The Bay Area Festival of Science
The first weekend of November is science geek nirvana with the return of a Bay Area gem: Wonderfest, the Bay Area Festival of Science. The 2-day festival is Saturday, November 7^th (on Stanford’s campus) and Sunday, November 8^th (on Berkeley’s campus).

Every year, Wonderfest pairs researchers to answer provocative questions in the world of science. The point is to create an engaging dialogue between the scientists and the audience, empowering people to make up their own mind.

I’m always blown away by the scientific luminaries that take part in the dialogues. Just last year, there was a dialogue on our energy future featuring current Secretary of Energy (and Nobel Laureate) Steven Chu and co-lead author of the IPCC report on climate change Dan Kammen.

This year is no exception with an expanded line-up of exceptional dialogues:

Does Moore’s Law Apply to Energy Technology?
Does Media Violence Inspire Real Violence?
Is Evolution Still Darwinian?
Do Robots Make Better Astronauts?
Does Darwin Illuminate Emotion & Spirituality?
Can We Create Life?

Dialogues not your thing? This year brings the debut of the Amateur Science Forum, (exhibitions of local citizen science programs), the Bay Area Science Expo (shop for science inspired books, crafts, and music), and my personal favorite: the Mind Duel. The Mind Duel is a science quiz competition between a local high champion and a panel of local science professors. A Nobel Laureate humbled by a local high student…it’s possible and likely at Wonderfest.

Wonderfest 2009

When: Saturday 11/7 1-10 PM, Sunday 11/8 10 AM -5 PM
Where: Saturday – Hewlett Teaching Center, Stanford University
Sunday – Stanley Hall, UC Berkeley
Cost: FREE
Details: Through public discourse about provocative scientific questions, Wonderfest aspires to stimulate curiosity, promote careful reasoning, challenge unexamined beliefs, and encourage life-long learning. Wonderfest achieves these ends by presenting series of scientific events to the general public. At most of these events, pairs of articulate and accomplished researchers discuss and debate compelling questions at the edge of scientific understanding.

Aquaman was Healy Hamilton's favorite superhero growing up.

When I first heard about Healy Hamilton at a meeting QUEST was having with the California Academy of Sciences, I just knew I was going to like her. I mean, what kind of scientist studies not only the effects of climate change on biodiversity, but also has independent projects with river dolphins, seahorses and octopuses? Talk about Bio…Diversity! (ouch)

So what do you do with a scientist with such diverse interests? Well, we featured her in no less than three QUEST TV stories in our third season. (Incidentally, this record is only matched by another Cal Academy Scientist, Bob Full. I guess they attract a lot of very interesting people over there at the Academy).

This latest story "Why I Do Science" is geared towards kids (and Aquaman fanatics). Also see Healy in ""Seahorse Sleuth" and "Climate Watch: California at the Tipping Point."

Watch the Why I Do Science television story online.

Stacy Morrow, who teaches fourth grade at Fair Oaks Elementary School in Redwood City did not need to tell me about her students' enthusiasm for science. It was obvious. Working in teams with a FOSS kit on magnetism and electricity, they could barely contain their excitement at powering a light bulb with a simple electrical circuit.

Like a quarter of California school children, most of Morrow's students are native Spanish speakers. From time to time I'd hear the odd Spanish phrase – along with new English ones, like "serial circuits" and "D-cell batteries" — drift across the room. Morrow believes that as ESL students, her kids are asked to work much harder than other fourth-graders, mastering a second language along with all the other academic demands of elementary school. It must be a relief, I thought, to engage in a subject where teamwork and experimentation are more important than getting all the words right.

Fair Oaks is a "program improvement school," which means it's been identified by federal No Child Left Behind program as falling below target in certain subjects. (Here's an SF Chronicle article about the "stigma" of Program Improvement status). Morrow says test scores at Fair Oaks are on the rise, but, as this recent New York Times article describes, those standards can be tough to meet even for some of the most improved schools.

Given those demands, it's impressive that Morrow and other teachers at Fair Oaks find as much time for science lessons as they do – (it's also rare, as this study showed). Morrow credits this to the FOSS kits and a supportive administration. But she deserves a lot of the credit, for taking the time to educate herself. The Lawrence Berkeley study also showed that many elementary teachers simply don't feel qualified to teach science. That problem is compounded in economic boom times, when high-paying tech jobs make the pool of science-qualified teachers even smaller. It's fortunate that some of the same industries that compete for workers are also helping train more K12 teachers. Our QUEST education team has put together a page of science education resources, which we invite you to check out.

Finally, a disclaimer: We're barely scratching the surface here. I hope everyone watches QUEST's excellent TV story on science literacy, which goes into far more detail than our six-minute radio slot allowed.

Listen to the Closing the Science Gap radio report online.

As many of us are aware, science education in California is in trouble. However, many of us also know there are amazing people and organizations working to improve the situation. The annual California Science Education Conference put on by the California Science Teachers' Association begins next week in San Jose. Science teachers from around the state will come together to learn from each other and experts in the field. Most will take personal time off from their teaching and pay conference registration and travel expenses out of their own pockets. Their dedication to improving science teaching and learning exemplifies what is going right and the sacrifices they have to make are a stark reminder of what is not working.

It is in honor of this annual gathering that QUEST takes time away from fact-based science stories to cover California's science future in a different way. In our upcoming broadcast of Science Under the Microscope: Science Struggles in Schools, QUEST Television looks at the severity of the science education problem, what schools are doing to fill the gap, meets innovative teachers and discovers creative methods being employed to get kids caught up. And I, the QUEST Education Producer, take a bit of time away from creating media-related science resources for educators to write this blog post.

There are, of course, countless ways for concerned citizens to pitch in. As a former high school science teacher the five suggestions below are my personal recommendations – resources I wish I had known about when I was teaching and things I now give as someone who cares about students' understanding of science.

Money

There are numerous websites now being developed that allow individuals to make contributions towards the needs of specific teachers. Sites like Digital Wish and DonorsChoose provide a means for teachers to register for particular items for their classroom (similar to a baby or wedding registry). The public can search these sites for schools and teachers in their area or for certain subject area needs (i.e. search for "science") to which they'd like to contribute.

Stuff

Want to be environmentally responsible and help science teachers at the same time? Donate items to organizations like Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT) in San Jose, the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland, or Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts (SCRAP) in San Francisco. Teachers are able to shop for a wide variety of items at discounted prices to use in their classrooms.

Time

Do you have a background or career in science? Find out if your local school district or county office of education has a science specialist and connect with them to offer your time or expertise. They will be able to put you in touch with teachers and schools in need of guest lecturers, tutors, or speakers for career day presentations.

Voice

Attend school board meetings, write articles, contribute to blogs, talk to friends about the state of science education.

Vote

Enough said.

Now it is your turn. What other ideas do you have for assisting our schools with science education? Science educators, what additional needs do you see as easy places for the public to get involved and what has worked in your districts, schools, classrooms, etc.? Clearly we need major reforms in our entire education system, but often it is the smaller contributions of individuals that make the most immediate change.

Watch the Under the Microscope: Science Struggles in Schools television story report online.

What is the most compelling reason to use QUEST resources in the science classroom? "They are local", "I can download them", and "short is good." These are a few of the quick responses given by science educators attending QUEST's first 2-day institutes this summer. Forty science teachers from Vallejo to San Jose attended one of two Institutes entitled "Using QUEST Multimedia in the Middle and High School Classroom to Enhance Teaching and Learning" (yes, it’s a mouthful, but you probably get a good idea of what we focused on…). The Institutes were held in partnership with CTAP Region IV at both the San Mateo County Office of Education in Redwood City and the Alameda County Office of Education in Hayward in mid-August.

Participants spent an intense two days discussing the importance of incorporating 21st century skills and multimedia into the science curriculum, learning about and practicing with the science resources on the QUEST website, and ultimately, planning a unit and lesson that incorporate one or more QUEST resources into their curriculum for the upcoming year. They streamed, podcasted and downloaded, left comments on the QUEST blog, explored Explorations, created Google Maps, searched the QUEST Flickr Group, learned about RSS feeds, and started their own social network. Did I mention they only had 2 days?

And of course the hard work paid off with some very creative plans for the '08-'09 school year: students at Centerville Junior High in Fremont will be reading and commenting on the QUEST blog each week, and students at Terra Linda High School in San Rafael will be using QUEST and Google Maps to learn about and locate the most powerful telescopes on Earth. Students at Gompers Continuation High School in Richmond will view QUEST video and use a QUEST Exploration before a field trip where they will collect photos and video to make their own short media piece! These are just a few of the innovative ideas that teachers came up with at the institutes.

In addition to a stipend for their time, these forty teachers will now be the recipients of follow-up support from QUEST Education for the duration of the '08-'09 school year. As the provider of that support, I couldn't be more excited to work with these amazing teachers. In an era of high stakes testing and underfunded, overcrowded classrooms, it is a privilege to work with such dedicated and creative individuals.

To receive updates on opportunities for educators to connect with KQED, sign up for the monthly KQED Science Education Newsletter newsletter at www.kqed.org/newsletters.

Guest blogger Lisa Croel of The Tech Museum in San Jose, CA sits in for Dr. Barry Starr this week.

I remember loving science class as a kid. The paper-maché messes, the bubbling baking soda, all of the wonderful experiments… I loved it all. Now, many grammar school kids are lucky to get 15 minutes of science education a week. Hardly enough time to get them imagining future careers as scientists, engineers and inventors.

Between the lack of time given to science education, and the structure imposed by curriculum standards, museums need to be part of the education equation. My boss has a saying: "Give random a chance." I love this quote because it speaks to the role informal educational resources like science museums need to be playing. By exposing young people to the experiences and programs in a museum, who knows what might really resonate and inspire?

For over 20 years, The Tech's Tech Challenge program has presented kids with an open-ended problem for which there is no one right answer. It forces participants to use their knowledge and ingenuity to solve the problem. For example, this year the Challenge (called Water Works) is all about moving water from a stream up to a village without electricity. There is no one right answer, and there are lots of ways to solve this problem.

Participants are 5^th to 12^th graders who will work in teams of 2-6 to explore solutions to solving this real world problem. Along the way, they will hit some roadblocks and come up with some duds. And that's OK because it is here that kids will learn that failure is an important part of problem solving. We have a great quote etched into a wall on the outside of The Tech from Intel co-founder and philanthropist Gordon Moore that says, "If everything you try works, you are not trying hard enough." Through failure, many of the Tech Challenge teams will come up with a far superior solution.

This year we're going international for the first time by partnering with the City of San Jose's Sister City program. On the final event day, where all of the teams come together to present and demonstrate their solutions, we'll be webcasting in teams from far-away locations, and look forward to seeing and hearing how kids from other countries have tackled the challenge. Hopefully the involvement of other cultures will drive home how important it is to be inclusive to come up with better ways to solve problems.

I just looked at the U.S. Census Bureau web site for the latest world population number, and today there are 6,650,846,379 people on Planet Earth. One in five people on Earth don't have access to safe, clean drinking water, which means that 1.3 billion people are suffering from lack of water. As this year's Tech Challenge participants work on solutions to a global water problem, I hope they get excited (or more excited) about science and remain engaged, even they don't get to study it much in the classroom.

Lisa Croel is the Marketing Director at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif.