not listed, contact the SDSA Webmaster (e-mail address below). SDSA would like to thank Jeff Sale, from the Sciences Computing and Electronics Center (SCEC) at San Diego State University, for his work in developing a search tool for the on-line version of the SDSA Resource Catalog. Try it and send your comments either to Jeff or the SDSA Webmaster. Under the Featuring section, you can read about the pending San Diego County Educational Technology Fair and view the poster SDSA developed for that event (see related story in this Newsletter). At the new "Museums" page you can link to many interesting and useful sites in San Diego, and at our SDSA K-12 Digital Links page you will find B.J.’s Homework Helper, a popular addition. And we’ve added a list of our Honorary Advisory Board with hyperlinks to their organizations. Southwestern Cable continues to feature our website on their new Internet provider “Roadrunner.” Comments regarding the website can be e-mailed to the SDSA webmaster. And thank to CERFNET for hosting www.sdsa.org.

News From Our Members . . .

   Gwen Rosenberg, from Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., is now writing the Biomed Matters column for San Diego Metropolitan Magazine. The column debuts in the September issue. . . . Marky Pitts, Director, Animal Subjects Program at UCSD, will be a panelist at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans in October. The panel is K-12 Educational Initiatives: Setting our Sights on Science Excellence. Marky will talk about the Science Alliance and how it networks to get scientists into the K-12 classroom.
. . . The San Diego Science Educators’ Association presented its annual Award for Excellence in Science Education/University Level to Kevin Hardy, an ocean engineer at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Hardy is a senior development engineer at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
. . . San Diego City Schools Partnerships in Education Program honored Hughes Network Systems (HNS) for exemplary partnership with Standley Middle School. Christine LeMond (HNS) accepted this award on behalf of the many people at HNS who are actively involved in the partnership. This event was held last April at Sea World. Christine was later interviewed for ITV by Dr. Castruita.
. . . Mar Vista High School Marine Science Program in Imperial Beach is moving ahead. Mike Sixtus reports that they have formed a curriculum team on campus, bringing in teachers of English, mathematics, social science, and computer science, along with the three science teachers. Three teachers attended a curriculum-training program at the University of Hawaii in July. This program development has been funded by the Specialized Secondary Grant from the State of California, made possible in part by the support of members of the San Diego Science Alliance.
. . . Autumn Chapman, a science teacher at Oceanside High, attended a summer program for teachers at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Her project was focused on the Human Genome Project-IMAGE Consortium with Dr. Greg Lennon. She used a new concept in sequencing using transposon integration and PCR to map and sequence a gene called RAD53 or SAD 1. Her intention is to adapt the techniques learned there for advanced students in the classroom.
. . . As a result of Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies’ (TPIMS) participation in General Atomics High School Science Day and membership in the San Diego Science Alliance, one of the participants, Sasha Doppelt, a junior at La Jolla High, completed an internship at TPIMS this summer. She served as a Laboratory Assistant for approximately 10 weeks, training in three different departments at the Institute. TPIMS also participates in an ongoing program with Carlsbad High School, which places a senior high school student in an internship with a TPIMS scientist.
. . . A variety of science education modules have been developed as part of the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation Outreach Program. The Line of Resistance is the first to be offered for sale. It was developed by Dr. Lawrence Woolf, a physicist, in collaboration with the Institute for Chemical Education (ICE) at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Dr. Woolf is an active member of SDSA. ICE can be reached at 800-991-5534 or at http://ice.chem.wisc.edu/ice/.
. . . Premiering in Winter 1998, Science Odyssey, a series that explores the most remarkable 100 years in the history of science and technology, will be aired on KPBS. You will meet the people, probe the discoveries and examine the social forces that have revolutionized life in the 20th century. Monica Medina, KPBS Education Outreach Coordinator, Jean Stewart from the San Diego Public Library and Debbie Brice, Woodland Park Middle School have been selected to receive stipends to help launch activities in our communities to support this program.
. . . Teachers from 28 different schools attended a four day GLOBE workshop at San Diego State University, hosted by the Global Change Research Group, Dr. Walter C. Oechel, Director. The GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) program is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists engaged in a tele-collaboration project to do meaningful, real-life science. More than 4,000 schools in the U.S. and 54 other countries are participating in this program. Future workshops are planned for 1998 in April and July at SDSU.
. . . Several SDSA members are supporting the MAST Academy (Mathematics and Science, Technology Academy). For four Saturdays in November and December, 30 selected middle school students will work with local scientists and educators in the Joe Rindone Regional Technology Center at the San Diego County Office of Education. The application deadline is October 3, 1997. Children and other relatives of SDSA members are eligible to compete for this academy. For applications or information contact Sandy Silverman at 292-3806 or Nancy Taylor at 292-3854.
. . . Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, became a member of SDSA last Spring. As a direct result of this new partnership, two SDSA member scientists, Dr. George Seymour, SPAWARSYSCEN--San Diego, and Dr. Larry Woolf, General Atomics, were invited to join Sigma Xi. Congratulations!

Biotechnology Program

   SDSA, as a networking organization, has made it possible for a Biotechnology Education Program Hub (BEP Hub) to come to San Diego County High Schools this year. This multidisciplinary, multigrade program is based on the model developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Richard Farnsworth, Biotech Hub Program Manager at LLNL contacted Pat Winter and asked if the Science Alliance would be interested in bringing this program to San Diego. On August 21-22, a team of four from LLNL (including Richard Farnsworth and a Hub lead teacher, Stan Hitomi from Monte Vista High in Danville) presented a 2-day workshop at MiraCosta College’s Southern California Biotechnology Center. Each school sent a collaborative team consisting of a science, history, math or English teacher and a Principal or Vice Principal. The five schools participating this year are Grossmont High, Kearny High, La Costa Canyon High, Mission Bay High and Oceanside High. Other schools will have the opportunity to become participants for the following school year. The BEP Hub organizes extensive and unique teacher training workshops. Teachers receive the basic content knowledge, methods and instructional strategies required to integrate biotechnology into their subject area. Through BEP, teachers establish a partnership with the scientific community and develop a network of support and resources with other teachers. Additionally, the BEP Hub, LLNL, will provide the protocol, materials and consumables to support the curriculum for the first year. Thank you LLNL. The BEP Hub coming to San Diego is made possible by: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, San Diego Science Alliance, Southern California Biotechnology Center, MiraCosta College, San Diego County Office of Education, and San Diego City Schools. Additional support will come from Stratagene Cloning Systems and CBS Scientific. A special thank you from the San Diego Science Alliance to all the organizations involved.

Environmental Education Coordinator Named

Betsy Leonard is the new San Diego County Regional Environmental Education Coordinator. This position was created by the San Diego County Regional Environmental Educators Consortium (SanDCREEC) in cooperation with the California Department of Education’s Office of Environmental Education. A representative from SDSA helped with the selection process. Some of Betsy’s duties during the next three years will be to develop local and regional networks; act as a clearinghouse for EE programs and materials; and to organize educator workshops and regional meetings. Betsy may be reached at 232-3821 x202 at the San Diego Natural History Museum, PO Box 1390, San Diego, CA 92112.

Resource Catalog

   The 1997–98 SDSA Resource Catalog is now available. Many new companies, organizations, and institutions that provide programs to schools have been added. SDSA’s Summer Intern, Stephanie Baron, and Tracy Landauer from WestEd spent many hours updating the listings. Stephanie observed: “San Diego organizations and businesses are excited about working in the educational environment and are continually trying to find ways to increase the number of activities and resources they can provide.” SDSA thanks Hughes Network Systems, GDE Systems Inc., WestEd and TOPS Staffing Services for funding the production and printing of this catalog. To receive a revised edition, please contact Patricia Winter.

New Board Members

   Welcome to the following new members of the SDSA Board:

• Risa Baron, SDG&E
• George Hellman, Hughes Network Systems
• Ned Israelsen, Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear
• Janelle Kline, TRW-Avionics Systems
• Walter Oechel, Ph.D., SDSU Biology.

Science Fair Winners

   In April, SDSA selected two projects to honor at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. Our winner in the Senior Division was Andrea Rae Tao for “Induced Oxide Formation on Thin-film Sinanocrystallites Expressing Fabry-Perot Images.” Andrea is a student at Torrey Pines High. Our winner in the Junior Division was Sarah Laurel Israel for “How Does Light Affect Sleep in Adolescents?” Sarah is a student at the San Diego Jewish Academy. Each student received a check for $100 and a Certificate of Achievement. Our thanks to Marky Pitts, UCSD, for arranging these awards and especially to the SDSA Science Fair judges: Todd Talashek, NutraSweet Kelco, Lisa Beckerman, Solar Turbines, and Dan Smith, Senior Project Scientist at Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp.

For Your Calendar

• Nov. 1, 1997: Chemical Expo in Balboa Park (272-8170)
• Mar 13-14, 1998: San Diego Science Educators Conference. SDSA members are invited to present. Deadline for Presenter Applications is Nov. 22. (Contact Pat Winter for an SDSEA Presenter Application.) SDSEA Conference Info: 491-2368
• May 1-2, 1998: SEED (San Diego Environmental Education) Fair at Mission Trails Regional Park. Contact Betsy Leonard at 232-3821 x202
• May 21, 1998: Inventors Showcase at Scottish Rite Center. Info: 491-1531

For High School Teachers . . .

   Dec. 12 Post Secondary Science Symposium in Chemistry/Physics. Hosted by General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation Feb. 6 Post Secondary Science Symposium in Biological Sciences. Hosted by the Salk Institute. Contact: Nancy Taylor, 292-3854, ntaylor@sdcoe.k12.ca.us

SDSA Newsletter Volunteers

Paper Newsletter Editor: Janet Trentacosta
Newsletter Staff: Robin Kendall, Sea World Patricia Winter, General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation
Contributors: Pat Flanagan, Tracy Landauer, George Seymour, Mike Sixtus, Nancy Taylor
Printing donated by Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp.
Mailing donated by Ned Israelsen of Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear.
SDSA Digital Newsletter Editor: George Edw. Seymour