Alliance Formed to Aid Local Science Education
Interest in Science Alliance Continues to Grow
Science Alliance Directory of Resources
K-12 Science Calendar 1994-1995 School YEAR
Industry, Schools Embrace Science Alliance
The San Diego Science Alliance was formed a few months ago by a group of people involved in various projects in support of science education in San Diego County. We learned that there are an impressive array of programs such as internships for students and teachers, workshops, speakers bureaus, and laboratory tours that are already in place or in the formative stages, but there is no coordination of these efforts.
Our immediate goals are to identify all the programs within the county that promote science education, create a list of these activities for distribution to teachers via a newsletter and an Internet database, and develop a calendar of events. Longer range goals are to identify the needs of local educators and to help them meet those needs by directing them to existing resources or developing new programs. In addition, the alliance will foster communication among the various pro-education groups and encourage interest in the sciences in the community at large.
The Science Alliance is off to a great start - our inaugural meeting was attended by 130 people representing 75 area businesses and organizations, including high tech and biomedical companies, higher education, museums, science competitions and schools. Dr. Rudy Castruita, Superintendent San Diego County Office of Education, was the keynote speaker and indicated his full support of and willingness to work with the San Diego Science Alliance.
"I support the goals of the San Diego Science Alliance to improve the science education of all our students, grades K-12, by bringing together people from business, industry, education and science in support of science education in our schools."
"How many kids are sitting at home today who believe they cannot master science, math and technology? We can `t afford to let this happen."
The following is a partial list of organizations that have already indicated their interest in being Part of San Diego Science Alliance.
A few items that may be of interest to those who have access to Internet: "Incomplete Guide to the Internet" for middle school teachers. To access the Guide, go to zaphod.ncsa.uiuc.edu or ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu and look in the education directory. Go to Education Resources. There you will find a directory (Incomplete_Guide) that contains several different forms of the Guide and a README file.
How Things Work: Helping Girls Explore Technology" - A How-To Manual for K-12 Teacher Training Workshops. Contact: mcwill@ucdavis.edu
The GENTALK list provides a forum to address classroom problems in genetics and biotechnology. To subscribe to GENTALK, send the following command to listserv@usa.net ... do not include a subject in the Body of e-mail: SUBSCRIBE GENTALK your first name *and your last name. For example: SUBSCRIBE GENTALK John Doe]
Lynne Gordon, a biology teacher at San Diego High School, in conjunction with General Atomics, is planning a symposium on the Human Genome Project for San Diego teachers in spring 1995.
Gordon proposes using a $2500 grant she received from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship to develop a permanent collection of audiovisual materials and teacher resources related to the Human Genome Project that could be utilized by area teachers to enhance literacy and understanding of the topic and related social, moral and ethical issues pertaining to this exciting endeavor.
This collection will most likely be housed at county and/or city schools' media centers. Contributions would be welcome from Science Alliance members to add to this permanent resource collection. For more information contact: Lynne Gordon, San Diego High School, 1405 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101. Phone: 525-7455, FAX: 231-0973. E-mail:
lgordon@ec.sdsc.k12.ca.us.
The Science Alliance is gathering information to compile into a directory of resources that will be distributed to all San Diego public and private schools. The directory will contain contact names and brief descriptions of projects currently available to support K-12 science education. We hope to have the directory printed by students at one of the local high schools, and GDE Systems has generously offered to fund the initial printing of approximately 2000 copies. The directory is intended to be a "growing" document, with supplements published periodically to include information about new programs. When possible, we plan to have the directory available via Internet.
We welcome your comments and suggestions. We would also like to serve as a means to disseminate teachers' "wish lists". The following were received after our kick-off event in July.
San Onofre School, part of the Fallbrook Elementary School District, is trying to set up a science lab and is in need of basic equipment and supplies. These include items for safety, biological science, earth science and physical science. For more information and/or a copy of the list of needed materials contact: Craig Schmad, San Onofre School, 200 Pate Road, San Clemente, CA 92672. Phone:(714)723-7085.
I want to commend you for the formation of the San Diego Science Alliance. The San Diego area is almost unmatched in its concentration of scientific, educational and business resources, and it is both astonishing and regrettable that a concept as overwhelmingly valuable as this has not been implemented before now. The Alliance will be of inestimable benefit not only to education, but also to the community as a whole. It sounds trite, but it is nonetheless true that education benefits everyone...
Colleges. universities, businesses and the military frequently have outdated or no longer needed supplies and equipment which teachers would love to have in their classrooms. Donating such items to schools would improve science education and provide a tax deduction for the donor. Perhaps the Alliance could have a regular newsletter which featured a column of items available and items needed...
Quite often teachers would like to be able to consult with an expert in order to better carry out some idea for the classroom. For example, I am presently writing a laboratory exercise for my physical science classes. In order to give this exercise more realism and accuracy, I need to ask a few questions of a metallurgist and/or engineer.
Gretchen Taylor, Science Resource Teacher
Emerald Junior High 588-3097
The following are some events that are scheduled to take place during the 1994-95 school year. We encourage you to let us know about additional programs that should be included in this calendar.
[Following is an article written by Richard Louv and appearing in the October 5, 1994 edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Reprinted with permission ]
Inspired by a speech by Jonas Salk four years ago, Patricia Winter, a volunteer at the Salk Institute, and Anne Blue, wife of the chairman and owner of Gen- eral Atomics, decided to do something to improve science education for San Diego's schoolchildren.
"I began by volunteering 20 hours a week to get a science education outreach program for the Salk Institute off the ground," says Winter, who is now the education outreach coordinator for General Atomics. "But I soon realized that companies arid educators weren't communicat- ing about what they were doing - or could do in the future - to help science education."
So in July, Winter and a handful of other San Diegans launched the San Diego Science Alli- ance, which initially included 130 representa- tives from 75 businessesand organizations, par- ticularly from the high-tech and biomedical fields.
"Since our first meeting, we've put together a mailing list of 160 companies that already have some kind of education outreach program or are interested in creating one," says Gwen Rosen- berg. She is one of the founders of the Science Alliance, director of corporate communication for Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., and a mem- ber of the education committee of the Biomedi- cal Industry Council (BIC), an organization to which most San Diego biomedical companies be- long.
The alliance's first goal: create a database of what companies are doing now in science educa- tion and a calendar of events.
Next week, the first edition of this database is to be distributed to compa- nies, teachers, professional societies, re- search institutes and universities. The first is- sue will be in the form of a newsletter, but eventually the alliance will publish it electroni- cally on the Internet - the international net- work of computer networks.
The second goal is to find out what kind of help and resources educators need, and then help them get it.
It takes a whole community to educate a child," says Percy Myers, director of community relations for ODE Systems, an electronics de- tense contractor. "that's the alliance's philoso- phy."
Some companies are already applying that philosophy. GDE has joined a partnership with Serra Hig School and Rolling Hills Elementary to provide plant tours and guest speakers.
Salk Institute, for the fifth year in a row, has invited high school students to a science day on Feb. 25. For the second year, General Atomics is offering a similar day, on Oct. 29, for high school students.
Working with the county Office of Education, BIC recruits teachers as paid summer interns to give them a real-life experience in science.
BIC is also helping Morse High School set up a model pharmacy company, where students create a simulated drug (in this case perfume), then test it, advertise and market it. The work will he done in the school as well as in Alliance Pharmaceutical's lab.
General Atomics has assembled five teams of scientists and teachers who have created class- room presentations in five areas of research: fu- sion, material science, radioactivity, atomic en- ergy and recombinant DNA. Teachers are particularly excited about the last presentation because of the role it plays in the O.J. trial," says Winter. For six to 10 months, 30 scientists and 19 teachers donated their time to prepare these presentations.
The teams will teach other teachers how to use this knowledge in their classrooms, and General Atomics will donate lab materials which they need and the schools can't afford," Winter says. "You know, I talk to teachers who tell me that their entire annual budget for science equipment and supplies is $500. How in the world can they teach science without supplies? This is one of the reasons industry needs to get involved."
Also on the way: an "Ask a Scientist" hotline. sponsored by BIC and the San Diego City Schools. Students will be able to converse with scientists by phone or via Internet.
Higher education is getting involved, too. Marky Pitts, director of UCSD's ani- mal subjects program, points to the UCSD speaker's bureau as a resource for schools. An Adopt a Scientist program will start this month, matching UCSD faculty members with elementary and high school teachers, says Pitts, adding: "We're concerned about the grow- ing anti-science sentiment. The animal-rights movement has discouraged many young people from careers in lab medicine. We're trying to help young people see that it's not just nerdy or male to have a career in science."
Pitts has a dream. She would like to see UCSD sponsor an on-campus library and labora- tory for elementary and high school students. Winter points out that some cities already have such science resource centers, and "San Diego should, too."
But, as several alliance members point out, such dreams will be hindered by a lack of finan- cial support - not only from the school systems, but from the companies themselves. General Atomics is the only member of the alli- ance with a full-time paid employee for educa- tion outreach. There should be more employees like Winter.
Richard Louv's columns appear in the San Diego Union Tribune on Wednesdays and
Saturdays. He has also written several books:
"Childhood's Future" (Anchor)
"101 Things You Can Do For Our Children's Future" (Anchor)
"FatherLove" (Pocket).
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Science Alliance , All Rights Reserved
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