  
|
|
|
|
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund hosted the annual meeting of Student Science Enrichment Program Directors on Wednesday, September 18, 2002. The meeting was held at the BWF facility, 21 T. W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The Directors' meeting serves two primary purposes, to serve as a venue for networking and to facilitate educational exchanges.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 The SSEP Directors meeting began with a continental breakfast and poster session of the 2000 and 2001 award recipients. Due to an overlap in timing, there were two 1999 awardees at the meeting. The meeting was well attended by 19 program directors, seven advisory committee members, two BWF board members (Steve Corman and Phil Tracy), and BWF staff. Queta Bond, president of BWF, welcomed the group and shared information on science education activities over the past year.
Evaluation Workshop: The Education Consulting Team (TECT), which consists of Charles Eilber, Sally Bond, and Mary Wakeford, presented on a new vision for SSEP evaluation. They addressed the purpose and benefits of evaluation, presented a selection of evaluation methods that may be applied to a SSEP project, described how to put methods and possible evidence together in a reasonable evaluation plan, and described how evaluation can be used to sustain programs. There were discussions about when the term "undecided" on an assessment tool is a good answer in evaluation. It was determined that a student's attitude may need to be investigated on the outset to get a clearer view. When students are asked about careers in science, it was unclear what was SSEP students' perception of science. The evaluation team agreed to provide SSEP Directors with technical assistance to help them better assess students and the impact of program activities. Electronic evaluation forms will be made available via the SSEP website and will give directors immediate access to data outcome. Printed evaluation forms will continue to be available. Regional meetings will be held to reach all new award and continuing recipients.
Meeting participants were separated into four groups for a data analysis exercise using data volunteered by Campbell University's STEP into Science Summer Teacher Workshop. TECT distributed questions from an evaluation used for the workshop, which included 10 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teacher participants. Group one assessed motivation, group two the design of workshop, group three the value of professional development, and group four next steps.
TECT emphasized the importance of connecting student activities to the three SSEP goals and provided thoughts on aggregating data to improve program offerings.
SSEP Goals
Table Topics: The group discussed the following four table topics and best practices and resources.
Utilizing Technology to Teach Science (led by Beth Snoke of the NCSU Science House)
Best practices:
Resources:
NSF, websites (such as the Globe Project. www.globe.gov), NC Science Teachers' Association
Noted: Technology is used to collect, manage, and store data. Students prefer to work in the field using tools effectively. Encourage students to use technology to design and problem solve, analyze data, personalize data gathered, speed understanding, visualize, and get immediate feedback
Sustainability (led by Ken Cutler of the American Chemical Society, NC Chapter)
Best practices:
Resources: Federal programs, grant locator services, family foundations, community foundations, and fee for services are possible resources to sustain a program.
Working with Scientists in Your Program (led by Dave Smith of Duke University)
Best practices:
Resources: database of scientists and technical support, training opportunities, liaison facilitator, guidebooks for scientists in classroom, on-line resources.
Building Partnerships (led by Bob Panoff of Shodor Education Foundation) Best practices:
Resources: everything, everyone, information, BWF, ideas, other programs, and websites.
No Child Left Behind Act: Gongshu Zang, Ed.D. senior evaluation consultant with the Department of Public Instruction has been researching the No Child Left Behind Act and shared his findings with the group. President Bush signed into law the Act, which is considered the most sweeping reform of federal education policy in a generation. There are 2,100 schools in North Carolina and each will be assessed on disaggregated student race/ethnicity data and other characteristics to determine adequate yearly progress (AYP). Only up to 30 percent of North Carolina schools would pass if assessed this year. Professional development and societal reform were highlighted as key elements in assuring that all North Carolina students receive the quality of education they deserve.
Shirley Malcom, co-chair of the SSEP Advisory Committee summarized the meeting and called for adjournment at 4:10 p.m.