BioEYES Newsletter July, 2013
What's New? Baltimore City, Maryland (Valerie Butler, Chandra Harvey, and Rob Vary) We recently took part in the 2013 African American Festival (AAF)! This was the first year that the AAF had a STEM tent, and we are enormously proud to have been invited to participate (and only partly because the tent was air-conditioned!). This past year nearly 3,600 students and 65 teachers participated in our programs. We also developed 12 new model teachers who deliver our programs on their own with materials loaned to them by our staff. We now have 28 model teachers doing BioEYES in our area, and 15 of these are in the Baltimore City Public School District. Outreach educator Chandra Harvey recruited science and other professionals to visit several of our schools as a way to introduce students to various careers and educational pathways. These professionals were from the fields of astronomy, marine biology, GIS technology, engineering, and chemistry, among others. Thank you to the many skilled professionals who donated their time to enlighten our students about what your work entails! Through a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, approximately 500 middle school students, nine teachers, and eight schools went through our stream
Hello BioEYES Supporter, Another school year has come and gone, and summer has arrived! It was quite a busy year for BioEYES in the United States, and still is in Australia (where the school year runs from March-December). Among our sites this past school year, our BioEYES educators taught 11,138 students, worked with 124 teachers, and helped 87 model teachers bring the program into their own classrooms. Phew! Anyone could say we deserve a bit of a rest after that, but there's too much to do gearing back up for 2013-2014. Model teacher research study Thanks to a grant from the American Society of Human Genetics, we are presently conducting a two-year research study of our model teachers' delivery of BioEYES and its impact on genetics instruction. We hope that our results will inform other educators, programs and the genetics community at large. We would like to thank our teachers for allowing us to learn from your experience and to strengthen our programs with your feedback. Staff comings and goings Michael Spiegel, formerly of Monash University, has bid a fond farewell to BioEYES Australia. Michael was instrumental in starting BioEYES in Melbourne, and will surely be missed. It, however, brings us pleasure to introduce the new head of BioEYES Australia, Dr. Sharon Flecknoe. We'll let educator Anmei Vuong introduce her: Sharon is a lecturer at Monash University but also dedicates much of her time to outreach education programs, including BioEYES. Sharon thrives on seeing students enjoy what they are learning and believes that the BioEYES program is a unique tool with which we can inspire students of all ages. She comments that the best part of being involved in BioEYES is when she sees the excitement generated in the classroom spilling over into the students' lunchtimes and home lives. Welcome aboard, Sharon! BioEYES student wins science awards In Philadelphia, participation in BioEYES led high schooler Kareema Dixon to go on to win science fairs as well as awards from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy, and the Cobbs Creek Environmental Center by using zebrafish to test oil toxicity. Doing hands-on science also led her to a summer job as a park manager at Cobbs Creek. To learn more, take a look at this post from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. Good luck, Kareema! We're sure you're going to go far from here.
water ecology program, "Your Watershed, Your Backyard" (YWYB). Students from YWYB also successfully released 500 trout as part of Trout in the Classroom and worked on various greening activities in their region, from planting shrubs to attract wildlife with General Motors in White Marsh, to stream cleanups and tree plantings with Blue Water Baltimore. Thanks to our many partners and volunteers who keep this program running smoothly. We couldn't do it without you! If you would like to volunteer with us, we are having a volunteer training August 17, 2013 from 10 AM - 12 PM at the Carnegie Institution in Baltimore, MD. For more information and to sign up, please contact Chandra Harvey at harvey@ciwemb.edu.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Jamie Shuda and Tracy Nelson) Philadelphia BioEYES ended the school year reaching even more students than planned! Over 2,900 students became scientists this past school year and we enjoyed every second. Over the summer, Tracy will be traveling to North Adams, MA to bring BioEYES to 100+ K-6 grade students during a science summer camp. A special thanks to our BioEYES partners at Williams College for donating fish and supplies! In addition, four local high school girls will be spending eight weeks doing research in the Institute for Regenerative Medicine research labs.
Philadelphia tenth grader Kareema Dixon presents one of her award-winning science projects using the zebrafish she learned about in BioEYES.
Teachers and students respond to BioEYES Also in Philadelphia, a BioEYES model teacher from Solis-Cohen Elementary School, Andrea Green, had this to say about their program in May: This time of year, 4th grade is supposed to be studying Structures of Life, so the zebrafish fit right in. They have the opportunity to experience the creation of life from Day 1. Students are totally awestruck as they witness changes in the fish when peering through the microscope. BioEYES allows the children to take on responsibilities similar to a real scientist. They jump at the chance, and take great pride as they perform their duties. My class talked about the embryos as "their babies." Ms. Green also sent this picture of the wonderful bulletin board display the students made, showcasing their BioEYES vocabulary:
To all of our amazing teachers, enjoy the much deserved summer break and we look forward to working with you next year!
Melbourne, Australia (Sharon Flecknoe and Anmei Vuong) As our school year approaches its half-way point, we regret to announce the departure of Michael Spiegel from the BioEYES Australia
"Something fishy is going on in room #7... BioEYES is back!"
In Baltimore, Program Manager Valerie Butler had a whole bunch of great letters from kids! First, from 7th graders at ConneXions Community Leadership Academy Middle/High School she received these fantastic handmade cards:
team. Michael has been with BioEYES Australia since its inception in 2010 and has been a valuable member in ensuring the success of the program here. Thank you, Michael, for your hard work! Heading the team now is Sharon Flecknoe who has also been with BioEYES since 2010. Sharon completed her PhD in fetal development and has since developed a passion for sharing her love of science with students. To other news, BioEYES is now partnered with the School of Biomedical Sciences at Monash University, in conjunction with the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute. In terms of the school excursions some comments we have received from students showcasing their enthusiasm include, "The program should be longer!" and "When are you coming back?" We look forward to more positive comments in the next half of the school year!
...while 5th grade students from Windsor Hills Elementary/Middle School presented her with these wonderfully illustrated thank-you letters.
South Bend, Indiana (Jill Voreis) Since starting our program back up for the spring semester, we assisted 34 model teachers to bring BioEYES into their classrooms. All together, these model teachers were able to reach over 1,900 students!
Did You Know?
BioEYES is GuideStar approved! To see our listing, go to our GuideStar profile and look under the “Programs and Help� tab.
Thank you to all of the teachers, students, partners, administrators, volunteers, and staff members who helped make this past school year a success for BioEYES. We look forward to working with you again in 2013-14! Sincerely,
Dr. Steven Farber BioEYES co-founder and staff scientist Carnegie Institution for Science
Dr. Jamie Shuda BioEYES co-founder and Director of Life Science Outreach University of Pennsylvania
BioEYES currently operates out of the Carnegie Institution for Science and the Johns Hopkins School of Education 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!
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