BioEYES Newsletter April, 2011 Hello BioEYES Supporter,
WHAT'S NEW BioEYES student evaluations become scannable! Piloted this spring in Philadelphia, scannable pre- and post-surveys were developed so that all BioEYES sites can enter and analyze student learning in a matter of minutes. A special thanks to the Philadelphia team, including Alex Evanczuk our work-study student and technology guru! Stay tuned for more to come on this new initiative. Baltimore City BioEYES Baltimore is proud to announce that the co-founder of BioEYES, Dr. Steven Farber, has accepted an invitation to serve on Baltimore City Public Schools' Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Board! We can think of few people better suited to advance science education here in Charm City than Dr. Farber. We are also excited to once again start up our two-week environmental program, "Your Watershed, Your Backyard!" With the generous support of the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the guidance of our new Program Manager and Educator Valerie Butler, we are ready to bring "Your Watershed, Your
We urge you to join forces with BioEYES in getting students excited about science! In the 2009–2010 school year BioEYES educators taught nearly 11,000 students, and teachers frequently share that students recall BioEYES as being their favorite part of the entire school year!
Most (79%) of the students we teach are in the local public school system and come from impoverished backgrounds and under-resourced schools in need of quality science programs. As a result, many hold the belief that careers in the sciences are out of reach to them. A former BioEYES student, Dasha, wrote, I just wanted to thank you for coming to our class. I think you thought we were the worst class you ever had. All our teachers say that. BioEYES reaches out to children like Dasha who have internalized the message that they are among “the worst,” and appoints them to an important role: that of research scientist. It is with these types of experiences that we can break down the stereotypes of who can be a scientist and encourage more Americans to enter this growing and competitive workforce. What We Do Our team of researchers and educators bring
Backyard" to Baltimore-area schools this spring. Baltimore County Baltimore County Public Schools has their own BioEYES Outreach Educator on staff, Bo Dunlap, who uses fish and supplies from the Carnegie Institute in Baltimore. For the past three years, the Baltimore County BioEYES program has been operating solely in fifth grade classes. This month, Bo will make his first foray into high schools! We wish Bo the best of luck as he extends the BioEYES experience to these new students. Philadelphia BioEYES in Philadelphia is excited to offer a new 2nd grade zebrafish unit to local schools. Designed by a BioEYES model teacher, Tina Buttry of Gideon Elementary School and our outreach team, this week-long experiment excites our newest Nano Scientists about research while teaching hands-on daily activities about fish anatomy, embryo development, and the scientific method.
zebrafish into K-12 classrooms, have students breed the fish, raise embryos and observe their development daily under microscopes. Kids come to care for these developing fish and in turn get excited about science. They learn about basic cell biology, genetics, and animal development. Because the embryos are optically clear, over the course of one week students witness a single-celled fish develop into a free-swimming larva, complete with a beating heart and visible blood flow just like us. Their reaction is one of true amazement! Launched in 2002, it is hard to believe we have reached nearly 40,000 students nationwide and are now in Australia! We have been able to deliver our programs to tens of thousands of children at no cost to their schools because of the generosity of corporations, foundations and individuals such as you!
How You Can Help Help us reach more students. Make a secure, tax-deductible donation through PayPal today. To send a check, click on the "donate" button at left to retrieve our address. Thank you for your support to help engage the young minds and future scientists and doctors of tomorrow. Sincerely,
Dr. Steven Farber BioEYES co-founder and staff scientist Carnegie Institution for Science
New scientific journals for this unit have been developed and will be disseminated to all BioEYES sites next fall. We look forward to expanding our curricula and inspiring even younger minds!
Dr. Jamie Shuda BioEYES co-founder and Director of Life Science Outreach University of Pennsylvania
BioEYES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt organization and currently operates out of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Baltimore, MD; the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA; Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN; and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. We have been able to deliver our programs to tens of thousands of children at no cost to their schools because of the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.bioeyes.org. We thank you for your support!
Notre Dame This year we added two graduate fellows to our team: Aprell Carr Sparks and Francis Raycroft, both zebrafish researchers. They are currently pursuing their doctoral degrees and are part of an outreach program through the University of Notre Dame. They help out in schools and participate in the administration of the program. They are young, cool scientists that are able to share with our students what their jobs as zebrafish researchers entails. We also made short videos where they talk about how they became interested in science and what their research is about. We share these videos with the students on days when Aprell and Francis cannot visit the classrooms. We are also creating advanced BioEYES activities for the high school honors biology classes that involve using GloFish - fish with a genetic mutation that glow fluorescent red, green or orange under UV light. We are performing crosses (i.e., mating) to identify when the color of these genetically altered fish begins to show up.
Did You Know? BioEYES is GuideStar approved! To see our listing, go here and look under the “Programs and Help� tab.