| Description | I teach at the East Palo Alto Charter School, an elementary school located in East Palo Alto, California. The school is located in a predominantly Hispanic/African-American neighborhood. We run an after-school Science Enrichment Program in collaboration with Stanford University students for exceptional students in grades 2-7. Graduate students from the sciences and engineering at Stanford come 3 times a week to run hands-on science activities on a range of topics. One of the graduate student volunteers, Karla Miller (who was a former member of your lab group), suggested we investigate Bugscope '99. From October-December of this year, we will be studying insects as part of our after-school Science Enrichment Program. The students will be introduced to a wide variety of insects, including mealworm larvae, waxworms, and catepillars. They will also learn about various techniques for studying insects, including optical and electron microscopes. We would be very interested in incorporating the Bugscope '99 project into our lessons. This summer, a new computer lab was opened at the school. Students in the Science Enrichment classes were taught about computers, learned how to use the web, and set up their own email accounts. The Bugscope '99 project would be a perfect combination of the insect unit we will be starting and the computer unit we have finished. We have a computer lab with 8 computers that are connected to the web. The students are familiar with using web browsers, and by late October they will be learning about insects. We would be interested in arranging a session with you in November or December. Following use of the Bugscope, the students would be responsible for presenting different aspects of the insects viewed and the technology used to view them. Please contact me at the school if we can provide any further information. |
