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New Video of Cynthia Breazeal
MIT TechTV filmed robot designer Cynthia Breazeal (featured on this site and in Robo World) presenting to college sophomores and juniors from around the country who are participating in the school's MIT Summer Research Program 2009. Though the introduction is hard to hear, Cynthia's presentation comes across well. The 60-minute video might be more than you're looking for but consider just showing the first 5 minutes or so, when Cynthia is describing how she got into the field of robotics. Or zoom ahead to sections where she's presenting videos of robots in action. View the video.
Diane France to Present at NSTA 2009
Forensic anthropologist Diane France will pair up with science educator April Luehmann in a workshop presentation at the NSTA Annual Conference in New Orleans in March. Diane will talk about her life and work and April will share ideas for using the Women's Adventures in Science books and the iWASwondering.org Web site in classrooms and other learning environments. Don't miss this dynamic duo! Friday, March 20, from 4 to 5:30 p.m or Saturday, March 21, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center, Room 228. Hope to see you there.
France, Hammel, and Ocampo Inspire at NSTA
Diane France, Heidi Hammel, and Adriana Ocampo shared the stories of their paths to science at the 2008 NSTA National Conference in Boston. In a session sponsored by the National Academies, the three inspirational women spoke with humor and enthusiasm about their childhoods, the important impact teachers had on their science careers, and what they find compelling about the work they do. Later they generously spent time at the National Academies booth in the exhibit hall, speaking with teachers one-on-one. It was an exceptional experience for both the scientists and the teachers.
Teachers Learn How WAS Books Support Math and Science Lessons
Teacher trainers in the San Francisco school system offered middle-school teachers some great ideas for teaching math and science concepts using content from the Women's Adventures in Science series. To teach estimation, for example, they drew on the sidebar about estimating a person's height by measuring the femur in Bone Detective. The books offer a number of useful ways to tie curriculum content to interesting, real-life examples.
9th-graders in Yonkers Go Wild Over Gorilla Mountain
In the fall of 2006, the Gorton High School in Yonkers, NY created a special cross-curricular program for some of their 9th-grade students featuring Gorilla Mountain: The Story of Wildlife Biologist Amy Vedder. Lesson plans for several subjects were developed around the content of the story, students visited the Congo Gorilla exhibit (masterminded by Amy Vedder) at the Bronx Zoo, and author Rene Ebersole visited the school to talk about her experience writing the book.
Second Grade Selects Inez Fung as Scientist of the Month
Proving that the Women's Adventures in Science project appeals to a broad grade-range, a second-grade science class at Marin Elementary School in Albany, CA, selected Inez Fung as their scientist of the month for December 2006. In a note to Dr. Fung announcing this honor, the teacher wrote, "Your website...'Iwaswondering[.org]' is a wonderful resource for young students. I will be presenting this website to them this Friday during our science hour."
BE WiSE Program Includes WAS Books in Workshops
Girls in grades 7 to 12 in San Diego county have a terrific opportunity to become part of the BE WiSE Program (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering). Girls enter the program in 7th or 8th grade, attending an overnight science event. As alumnae of the program they are invited to workshops on various science and engineering topics until they graduate from college. The BE WiSE Program has given students free copies of Women's Adventures in Science books related to the field of science featured in each workshop. For example, in 2006 they had a physics workshop and gave out copies of Strong Force: The Story of Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson and in 2007 they are giving out Forecast Earth: The Story of Climate Scientist Inez Fung for a workshop on global warming. The program also has a robotics team and members received copies of Robo World: The Story of Robot Designer Cynthia Breazeal.
EYH San Diego Gives Free WAS Books to Girls
Each spring, Expanding Your Horizons San Diego (part of the national EYH Network) hosts a day-long science conference for 6th- to 10th-grade girls at a local university. Participants-typically more than 400 girls-listen to a keynote speaker and then attend three hands-on workshops that are led by scientists and engineers in industry, professional societies, colleges, and universities. Thanks to a generous grant from Merck, in 2006 and 2007 each girl received a book from the Women's Adventures in Science series-an inspirational story to take home and enjoy.
Diane France Featured in The Science Teacher
Forensic anthropologist Diane France, the subject of Bone Detective, is interviewed in the February 2007 issue of The Science Teacher, NSTA's magazine for high school science teachers. Read the interview and share it with your students.
The Warner School Highlights iWASwondering.org's AEP Nomination
The University of Rochester's Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development focused their spotlight on iWASwondering.org and its selection as a finalist for the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) 2007 Distinguished Achievement Awards in their online newsletter. Read the article.
Bone Detective Declared Outstanding by NSTA and CBC
The National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council selected Bone Detective: The Story of Forensic Anthropologist Diane France as a 2006 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12.
iWASwondering.org Earns an A+!
Education World reviewed the site and gave it A+ ratings for content and design. Read the review.
