Thanks so much for reading our latest newsletter! The department continues to do outstanding work in the classroom, in K-12 schools and area museums, and in the scholarly and creative realm. We have also been active in service to the university and our profession. We have all been very busy but we enjoy our work and our colleagues which makes the work much more fun!
If you've been on campus lately you have no doubt seen the big hole where PH-3 used to be located! Construction is in progress for a brand new Hall of Science. We are very excited about the prospect of moving into a modern facility. Our teaching labs, faculty offices and research space will be housed in the new building with everyone in close proximity. You can follow the demolition and construction progress online. The official Ground Breaking for the new building will take place Friday October 3, 2008, at 2:30pm. RSVP by emailing Ashley Teran (ateran2@csulb.edu) to join us as we celebrate the new building. Then join us again in 3 years when Science Education moves into its new home!
The department continues to add new projects and activities. I don't know where my colleagues find the time, but we somehow manage to increase our offerings and ventures. You will be able to read about many of our activities in detail in the articles found within this newsletter, but I'd like to highlight a few. Jim Kisiel has a grant to investigate how touch tanks are used to facilitate learning at aquariums and science centers. Susan Gomez-Zwiep and Bill Straits are funded to work with K-2 teachers to help them learn science content and science pedagogy. The Master's Degree program is continuing to grow and evolve as we are adding new elements to classes which enrich the experience for our students. Among the new programming for the MS students was the implementation of a Seminar Series. Open to the public, these monthly seminars will highlight science education research being done in the region.
Our summer programming continues to keep us busy. Bill Ritz's Head Start On Science program brought in teachers from the LA area and China! The Young Scientists Camp had 200 kids on campus and, thanks to funding from Verizon Foundation, the camp was brought off-campus to some of the neediest kids in Long Beach. On top of all that we've been active presenting at conferences and writing papers (see the Productivity Report to find out just how active we've been!).
The main reason we are here is for our students so we always like to celebrate their successes. You can read about their awards and achievements. As you'll see, we've got some great students with whom to work!
We are all struggling in these fiscally challenging times and we are deeply grateful to those donors who have supported our efforts. This past year we received gifts from individuals and foundations. These donations and grants have enabled us to provide programming and student support that would otherwise not have been possible. Thank you to our donors! As you read this newsletter I hope you will consider making a gift to the Science Education Department to support our students and programs. You can see we have lots going on and lots we'd like to keep doing for our students. Your contributions of time, talents and money help enrich our programs and provide our students with a superior experience.
We hope you enjoy reading about our activities and learning about our students and alumni. The department wants to be a resource to our alumni and our community; we hope that you would want to be a resource to us. Keep in touch with us via email (dalexand@csulb.edu) and our alumni database and let us know what we can do to help you.
Laura Henriques, Chair
