BioEYES NewsletterApril, 2011

WHAT'S NEW

BioEYES student evaluationsbecome scannable! Piloted thisspring in Philadelphia, scannablepre- and post-surveys weredeveloped so that all BioEYESsites can enter and analyzestudent learning in a matter ofminutes. A special thanks to thePhiladelphia team, including AlexEvanczuk our work-study studentand technology guru! Stay tunedfor more to come on this newinitiative.

Baltimore CityBioEYES Baltimore is proud toannounce that the co-founder ofBioEYES, Dr. Steven Farber, hasaccepted an invitation to serveon Baltimore City Public Schools'Science, Technology,Engineering, and Mathematics(STEM) Advisory Board! We canthink of few people better suitedto advance science educationhere in Charm City than Dr.Farber.

We are also excited to onceagain start up our two-weekenvironmental program, "YourWatershed, Your Backyard!" With the generous support of theChesapeake Bay Trust and theguidance of our new ProgramManager and Educator ValerieButler, we are ready to bring"Your Watershed, Your

Hello BioEYES Supporter,

We urge you to join forces with BioEYES in getting students excited about science! Inthe 2009–2010 school year BioEYES educators taught nearly 11,000 students, andteachers frequently share that students recall BioEYES as being their favorite part ofthe entire school year!

Most (79%) of the students we teach are in the local public school system and comefrom impoverished backgrounds and under-resourced schools in need of qualityscience programs. As a result, many hold the belief that careers in the sciences areout of reach to them. A former BioEYES student, Dasha, wrote,

I just wanted to thank you for coming to our class. I think you thought wewere the worst class you ever had. All our teachers say that.

BioEYES reaches out to children like Dasha who have internalized the message thatthey are among “the worst,” and appoints them to an important role: that of researchscientist. It is with these types of experiences that we can break down the stereotypesof who can be a scientist and encourage more Americans to enter this growing andcompetitive workforce.

What We DoOur team of researchers and educators bring

Backyard" to Baltimore-areaschools this spring.

Baltimore CountyBaltimore County Public Schoolshas their own BioEYES OutreachEducator on staff, Bo Dunlap,who uses fish and supplies fromthe Carnegie Institute inBaltimore. For the past threeyears, the Baltimore CountyBioEYES program has beenoperating solely in fifth gradeclasses. This month, Bo willmake his first foray into highschools! We wish Bo the best ofluck as he extends the BioEYESexperience to these newstudents.

PhiladelphiaBioEYES in Philadelphia isexcited to offer a new 2nd gradezebrafish unit to local schools.Designed by a BioEYES modelteacher, Tina Buttry of GideonElementary School and ouroutreach team, this week-longexperiment excites our newestNano Scientists about researchwhile teaching hands-on dailyactivities about fish anatomy,embryo development, and thescientific method.

New scientific journals for thisunit have been developed andwill be disseminated to allBioEYES sites next fall. We lookforward to expanding ourcurricula and inspiring evenyounger minds!

zebrafish into K-12 classrooms, have students breed the fish, raise embryos andobserve their development daily under microscopes. Kids come to care for thesedeveloping fish and in turn get excited about science. They learn about basic cellbiology, genetics, and animal development. Because the embryos are optically clear,over the course of one week students witness a single-celled fish develop into afree-swimming larva, complete with a beating heart and visible blood flow just like us.Their reaction is one of true amazement!

Launched in 2002, it is hard to believe we have reached nearly 40,000 studentsnationwide and are now in Australia! We have been able to deliver our programs totens of thousands of children at no cost to their schools because of the generosity ofcorporations, foundations and individuals such as you!

How You Can HelpHelp us reach more students. Make a secure, tax-deductible donation through PayPaltoday. To send a check, click on the "donate" button at left to retrieve our address.Thank you for your support to help engage the young minds and future scientists anddoctors of tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steven FarberBioEYES co-founder and staff scientistCarnegie Institution for Science

Dr. Jamie ShudaBioEYES co-founder andDirector of Life Science OutreachUniversity of Pennsylvania

BioEYES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt organization and currently operates outof the Carnegie Institution for Science in Baltimore, MD; the University ofPennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA; Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN; andMonash University in Melbourne, Australia. We have been able to deliver ourprograms to tens of thousands of children at no cost to their schools because of thegenerosity of individuals, foundations and corporations. For more information or tomake a donation, please visit www.bioeyes.org. We thank you for your support!

Notre DameThis year we added twograduate fellows to our team:Aprell Carr Sparks and FrancisRaycroft, both zebrafishresearchers. They are currentlypursuing their doctoral degreesand are part of an outreachprogram through the Universityof Notre Dame. They help out inschools and participate in theadministration of the program.They are young, cool scientiststhat are able to share with ourstudents what their jobs aszebrafish researchers entails.We also made short videoswhere they talk about how theybecame interested in scienceand what their research is about.We share these videos with thestudents on days when Aprelland Francis cannot visit theclassrooms.

We are also creating advancedBioEYES activities for the highschool honors biology classesthat involve using GloFish - fishwith a genetic mutation that glowfluorescent red, green or orangeunder UV light. We areperforming crosses (i.e., mating)to identify when the color ofthese genetically altered fishbegins to show up.

Did You Know?

BioEYES is GuideStar approved!To see our listing, go here andlook under the “Programs andHelp” tab.

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