In an effort to excite students about technology and San Diego’s high tech, biotech, and communications industries, the San Diego Science Alliance hosted its second Educational Technology Fair on February 18 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Joining SDSA to make this event possible were San Diego’s five U.S. Congressmen, the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE), San Diego City Schools (SDCS), and the San Diego Science Educators Association. The event was a resounding success, with over 1700 high school students from 37 area high schools in attendance. There were 54 exhibitors—more than last year—with exciting hands-on, interactive exhibits. And with many repeat exhibitors—an indication that the businesses felt this was an important place for them to be—lessons learned from our first Fair proved useful, as the exciting exhibits were well-staffed by professional and capable employees, who fielded question after question from well-prepared students. Nancy Taylor (SDCOE) and Bob Van Zant (SDCS) developed the educator packets sent to the teachers in advance of the event. The teachers in turn used the materials to better prepare students and make this a more valuable educational day for them.

The new capabilities of the SDSA web site enabled students to link to the High Tech Fair page on our site and research information about exhibitor companies in which they were interested. (Each of the exhibitors had submitted several questions that students might consider in advance of attending the event.) A successful undertaking like this would not be possible without the dedication and commitment of many—too many to list, but some should be noted. For the second year, the Chairperson of this event was Barbara Abelin, Cubic Corporation and SDSA Board member; her enthusiasm and leadership served as our guiding light. Judi Nelson, TRW Avionics Systems Division, was in charge of all exhibitor information—and what an organizational task that was! Carol Danielson, General Atomics, coordinated all exhibit arrangements from layout and design to logistics; the Fairgrounds’ own exhibit manager attended the Fair just to admire Carol’s handiwork. We thank Greg Dvorken, Sony, for his skills in working with the press; the Union-Tribune and North County Times provided coverage of the Fair the following day, as did KBNT-TV, the Spanish-language channel. Staff members from the offices of the Congressmen worked with us throughout the many months of planning. Congressmen Bilbray, Cunningham, Filner, and Hunter again attended the Fair this year and Congressman Packard had to be in Washington D.C. despite the recess.

Special thanks also to Ellen Moomaw, Agouron Pharmaceutical Corp., for helping to encourage other biotech firms to exhibit; Todd Talashek, Monsanto Kelco Biopolymers, for arranging an exhibitor workshop in the fall; and Paul Davis, JLG Technology, who oversaw volunteers on the day of the event. Several exhibitors and participants donated much-appreciated equipment to teachers or students, either by competition or drawing: CASIO - Education Division donated a QV 770 camera and free registration in a QV 770 workshop at the San Diego County Office of Education. Teachers were asked to submit a lesson plan outlining how they would use the camera, and the winning entry was submitted by Mai Vo, science teacher at El Camino High in Oceanside, who will use the camera to record the daily growth of a plant in an experiment in her biology class. Proxima Corporation, at the suggestion of Werner T. Heid, President, donated multimedia projectors to teachers. The lucky recipients were Dianne Cordero at Kearny High and Dave Blanscet at Escondido High. Verle A. Williams & Associates, Inc., Consulting Engineers, held two student drawings. Justin Anderson, San Dieguito Academy, was the winner of a Texas Instruments mathematics/science calculator. Sereyrith Pot, Montgomery High in the Sweetwater District, won a crystal clock. Thank you to our exhibitors for donating these prizes for the lucky teachers and students.

An "Evening of Science" in Chula Vista

On Wednesday, February 3rd, a great event occurred in Chula Vista. After many months of planning and co-ordinating efforts, the elementary schools in Chula Vista Elementary School District and many scientists from the Science Alliance came together for an "Evening of Science." The guest speaker was Ramon Lopez, Director of Education at the American Physical Society and an astro-physicist at the University of Maryland. He inspired the audience with hands-on science in the form of "Sinking and Floating" activities; and he challenged them to work together to develop scientists for the future. Thirty-five schools were present with a principal, teacher, and PTA President. At the end of the evening, all of the schools were

given monetary awards to be specifically spent on improving their hands-on science program. To help support their goals, there was at least one scientist from the Science Alliance at every table. The guest list included: Barbara Abelin (Cubic), Bob Countryman (USDEA), Roy DeVault (4-H), Aly Evans (Reuben H. Fleet Science Center), Gregory Faulk (Kelco/Nutrasweet), Rick Jimenez (QUALCOMM), Claude Edwards and Michael Klein (F.L.I.T.E. Tours), Jean Meagher (San Diego Audubon Society), Mitch Mitchell (Hewlett Packard), George Pinkham (Raytheon), Paul Sheperd (BF Goodrich), Pat Winter and Larry Woolf (General Atomics), and Rodriego Viesca (CV Police Lab). Also in attendance were representatives from some of

the local colleges and universities, the San Diego County Office of Education, and local politicians. All in all, it was a great evening and it sent forth a clear message: Keep the science of science going, even with the youngest of school-age children! This event took place as an outgrowth of the first San Diego Community-Scientist event which the Science Alliance put on in April of 1997. That meeting led to the SanDELI Conference in May of 1998, coordinated by the San Diego County Office of Education and led by Nancy Taylor. Now the Chula Vista Elementary School District is making this happen for them. This is a fine example of the networking that SDSA brings to the teachers and students through-out San Diego.

Features of the SDSA Interactive Community

The San Diego Science Alliance interactive Web site features greatly expanded capabilities, including the ability to create your own personal information center, search the SDSA Resource Catalog, and participate in online discussions. There is absolutely no charge to users for this service. "My homebase" is your personal information center where you can join and track groups in which you are interested. You can also create a personal user profile which allows others in the community to get to know you and your professional interests. In the same fashion, you too can search for and locate people with common interests within the SDSA community. "Groups" enables you to create or participate in discussions relating to issues relevant to the San Diego Science Alliance community. This feature automatically creates and publishes Web pages about your organization based on the information you provide. The SDSA Resource Catalog allows you to view and add to a comprehensive list of organizations donating their time, facilities, or resources to San Diego science educators and students. Announcements are sent out by the SDSA Executive

Director to inform teachers about special opportunities or other time-sensitive information. All teachers who teach K-12 science, can receive these announcements by sending their name, school name, and e-mail address to pat.winter@gat.com. Additionally, the announcement feature is used by the Executive Director to send messages to all organizations/businesses listed in the Resource Catalog. The SDSA Calendar provides a quick look at science-related activities taking place in the San Diego area. The calendar allows you to access or post information about workshops, online events, or conferences, for example. To register for the interactive features of the SDSA site, go to http://www.sdsa.org/ and click on "Interactive community." Follow the instructions to register on the site, and you may begin using the features described above; you will see them listed on the left navigation bar. If you would like to receive announcements about SDSA or add events to the SDSA Calendar, contact Pat Winter at pat.winter@gat.com. For technical assistance with registering, creating and maintaining groups, and additional questions about these features, contact Joy Wochenske at jwochen@wested.org or (415) 241-2730.

Members of Congress Hunter, Bilbray, Cunningham and Filner welcome students		High Tech Fair Steering Committee and Members of Congress
Mai Vo and students from El Camino High School accept Casio Digital Camera		Nancy Taylor, Mai Vo and Jan Sutton, President, SDSA, presenting Casio Camera to Mai Vo, contest winner
Students and exhibitors interact at High Tech Fair exhibits

Calling All Science Teachers (K-12) If you are not already receiving timely e-mail announcements from SDSA, please e-mail your name, school name, grades taught, and e-mail address to Pat Winter so you can be added to the Teacher Data Base on the SDSA Web site. This is a valuable way for you to keep current with activities and special events that might be of interest. E-mail the information to: pat.winter@gat.com.

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