Posts tagged ‘science education’

April 20th, 2012

Grantee Spotlight: Henry Street School for International Studies

On an ongoing basis, Science House Foundation will share videos about some of our MicroGlobalScope grantees and collaborators located in over 20 countries around the world. Today, it is our pleasure to bring you a video filmed and edited by Brazilian documentarian André Blas about a Science House Foundation MicroGlobalScope grantee in New York City.

Melissa Scott is a middle school science teacher at the Henry Street School for International Studies in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Melissa has a diverse population of students, some of whom are recent immigrants to the US from China and other places. Many don’t speak English, but the philosophy of the school is that every student deserves an education regardless of his or her starting point. This notion tends to drive the school’s test scores down, which hurts them when it comes to funding related to test performance. Oddly, the school is situated in a building that is shared with other schools. The difference is clear just from walking down the halls. The students at Henry Street School for International Studies don’t have lockers and must carry their books around all day while their peers in the other school have a place to store their things. This relative disadvantage is felt by the students, many of whom already have difficulty reading and writing and staying motivated to become interested in learning. Melissa’s students dove in with their imaginations sparked as soon as their microscopy kit arrived.

Making scientific discoveries and sharing them with each other and students around the world inspired some of the students to document their findings to record their observations. Students in Brazil have also started to create art and write stories about their discoveries, which made us realize that this method of experiential science learning has a wonderful extrinsic benefit of catalyzing a desire to read and write.

We are thrilled to share her story (and the story of her amazing scientists in training, who call themselves the Nerd Crew) with you.

You can learn more about the MicroGlobalScope program here.

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January 1st, 2012

A Conversation with the Founders of Late Nite Labs, a Virtual Science Education Laboratory

With decreasing education budgets throughout the US and world, how can schools without the means to create a full wet lab experience provide a meaningful STEM education to students? A virtual lab can come close to providing the same level of chemistry and physics education? Even for schools that can afford a sophisticated wet lab, a virtual counterpart can greatly amplify it–whether because the equipment is too expensive for experimental use or because the boundaries of time and space that previously existed between periods in school are eroded in a virtual environment, leading to increased creativity and participation.

Enter Late Nite Labs, a company that provides a full-service interactive online virtual science laboratory with a full curriculum suite for both high school and college students. Science House Foundation Executive Director Joshua Fouts discusses the origins, goals and future of the company with its founders CEO David Jaffe and Harris Goodman, Chief Development Officer.

Screenshot of a Late Nite Labs experiment

New Financing
TechCrunch recently reported on Late Nite Labs new round of financing from investors, despite doing well with a strong paying subscriber base in the “tens of thousands.” In our interview Harris Goodman describes how this will help the company accelerate and expand their curriculum development.

A Global Perspective
Late Nite Labs already has an eye on a global market with easy-to-use translation tools that allow non-English-speaking students to use the software. David tells us that they plan on reaching out to more international markets soon.

Competition or Collaboration?
With the dominance of the Khan Academy, which has experienced dramatic growth in the online video education field, we discuss how the makers of Late Nite Labs see their work in relation to the likes of similar online video platforms. Jaffe and Goodman describe what’s next for Late Nite Labs in an era of rapidly evolving technology where virtual world platforms become quickly outdated.

What do Science Teachers Think?
We also explore how science teachers have responded to a tool that could theoretically remove the need for many of the costly wet lab equipment most chemistry and physics labs require. This is not a minor issue for many science teachers. There is significant debate about the educational merits of virtual science labs. Harris and Jaffe explain the ways the experience is unique and, in many ways complementary to a wet lab. One interesting element the Late Nite Labs education experience is that mistakes can be made where incorrect results are fully simulated. They also have a well-defined mathematical system wherein students can simulate the use of materials they would likely never have the opportunity to test in the physical space, for example, working with e-coli.

Listen to the full podcast here:

A conversation with the founders of Late Nite Labs, a Virtual Science Laboratory by ScienceHouseFdn

About our podcast guests.
David Jaffe, CEO and Founder

David Jaffe, CEO and Founder of Late Nite Labs

 

David is the founder and visionary behind Late Nite Labs. Along with a deep background in online education and applied science, David brings his passion to LNL. Prior to founding Late Nite Labs, David was the CTO of Net Talk. David received his B.SC in Mechanical Engineering as well as an M.Sc from Technion University in Biomedical Engineering.

 

 

Harris Goodman, Chief Development Officer

Harris Goodman, Chief Development Officer at Late Nite Labs

 

Harris leads Late Nite Labs’ business development and sales efforts. Previously, Harris was an associate at a Manhattan based investment bank, where he concentrated on digital media. He also served as VP of Business Development of Kinor Technologies, a semantic web and data base platform. Harris holds an M.Sc from Johns Hopkins University in molecular biology.

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December 30th, 2011

New Video Science app episode based on “La Science Amusante”

Daniel Menelly describes "La Science Amusante" in his latest Video Science experiment.

Daniel Menelly, Science House Foundation’s Science Education Advisor and host of our Video Science app series has just released a new experiment called “Sorry to Burst Your Bubble.” This experiment is based on a popular Victorian Era “parlor trick” known as “La Science Amusante.” In the experiment, Dan describes both the mathematical and artistic lessons teachers and parents can share with their budding scientists.

A warm welcome to all our new Video Science readers: We had 10,000 new downloads last week!

Download the app here. And let us know your thoughts!

[Also see: Happy Birthday Video Science!]

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December 10th, 2011

Happy Birthday Video Science!

Joe Dyer trying one of his Video Science experiments at home in the UK

Recently we received the below email from Phil and Deb Dyer from the the city of Chester in the United Kingdom, with the above picture of their son Joe. On a visit to New York City the Dyers met Dan Menelly, Science House education advisor and host of Science House’s Video Science app who told them about the app.

“Our 9 year old son Joe has since been fascinated by experimental learning through the Video Science media. As parents Video Science has allowed Joe the opportunity to be given a one to one enriching science experience through digital media. Dan Menelly’s engaging lectures have caught Joe’s imagination and, as Joe says ‘There is really fun stuff to do and, it makes you do amazing things’.

As parents it is sometimes difficult to find a media that engages with your child’s learning process, but we are really pleased that Video Science has achieved this Joe is taking his Alien egg to school soon and will be presenting his experiment to the class, not bad for a 9 yr old!

Kind regards, Phil, Deb and Joe”

Dan Menelly demonstrates a "Light Physics" experiment for the Video Science series.

For the past year Science House education advisor Daniel Menelly and Science House CEO and Founder James Jorasch have spent a few weekends per month at Science House recording new videos for Science House’s Video Science app.

This month we celebrate the release of Video Science 3.0.

Saturdays at Science House

In the early days of Science House Dan Menelly and James Jorasch were discussing how they might collaborate. Dan envisioned a “virtual toolkit” of science teaching tips, tools and experiments for new science teachers based on some of the experiments he does in the classroom. But he didn’t have the technological capability to produce and disseminate this content.

“Science House was looking for ways to leverage cutting-edge technology to reach a larger audience,” James said. “So, Dan and I converted a room in Science House into a mini-studio and started capturing video.”

“Dan would arrive at 11am on Saturdays, usually exhausted from his work week as a full-time science teacher at the United Nations International School, and we’d spend hours setting up the studio. Some days we’d have to pause recording to go get an obscure missing ingredient usually available from a grocery store down the street.”

At Science House, a closet contains artifacts from past Video Science segments, and shelves full of materials purchased for use in future segments, “including ones involving the chemistry of soap, a working model of a turbine and some higher level biological science material,” Dan said.

Originally the videos were uploaded to the Science House website. But, James adds, “being serious Apple fanatics, we decided that it had to be on the iPhone. And when the first iPad application came out, we decided it had to be on the iPad, too.”

The Video Science you see and experience on your iPhone or iPad is the handiwork of Jesse Tayler, CEO and founder of Object Enterprises, a company specializing in mobile applications for business. In the early days, Jesse worked with Gabi de Wit from Science House Foundation (who recently left to pursue her PhD in Molecular Biochemistry at Oxford) to edit and produce the videos and bring them to life on iPhones and iPads.

“Gabi and Jesse together added the digital wizardry and coding that transformed Video Science into media that could be shared by anyone with access to the Internet or an iPhone,” Dan recalled. “Gabi offered her formidable science oversight and excellent editorial guidance to the concept notes we drafted for each new segment, and Jesse shared invaluable data to show which segments drew the largest audiences. We can use Jesse’s data to help shape and produce our next season of Video Science content.”

In the past 25 weeks, Video Science has been downloaded by more than 50,000 new users with some days reaching around 800 new downloads per day or 3,000 per week. It has been downloaded in every country for which there is a store, and Apple adds new stores regularly. Jesse estimates that there are nearly 200,000 downloads by at this point. (The system only allows you to see 25 weeks of download history.)

Not bad for no promotion! Jesse tells us this is unusual on the AppStore since Video Science has never been presented to any of the big tech blogs like TechCrunch or been involved in any promotions, and even still, “it does far better than any other app that I’m aware of that have had silent releases.”

Jesse’s team worked to program the app for a “super-fast release,” which allowed Video Science to get out into the app world quickly and well in advance of other science education apps.

This is when Video Science really took off.

Video Science and Education

Video Science has also been reviewed and recommended by teachers and education strategists as one of the go-to solutions for science teachers looking for curriculum suggestions on the web.

Edutopia blogged about Video Science as being a critical app for engaging students in new ways of learning. How Stuff Works listed Video Science in its top 10 apps for teaching kids about science. And YouthFirst, a resource for teachers included it among their classroom resources.

Dan Menelly described what he hopes people will gain from Video Science, reflecting on his 25 years as a science teacher, scholar and researcher.

“Teaching is a great pleasure. I’ve always enjoyed discussions with new teachers who are building their repertoire with STEM. I decided I could share my ideas, tips and experience with other teachers in cyberspace. My hope is that new teachers will not only interact with these ideas but build on them.

“I always viewed Video Science as a little ‘Tips of the Trade’ resource. Scoutmasters have emailed me saying they really like the “nuts-and-bolts” aspect. Others have described it as “garage-like.” And that’s what it’s intended to be: a nuts-and-bolts garage-like description of science lessons I’ve learned in my career. It’s not a simulation as much as it is a tool for teachers to build on. ”

The Future of Video Science

“The future is international for us,” James told me. In fact, on our recent speaking trip to Brazil we were thrilled when Ana Zeri of the Brazilian National Biosciences Laboratory told the audience that she had a special surprise that she was excited to share with them. That surprise was one of her favorite clips of Dan Menelly’s Stomata experiment.

We’re in early discussions now to create a Brazilian version of Video Science to make the lessons more accessible to non-English speakers.

As for the technology, we’ll continue to evolve with the times, James said. “And if there’s a new holographic display, you can bet Science House will be one of the first organizations to build an app for it.”

“If there are two words I’d like science teachers or parents who are watching video science to take away,” said Dan. “It’s ‘Try This.’ Show these to kids and they’ll teach you how to turn it into something else. “

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November 3rd, 2011

John C. Carver on Education’s “Printing Press Moment”

 

Is there a New DNA to learning? How can today’s schools create a more collaborative learning infrastructure in line with how today’s Internet-and-wireless-device savvy students experience the world? What does a 21st Century classroom look like? How do you increase and identify a student’s passion for learning and then empower it?

In this episode of the Science House Foundation podcast series, we speak with John C. Carver, Superintendent of Schools in Van Meter, Iowa in the midwestern United States.

We first learned about John’s revolutionary approaches to K-12 education transformation while working on our 2011 report, “IMAGINATION: Creating the Future of Education & Work.” In one of several interviews which ended up in the report, Carver described a compelling notion about the state of education in the United States today. Carver believes that we’re at another “printing press moment” in the history of the world and that “the days of training people to work on an assembly line are over.”

No more book bags
In 2009 the Van Meter School District was tasked by its board to transform by the fall of 2013 into a 21st Century school district. When I interviewed Carver this week, we discussed what a 21st Century classroom looks like and how the Van Meter School district is re-imagining and implementing this new vision, two years into that assignment. One thing that’s different about Van Meter from what you’d see at most U.S. schools in the past 75 years, John told me, is that you won’t students carrying heavy book bags. You won’t see textbooks. And they’re almost entirely paper free. Instead, each 6-12 grader is assigned their own MacBook.

“Technology is Invisible”
In elementary school classrooms in Van Meter you’ll find iPads, iPods and laptops. ”Technology is invisible,” says Carver. Van Meter doesn’t have computer labs. Instead, the teacher places the technology in the hands of the students when it’s appropriate.

John described how his philosophy has evolved, after 30-plus years working in US public schools, about what it means to be a “teacher.” For example, should teachers today defined by the content of their knowledge or their approach to learning (i.e. Are you a “math teacher” or something else)? The teachers at Van Meter, John told me, are not defined by the content of their expertise but by their roles as educators.

Is college still necessary?
Do tomorrow’s students still need to go to college in order to find a meaningful career? I asked John about a his perspective on a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education positing that college may no longer be a career benefit for high school graduates. If that’s the case, I asked, what should K-12 schools do to prepare students for a future that might not include college?

A passion for science and mathematics
“Kids have an intuitive interest in science and math.” But the United States is not necessarily approaching the teaching of science and mathematics in a way that ignites a student’s passion. John believes we need to re-think our approach to teaching science and mathematics. We need to first identify a student’s passion and contextualize the relevance of their passion to science and mathematics. And next, we need to stop teaching science and mathematics in isolation. The key, he says, is connecting with what that student is passionate about.

“Empowering our kids to ‘think, lead, and serve’ is as important at national security.”

You can learn more about John by following his excellent Twitter feed @johnccarver. John also mentions the innovative approaches to learning by Van Meter’s teacher librarian and tech specialist, Shannon M. Miller, who’s Twitter feed is an excellent resource for both educational hardware and software.

John C. Carver on Education’s “Printing Press Moment” by ScienceHouseFdn

…

We also talk to Kevin Temmer who’s high school art project to encourage students to study science became a nationwide sensation. We’ve posted the video below.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Bryan Temmer, Kevin’s dad, telling me about his son’s effort to try and increase student interest in science.

—–Original Message—–
From: Bryan Temmer
Subject: Science Fair Animation video

My son Kevin recently graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at Land O’ Lakes high school in Florida. As part of the community outreach in the IB program, Kevin decided to create an original animated video to teach students about the science fair. Kevin’s animation has been featured on several sites including the National Science Foundation Knowledge Network, National Geographic Kids, PBS Kids Dragonfly TV, AOL Kids, Edutopia, and Intel’s Inspired by Education site. Kevin’s animated introduction to the science fair can be viewed at:

Kevin was hoping to share his animation with more students to encourage participation and interest in the science fair.

Kevin also recently completed a brand new original song and animation for the World Science Festival in New York City. It was featured last month during the “Cool Jobs” presentation and can be viewed at: http://worldsciencefestival.com/videos/cool_jobs_opening

I look forward to any suggestions you may have on sharing Kevin’s Science Fair video with a larger audience.

———————-

In our final segment of the podcast, I spoke with Kevin, now a college freshmen, and asked him what inspired him to try and get more high school students excited about Science.

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