Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Beyond The Book
Beyond the book
By Andrea Schoellkopf / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Jun 20, 2011
They jump out of helicopters. Battle large mosquitoes in what’s known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World. Scout the Sandias for scat and other signs of wildlife.
They are science teachers, and they aren’t hanging out at home this summer.
“If I really want to know what’s happening in science,” said Gary Bodman of Madison Middle School, “it’s best to be out there talking with scientists studying the stuff and getting current information for the students.”
Center of activity
Jimmy Carter eighth-graders and other students will be part of a citywide environmental impact study of the 128-acre Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, which provides 4 1/2 hours of ecology field experiences to between 10,000 and 19,000 fifth-graders in central New Mexico.
The center, operated by APS and the Natural History Museum, is branching out to climate change field monitoring by older students, and teachers at the center this summer will write curriculum for the monitoring.
Bodman this summer will spend 11 days on a trip to Manitoba, Canada, where he and 11 other teachers will work with a University of Alberta researcher collecting data on climate change as part of an Earth Watch fellowship.
“It’s probably going to mean slogging through the mud,” Bodman said. The group will study tree rings, using a method called dendrochronology, in the small fishing village of Churchill on Hudson Bay, which is inaccessible by road and best known for its polar bears.
Bodman studied dendrochronology in the Sandias earlier this summer with a team of Madison teachers. He also attended a program on wireless and radio communication.
Still on his “to do” list are studying geology and geothermal activity of the Valles Caldera, attending a teacher institute through Kirtland Air Force Base research laboratory and attending an environmental education conference in Santa Fe.
During the past two years, he traveled to a Virginia resort community to learn about science, technology, engineering and math lesson plans.
“I think when you have experiences like this, you can bring back stories,” said the five-year teacher, who previously was a manager for an architectural millwork company. “It’s one thing to bring the data and show how the scientists really work. It’s another to engage the students with a real story you can come back to the classroom with. … I’m sure if I make an impact on a few students, maybe they’ll be up there doing the same thing.”
An Internet search of summer science opportunities for teachers turned up trips to Israel and Costa Rica, in addition to NASA programs, grant opportunities and classes around the country.
“It’s almost like fishing,” said Bodman, who spends his “down time” working on upcoming lesson plans and writing thank-you notes to his sponsors. “You have to look for it.”
One Rio Rancho teacher said the travel experiences offered for science teachers changed the way she teaches.
“I feel like if I can go and do those things and bring them back to give kids an authentic experience and widen their horizons, I sort of have an obligation to do that,” Ashley Ivins said.
Later this month, she’s going to Washington, D.C., to study the origins of life by looking at data from Mars as part of a program through the Santa Fe Institute and George Mason University. That’s after she finishes an eight-week fellowship at the University of New Mexico, where she is helping to simulate sleep apnea in rats.
She admits when she first started teaching, she clung to the traditional experience: relying on textbooks to help organize instruction for the variety of topics she had to teach like biology, physics and chemistry. Then she started applying for grants and fellowships and classes, mainly to help bring resources to her New Mexico classrooms.
“And now I believe very much in project-based learning, teaching students through inquiry and real-life experiences,” said Ivins, who recently moved to Rio Rancho’s ASK Academy charter school from the Mescalero Apache High School and will be “dragging” her 6-year-old daughter on many of the trips she takes this summer.
Tony Hillerman Middle School teacher Chelsea Henrie is sewing her wedding dress; training for triathlons; and is headed to space camp.
Henrie, who teaches about space flight as part of her sixth-grade science curriculum at Tony Hillerman, wrote a 500-word essay to help her win a trip to the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy in Hunstville, Ala.
She will get 45 hours of classroom and field training, with many of the same simulations given to astronauts training for space travel. That will include getting dropped into water by a helicopter and “rescued” by another helicopter.
“It’s giving me lots of resources I can use in my classroom to really make space exploration real to my students,” said Henrie, who has also started a school science club with the help of a grant. And she wants to help share the career possibilities of space for her students.
Teachers also find real-life science opportunities close to home.
A group of Jimmy Carter Middle School science and math teachers spent the first days of summer looking for signs of wildlife in the Sandias through scatology, or the study of feces. Other teams will monitor air quality, water and tree rings with help from area scientists.
“The teachers walked in, and they all looked tired. They just finished the school year,” said Vince Case, full time resource teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools’ Sandia Mountain Natural History Center. By the second day with scientists, “the energy level just skyrocketed.”
Photo Credit – MORGAN PETROSKI/JOURNAL
Cutline – From left, Kristen Bandy, Sondra Lawson and Shannon Struck-Martinez, all Jimmy Carter Middle School science teachers, examine bones and scat at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Cente
By Andrea Schoellkopf / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Jun 20, 2011
They jump out of helicopters. Battle large mosquitoes in what’s known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World. Scout the Sandias for scat and other signs of wildlife.
They are science teachers, and they aren’t hanging out at home this summer.
“If I really want to know what’s happening in science,” said Gary Bodman of Madison Middle School, “it’s best to be out there talking with scientists studying the stuff and getting current information for the students.”
Center of activity
Jimmy Carter eighth-graders and other students will be part of a citywide environmental impact study of the 128-acre Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, which provides 4 1/2 hours of ecology field experiences to between 10,000 and 19,000 fifth-graders in central New Mexico.
The center, operated by APS and the Natural History Museum, is branching out to climate change field monitoring by older students, and teachers at the center this summer will write curriculum for the monitoring.
Bodman this summer will spend 11 days on a trip to Manitoba, Canada, where he and 11 other teachers will work with a University of Alberta researcher collecting data on climate change as part of an Earth Watch fellowship.
“It’s probably going to mean slogging through the mud,” Bodman said. The group will study tree rings, using a method called dendrochronology, in the small fishing village of Churchill on Hudson Bay, which is inaccessible by road and best known for its polar bears.
Bodman studied dendrochronology in the Sandias earlier this summer with a team of Madison teachers. He also attended a program on wireless and radio communication.
Still on his “to do” list are studying geology and geothermal activity of the Valles Caldera, attending a teacher institute through Kirtland Air Force Base research laboratory and attending an environmental education conference in Santa Fe.
During the past two years, he traveled to a Virginia resort community to learn about science, technology, engineering and math lesson plans.
“I think when you have experiences like this, you can bring back stories,” said the five-year teacher, who previously was a manager for an architectural millwork company. “It’s one thing to bring the data and show how the scientists really work. It’s another to engage the students with a real story you can come back to the classroom with. … I’m sure if I make an impact on a few students, maybe they’ll be up there doing the same thing.”
An Internet search of summer science opportunities for teachers turned up trips to Israel and Costa Rica, in addition to NASA programs, grant opportunities and classes around the country.
“It’s almost like fishing,” said Bodman, who spends his “down time” working on upcoming lesson plans and writing thank-you notes to his sponsors. “You have to look for it.”
One Rio Rancho teacher said the travel experiences offered for science teachers changed the way she teaches.
“I feel like if I can go and do those things and bring them back to give kids an authentic experience and widen their horizons, I sort of have an obligation to do that,” Ashley Ivins said.
Later this month, she’s going to Washington, D.C., to study the origins of life by looking at data from Mars as part of a program through the Santa Fe Institute and George Mason University. That’s after she finishes an eight-week fellowship at the University of New Mexico, where she is helping to simulate sleep apnea in rats.
She admits when she first started teaching, she clung to the traditional experience: relying on textbooks to help organize instruction for the variety of topics she had to teach like biology, physics and chemistry. Then she started applying for grants and fellowships and classes, mainly to help bring resources to her New Mexico classrooms.
“And now I believe very much in project-based learning, teaching students through inquiry and real-life experiences,” said Ivins, who recently moved to Rio Rancho’s ASK Academy charter school from the Mescalero Apache High School and will be “dragging” her 6-year-old daughter on many of the trips she takes this summer.
Tony Hillerman Middle School teacher Chelsea Henrie is sewing her wedding dress; training for triathlons; and is headed to space camp.
Henrie, who teaches about space flight as part of her sixth-grade science curriculum at Tony Hillerman, wrote a 500-word essay to help her win a trip to the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy in Hunstville, Ala.
She will get 45 hours of classroom and field training, with many of the same simulations given to astronauts training for space travel. That will include getting dropped into water by a helicopter and “rescued” by another helicopter.
“It’s giving me lots of resources I can use in my classroom to really make space exploration real to my students,” said Henrie, who has also started a school science club with the help of a grant. And she wants to help share the career possibilities of space for her students.
Teachers also find real-life science opportunities close to home.
A group of Jimmy Carter Middle School science and math teachers spent the first days of summer looking for signs of wildlife in the Sandias through scatology, or the study of feces. Other teams will monitor air quality, water and tree rings with help from area scientists.
“The teachers walked in, and they all looked tired. They just finished the school year,” said Vince Case, full time resource teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools’ Sandia Mountain Natural History Center. By the second day with scientists, “the energy level just skyrocketed.”
Photo Credit – MORGAN PETROSKI/JOURNAL
Cutline – From left, Kristen Bandy, Sondra Lawson and Shannon Struck-Martinez, all Jimmy Carter Middle School science teachers, examine bones and scat at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Cente
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Mescalero science project will launch into space
Mescalero science project will launch into space
Julie Carter jcarter@ruidosonews.com
Posted: 10/19/2010 08:52:41 PM MDT
In April 2011, a science project designed by a team of Mescalero middle school students will fly into space on a sounding rocket from Spaceport America through a program created by NASA's Summer of Innovation, Launch and Learn.
The team of Albert Valdez, Maisie Wabaunsee and Destinee Shanta will work directly with NASA engineers and scientists to build their experiments to ready them for space. Instructors for the project are Ashley Ivins and Rosalinda Baeza. The Mescalero experiment was selected as one of 20 from New Mexico schools.
NASA's Summer of Innovation, Launch and Learn, provided a one-week professional development workshop for 138 teachers.
These instructors then went back to their home sites and recruited an average of 24 students to participate in an intensive three-to-four week STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) focused summer camp.
The camp involved five states (New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Arizona and Maine) and 35 school districts of which Mescalero Schools was one.
The Mescalero project is titled "Apache Cultural Items & More in a Microgravity Environ-ment."
The experiment will send seven organic substances (soda, mescal plant, geode crystals turquoise, pollen, sugar and salt) into space to see if any changes in the structure appear from being exposed to microgravity environment.
"Our hypothesis depends on the substances being tested," says the Mission Overview from the experiment.
"We think that the geode crystals, sugar crystals and salt crystals will expand in space. The turquoise and pollen will stay the same. We think that the soda will lose carbonation in space. We think that the mescal plant will go into shock, show stunted growth and droopy leaves."
The space program had its beginnings in New Mexico, the home of Dr. Robert Goddard. The patented design for the liquid fuel rocket was created in Roswell, N.M., by Goddard and the first rocket to reach space flew from White Sands Proving Grounds in 1948.
Launch and Learn teamed up with New Mexico SEMAA (Science, Engineering, Math and Aerospace Academy) to bring the Summer of Innovation into the lives of students.
Through the Launch and Learn Pro-gram, N.M. Space Grant and N.M. SEMAA share the opportunity to launch student experiments into space from Spaceport America in April 2011.
"This selection of this team's project is really is such an honor," said Ivins "And the experiment came totally from the minds of these students. I really wanted them to own it, so I coached them only minimally when it came to the actual design process and experiment ideas."
Destinee Shanta also entered the essay portion of the contest where the selected winner will be allowed to push the button that will launch the rocket from Spaceport America in April.
Although she did not win, her essay entitled "It's Destinee" outlined again the pride of heritage shared by the Mescalero students on the project.
"There have been many ethnicities represented in space," she wrote.
"And someday there will be the first Native American to go to space and it would be cool for a Native American to get to push the button because it would represent the possible future for my people who were the first to be here on this land."
For a list of the schools selected to submit their experiments, go to www.-launchnm.com.
Julie Carter jcarter@ruidosonews.com
Posted: 10/19/2010 08:52:41 PM MDT
In April 2011, a science project designed by a team of Mescalero middle school students will fly into space on a sounding rocket from Spaceport America through a program created by NASA's Summer of Innovation, Launch and Learn.
The team of Albert Valdez, Maisie Wabaunsee and Destinee Shanta will work directly with NASA engineers and scientists to build their experiments to ready them for space. Instructors for the project are Ashley Ivins and Rosalinda Baeza. The Mescalero experiment was selected as one of 20 from New Mexico schools.
NASA's Summer of Innovation, Launch and Learn, provided a one-week professional development workshop for 138 teachers.
These instructors then went back to their home sites and recruited an average of 24 students to participate in an intensive three-to-four week STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) focused summer camp.
The camp involved five states (New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Arizona and Maine) and 35 school districts of which Mescalero Schools was one.
The Mescalero project is titled "Apache Cultural Items & More in a Microgravity Environ-ment."
The experiment will send seven organic substances (soda, mescal plant, geode crystals turquoise, pollen, sugar and salt) into space to see if any changes in the structure appear from being exposed to microgravity environment.
"Our hypothesis depends on the substances being tested," says the Mission Overview from the experiment.
"We think that the geode crystals, sugar crystals and salt crystals will expand in space. The turquoise and pollen will stay the same. We think that the soda will lose carbonation in space. We think that the mescal plant will go into shock, show stunted growth and droopy leaves."
The space program had its beginnings in New Mexico, the home of Dr. Robert Goddard. The patented design for the liquid fuel rocket was created in Roswell, N.M., by Goddard and the first rocket to reach space flew from White Sands Proving Grounds in 1948.
Launch and Learn teamed up with New Mexico SEMAA (Science, Engineering, Math and Aerospace Academy) to bring the Summer of Innovation into the lives of students.
Through the Launch and Learn Pro-gram, N.M. Space Grant and N.M. SEMAA share the opportunity to launch student experiments into space from Spaceport America in April 2011.
"This selection of this team's project is really is such an honor," said Ivins "And the experiment came totally from the minds of these students. I really wanted them to own it, so I coached them only minimally when it came to the actual design process and experiment ideas."
Destinee Shanta also entered the essay portion of the contest where the selected winner will be allowed to push the button that will launch the rocket from Spaceport America in April.
Although she did not win, her essay entitled "It's Destinee" outlined again the pride of heritage shared by the Mescalero students on the project.
"There have been many ethnicities represented in space," she wrote.
"And someday there will be the first Native American to go to space and it would be cool for a Native American to get to push the button because it would represent the possible future for my people who were the first to be here on this land."
For a list of the schools selected to submit their experiments, go to www.-launchnm.com.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
MESA students attend research and leadership conference
Posted: 10/05/2010 07:51:53 PM MDT
Every year the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation (New Mexico AMP) hosts a statewide student research conference on the campus of New Mexico State University (NMSU).
This conference brings together students and faculty from the state's colleges and universities as well as students and teachers from NM MESA.
Here college students have the opportunity to present their research and gain presentation experience.
They also serve as role models for high school students who also get to participate in workshops de-signed specifically for them.
The AMP program also provides scholarship opportunities just for NM MESA students who are majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and attending college in NM.
This year the conference was attended by three Mescalero Apache High School students Jinnelle Foy, Cortnie Kaydahzinne, and Robert Kie and MESA Advisor Ashley Ivins.
Immediately they knew they were in for a great conference with the kickoff a keynote speech by Dr. Tyrone Hayes, Professor of Biology at the University of California, Berkley.
Dr. Hayes has been published many times as well as featured in literature such as National Geo-graphic for his work on the effects of chemicals in our water supply. His work studies the effects on the development of frogs in order to learn if humans may similarly be affected.
His riveting speech and amazing research reveals a crucial new link between conservation and health.
Mescalero senior Jinnelle Foy, who is considering majoring in biology, found the speech to be "so interesting" and Dr. Hayes to be "awesome, a really great speaker."
Jinnelle was even able to speak with Dr. Hayes after his presentation about what he chose as a college major and what led him to become a biologist studying frogs.
Next the Mescalero students attended the oral presentations and poster sessions by college students from across New Mexico as well as visiting students from New York.
The student presentations offer the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of science disciplines, mathematics and engineering.
Between presentations, the Mescalero students met Dr. Hansen, Professor of Biology and Researcher of Molecular Vector Biology, New Mexico State University, who offered to take them on a personal tour of some of the laboratories at NMSU.
There they were able to see Dr. Hansen's work on mosquitoes that ultimately fights mosquito-borne diseases.
The students also saw fruit flies and regenerative fish that were being studied at NMSU.
In the afternoon session, the students learned about physics from Dr. Stephen Kanim, Professor of Physics, NMSU, who brought lots of interesting visual demonstrations.
Cortnie Kaydahzinne of Mescalero High School had the opportunity to ride on a hovercraft built by Dr. Kanim's students.
"It was fun but a little scary!" Cortnie said of her ride on air.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Mescalero students excited about MESA competitions
Mescalero students excited about MESA competitions
Ashley Ivins For the Ruidoso News
Posted: 09/21/2010 07:23:09 PM MDT
(MESA Advisor Eleanor Pedraza looks at the "Crimson Flyer" with Mathew Naiche. Ashley...)
At 6 on a Saturday morning, most teenagers are sleeping. On a recent Saturday, Sept. 11, at 6 a.m., 33 students from Mescalero Apache Schools brand new MESA (Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement) program were on a bus and headed to Las Cruces.
The Mescalero MESA students attended the BEST (Boosting Science Engineering and Technology) Robotics Kickoff at the New Mexico State University College of Engineering.
The 2010-11 school year will be the first time that Mescalero Apache School students have participated in robotics competitions and the enthusiasm for their opening competition isn't hard to see considering that Mescalero Schools had the largest group of students in attendance for the kickoff this year.
The students were eager to get started on the actual design, but first they had to learn about the basics of the competition which doesn't only require building a robot but also creating an engineering report, a display booth, a presentation and preparation for interviews during the competition.
This year the competition theme is called "Total Recall" and the robot, which is remote controlled and built from scratch with only the provided materials, has to package gizmos and gadgets in a factory production type scene.
To make things more challenging, the students have only five weeks to complete the robot before attending a practice day and then an additional week to make any adjustments before the final competition in Las Cruces.
During their visit to NMSU, the students also got to learn about some of the activities that NMSU engineering students participate in such as the Crimson Flyer team that built a model airplane that had to perform three different tasks for competition.
A demonstration by the Mini Baja team really got their attention when the driver showing the Baja buggies abilities made an "analysis error" going into a ramp that ended in a roll! Thankfully the driver was safe and engineering instantly became more interesting to many students.
The vision of the BEST Robotics organization is to excite our nation's students about engineering, science and technology to unlock their imagination and discover their potential.
Their vision is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, technology and math through participation in a sports-like science- and engineering-based robotics competition.
Team leaders emerged as senior Laramy Baca, and juniors Danny Rios and Godfrey Enjady took the reins during inventory time to ensure the high school team had all of the supplies on their equipment lists.
On the middle school team Jaylen Duffy, Desi Cervantes and Timothy Enjady took command. The middle school team also came up with the team name "Robo Chiefs" at the kickoff. These students and their dedicated teammates are currently looking for volunteers/mentors to assist them with design and fabrication as well as programming. The teams are also seeking organizations that would be interested in allowing them to present their project to them as part of the outreach component of the competition during the next five weeks.
Last but not least, the teams need corporate sponsors to help finance travel, lodging and meals for competition, team shirts, and a laptop computer to use for programming.
If you are interested in volunteering, sponsoring or hosting a presentation, please contact advisors Ashley Ivins, aivins-@mescaleroas.org ; Eleanor Pedraza, epedraza@mesca-leroas.org ; or Rosalinda Baeza- rbaeza@mescalero-as.org.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
THE 2010 SSP FELLOWS MET IN WASHINGTON DC FOR A WEEK OF LEARNING
THE 2010 SSP FELLOWS MET IN WASHINGTON DC FOR A WEEK OF LEARNING
The class of 2010 SSP Fellows traveled to Washington, DC in late July for a week of training and networking at the 2010 SSP Fellows Institute. The Fellows attended several workshops, including Mentoring Student Research and How to Teach Research: Taking an Experiment to an Investigation, with expert instructors from organizations such as the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science &Technology, the National Institute of Health’s Office of Science Education, the Lakeshore H.S. Math & Science Center, and Georgetown Day School. In between sessions, visiting their congressional representatives, and conducting experiments, the Fellows also finalized their Project Management Plans (PMPs) for implementing their independent research programs at their schools, which serve under-resourced students.
“Being a Fellow is like being in the Tour de France because it definitely has some ups and downs and challenging courses,” said Tim Lundt, who teaches in Wasilla, Alaska, of the Institute in a video blog, or vlog, which the Fellows filmed throughout the week.
The Institute “kicked off” on Monday, July 26, with a kickball game to help quickly acquaint the SSP Fellows with each other. The next day, the Fellows flocked to Capitol Hill to share their views on science education with their congressional representatives. Several of the representatives formally praised their efforts, including Rep. Carnahan, Rep. Teague, Rep. Schrader, and Rep. Klein.
“Probably the best thing about this week so far has been working with some…amazing people,” Anne Artz, a teacher from La Jolla, California, said in a vlog Wednesday morning. “Sometimes I feel like I’m out there on this island,” she said about trying new, innovative ways to teach. “Then I come here and meet other teachers and think ‘you know, I’m not alone on this island, and there are other people trying some crazy ideas as well.’”
On Wednesday, the Fellows worked in a hands-on sensor lab with high tech sensors that they brought back to their schools. Later, on a visit to Georgetown Day School, they also conducted experiments with pill bugs to see what stimuli affected them. (Pill bugs liked BBQ potato chips, the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow,” and were indifferent to diet coke and tapping on the Petri dish.)
Thursday, the Fellows heard great talks about partnerships with companies and government agencies to leverage the funds they are receiving from SSP in order to help their students even more. “Today was really useful,” Melanie Schwarzbach, who teaches in Box Elder, MT, said. “I’m one of those people who always wants to do everything all by myself, but as my program gets bigger and bigger and bigger, I know that I [will need help] to keep up with the level of expertise [my students] deserve.”
Other Fellows also used the vlogs to tell more about their experiences teaching. “I’m going to share with you something that totally changed my outlook as a teacher,” Ashley Ivins, of Carrizozo, NM, said at the beginning of one vlog. She told a story about a student who didn’t have his work with him one day and told her he had problems getting it due to a lot of problems at home and with his friends. She told him she didn’t care about all that, she only cared about him coming to class on time and prepared. For the rest of class the student, who was usually vocal, was very quiet. Ashely said that he didn’t come back the next day, or the next day after that, or the next day after that. Eventually, he dropped out of high school. She felt that she lost an opportunity with him that she does not want to lose again and the story reminded her of why she was doing this: “I became a teacher because I enjoy being with kids; especially kids who maybe didn’t have a great life.”
On Friday, the fellows visited the Natural History Museum where they saw a forensic anthropology lab and learned about a new iphone application for identifying plants in the field. They ended the Institute with a celebratory dinner at the Dupont Hotel before the Fellows flew home to bring back all of their newfound knowledge, connections, and resources to their students and communities.
The class of 2010 SSP Fellows traveled to Washington, DC in late July for a week of training and networking at the 2010 SSP Fellows Institute. The Fellows attended several workshops, including Mentoring Student Research and How to Teach Research: Taking an Experiment to an Investigation, with expert instructors from organizations such as the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science &Technology, the National Institute of Health’s Office of Science Education, the Lakeshore H.S. Math & Science Center, and Georgetown Day School. In between sessions, visiting their congressional representatives, and conducting experiments, the Fellows also finalized their Project Management Plans (PMPs) for implementing their independent research programs at their schools, which serve under-resourced students.
“Being a Fellow is like being in the Tour de France because it definitely has some ups and downs and challenging courses,” said Tim Lundt, who teaches in Wasilla, Alaska, of the Institute in a video blog, or vlog, which the Fellows filmed throughout the week.
The Institute “kicked off” on Monday, July 26, with a kickball game to help quickly acquaint the SSP Fellows with each other. The next day, the Fellows flocked to Capitol Hill to share their views on science education with their congressional representatives. Several of the representatives formally praised their efforts, including Rep. Carnahan, Rep. Teague, Rep. Schrader, and Rep. Klein.
“Probably the best thing about this week so far has been working with some…amazing people,” Anne Artz, a teacher from La Jolla, California, said in a vlog Wednesday morning. “Sometimes I feel like I’m out there on this island,” she said about trying new, innovative ways to teach. “Then I come here and meet other teachers and think ‘you know, I’m not alone on this island, and there are other people trying some crazy ideas as well.’”
On Wednesday, the Fellows worked in a hands-on sensor lab with high tech sensors that they brought back to their schools. Later, on a visit to Georgetown Day School, they also conducted experiments with pill bugs to see what stimuli affected them. (Pill bugs liked BBQ potato chips, the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow,” and were indifferent to diet coke and tapping on the Petri dish.)
Thursday, the Fellows heard great talks about partnerships with companies and government agencies to leverage the funds they are receiving from SSP in order to help their students even more. “Today was really useful,” Melanie Schwarzbach, who teaches in Box Elder, MT, said. “I’m one of those people who always wants to do everything all by myself, but as my program gets bigger and bigger and bigger, I know that I [will need help] to keep up with the level of expertise [my students] deserve.”
Other Fellows also used the vlogs to tell more about their experiences teaching. “I’m going to share with you something that totally changed my outlook as a teacher,” Ashley Ivins, of Carrizozo, NM, said at the beginning of one vlog. She told a story about a student who didn’t have his work with him one day and told her he had problems getting it due to a lot of problems at home and with his friends. She told him she didn’t care about all that, she only cared about him coming to class on time and prepared. For the rest of class the student, who was usually vocal, was very quiet. Ashely said that he didn’t come back the next day, or the next day after that, or the next day after that. Eventually, he dropped out of high school. She felt that she lost an opportunity with him that she does not want to lose again and the story reminded her of why she was doing this: “I became a teacher because I enjoy being with kids; especially kids who maybe didn’t have a great life.”
On Friday, the fellows visited the Natural History Museum where they saw a forensic anthropology lab and learned about a new iphone application for identifying plants in the field. They ended the Institute with a celebratory dinner at the Dupont Hotel before the Fellows flew home to bring back all of their newfound knowledge, connections, and resources to their students and communities.
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