3rd SOUTH SHORE SCIENCE FESTIVAL 4/22/17

The next South Shore Science Festival is Saturday, April 22, 2017, from 10 to 3.  
Same location:  180 Old Colony Avenue, Quincy, Mass. (10 minute walk from the Wollaston T on the Red Line)  That's the Quincy Center for Innovation.  This is part of the Cambridge Science Festival, which is now statewide.

www.southshorescience.org

STEM (as it's more often referred to) and STEAM are guide words in education now:  
Science -- Technology -- Engineering -- Arts -- Mathematics

Rather than teaching the traditional subjects of science, art and math separately, combining them makes them much more meaningful.  Including technology and engineering makes them much more practical.  

Many of the same presenters from the last two years will be there again, with a number of new presenters, too.  (Some of them were students who shared their science fair exhibits with us.)  As plans become more firmed up, I'll list them in this post.  See www.southshorescience.org for pictures from the past two festivals.

ARIZONA...WHERE THEY'VE GOT IT TOGETHER TO HELP KIDS LEARN THE SCIENCE OF SPORT!

This is a program I found recently, and I think it's a wonderful model.  This is my summary of highlights of the website.  Science of Sport, an Arizona nonprofit, is only a few years old.  They work with the College of  Engineering  at the University of Arizona, state and local departments of education, and various professional sports teams.

SCIENCE OF SPORT

info@sciencesport.org

602-525-3197

Tucson, Arizona

To date: 894 teachers trained / 44,700 students reached

BACKGROUND: Science of Sport was founded by Ricardo Valerdi, Ph.D. Initially the goal was to teach math through baseball, but it has expanded to baseball, soccer, basketball and football science with teacher workshops / lesson plans / student camps / webinars. SOS has gone beyond Arizona to the West Coast and East Coast and Australia.

NOTE:      I found information on the baseball and soccer programs but no news turned up when I clicked on basketball and football.

VIDEO: Introductory 6.5 minute video with Ricardo Valerdi and:

Darren Heaton     VP, business development, SOS / former manager, Education Initiatives, Arizona Diamondbacks

Kevin Brungardt     Middle school social studies teacher. Over 25 lesson plans include trajectory, nutrition, baseball analytics.

Ballard Smith     Former president, CEO, San Diego Padres / Executive director, SOS. They work with Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, LA Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, partner with Boys & Girls Club

Linda Wojtowicz     Former CEO, Tucson Boys & Girls Club

Daniel Miranda     Director, Boys & Girls Club

Emily Masterson and Austin Masterson     Biomedical engineering students

Dustin Payne     Arizona Diamondbacks Community Initiative. Said SOS is in its third year.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Training for 100 more teachers was announced in 2014:

In collaboration with Univ. of Arizona College of Engineering and Arizona Dept. of Education, the Diamondbacks Science of Baseball program has spread throughout Arizona.

TEDx VIDEO:

I watched a TEDx Tucson talk by Ricardo Valerdi, done, I think, in 2014. Very well done.

SPONSORS include:

Orlando Magic      Houston Astros      Colorado Rockies      San Diego Padres

LA Angels      Angels Science of Baseball

Science of Baseball Urban Youth Academy      National Youth Baseball Academy

Dept. of Defense STEM      Northrop Grumman Foundation

BASEBALL

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

STEMBALL / The Adelaide Bite (team name)

The University of Adelaide (Australia) and Science of Sport hosted 125 Australian students to launch the STEMBALL program in Australia. The Bite have a one-day program for middle school students with eight STEM lessons on Australian baseball.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, BASEBALL

SAN DIEGO

San Diego Padres, Science of Sport, and San Diego Gas & Electric ran a professional development workshop for 40 teachers in the San Diego area. It was a one-day workshop from 9 to 2, and it introduced 12 lesson plans to math, science, and PE teachers for grades 5 to 8. It covered: geometry, trajectory of the ball flight, aerodynamics, elasticity, biomechanics, in addition to physiology, nutrition, reaction time, baseball statistics, scoring, strike zone, rules of baseball, and ballpark design.

SOCCER

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SOCCER

LOS ANGELES

The LA Galaxy Foundation funded the initial training of 25 teachers from the Newport Mesa School District, later began promoting this throughout southern California.

A video is narrated by Ricardo Valerdi, with comments from teachers Katie Holt, Kurt Suhr, and Tarym Flamson. I watched “The Science of Penalty Shootout” video on how to score 100% penalty kicks.

Besides teaching the kids pointers on how to play soccer -– players and positions / dribbling and passing / penalty kicks and goalies –- as well as character development, the science includes aerodynamics / trajectory of ball flight / momentum, plus physiology and nutrition and training.

BASEBALL AND SOCCER

Anaheim, CA – December 23, 2015

The Anaheim City School District has received a $1,050,000 STEM education grant from the California Department of Education that will be funded over a three-year period.  Additionally, the Orange County Department of Education, Angels Baseball and the LA Galaxy will provide an additional $500,000 in in-kind support for the program.

The grant and in-kind support will allow 35 teachers from the Anaheim City School District to become Master Teachers for the Angels Science of Baseball and the LA Galaxy Science of Soccer programs.

The programs teach kids how STEM subjects relate to sports through real- world examples. 

THE SCIENCE OF SPORT -- A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM! (introduction)

This is a link to a terrific program I just found:

http://www.sciencesport.org/portfolio-items/san-diego-padres-science-of-baseball-teacher-workshop/



They don't just do a teacher workshop on the science of baseball. They have student camps and a webinar program.  And they do basketball, soccer and football, too!  They have helped the Arizona Diamondbacks and LA Galaxy develop programs which educate kids about science in sports, which I've already mentioned in this blog, plus the Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, to name a few.

This is from their website:

The Science of Sport is a non-for-profit foundation dedicated to developing curriculum and programming that promotes Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).  Our curricula are designed as in-school exercises that can be delivered by teachers or as after school programs that can be delivered by parents, coaches, and volunteers.  The focus on middle school students is motivated by the fact that this age group can still be influenced to make academic choices that will help them transition from primary to secondary education.

LA Galaxy...Science of Soccer

The LA Galaxy have had a soccer science program since 2014:

I wasn't able to put the video here, but here is the link:  https://youtu.be/zVFQyfoL15w

The LA Galaxy Science of Soccer presented by Konica Minolta is an exciting series of community programs and initiatives that teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) in a fun and dynamic way through soccer. The curriculum includes brief lessons that use soccer demonstrations as hands-on inquiry based learning to spark interest in real-life applications of STEM knowledge. The goal is to translate the love of soccer into an appreciation, understanding and passion of the science and mathematics underlying the sport.

The LA Galaxy have partnered with Science of Sport, a non-profit organization, to develop the curriculum and align it with all current and future California standards like Common Core Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. The curriculum can be custom tailored to participating teachers and students in grades 1-12.

The LA Galaxy Science of Soccer schedules teacher camps, student camps and other engagements each semester during the school year and in the summer to teach the programs. Teachers are expected to take the curriculum back to their classrooms and are given all of the tools to implement the lesson plan at their school with their students. All teachers and students participating in the program receive a ticket to attend a LA Galaxy home match during the regular MLS season.

Examples of topics covered:

• The basic rules of the game, different player formations, dimensions of a soccer field
• How to dribble and pass the ball
• How to measure surface areas of various parts of feet used to kick and dribble a ball
• Test speed and accuracy in the context of Newton’s Laws of Motion
• Angles and possibilities associated with a penalty kick scenario
• Reaction time: speed, accuracy and control
• Aerodynamics – effects on a soccer ball moving through air: spin/curl, wind resistance, force, angle of trajectory
• Recording data
• Nutrition – relationship between healthy diet and athletic performance
• Muscle fatigue
• Heart rate

The LA Galaxy are proud to partner with the Angels and the Anaheim City School District who have received a $1 million, three-year grant from the California Department of Education to develop STEM.

San Francisco 49ers STEAM Education Program

I copied and pasted this article from www.49ers.com. You know, the SF 49ers can be a role model for professional sports teams to promote the learning of science through sports. Hands-on plus online (the online part via Khan Academy) makes this unique. Not to forget the Arizona Diamondbacks who have hands-on activities for kids before the games, too (see post further below in this blog).

What can YOU do to urge other teams to emulate "the first professional sports organization to embrace the STEAM learning concepts for youth"?

photo from Sports Illustrated

49ers STEAM Education Program Launches Online Learning Content Available on Khan Academy
Posted Sep 14, 2016

The San Francisco 49ers today unveiled online supplemental learning resources for students and teachers available free on Khan Academy to support the 49ers STEAM Education Program. The free online content extends the 49ers STEAM Education Program’s impact beyond the walls of the Levi’s® Stadium field trip program.

Now entering its third year in operation with more than 90,000 students reached to date, the 49ers STEAM Education Program provides learning platforms for K-8 students through its education program that teaches content-rich lessons using the STEAM principles of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.

“Khan Academy’s online learning platform is exceptional and we’re thrilled to work with them to take the next step in growing our STEAM Education Program,” said 49ers Director of STEAM Education and the 49ers Museum Jesse Lovejoy. “Khan Academy will enable our program to go beyond the walls of Levi’s Stadium and provide students who we couldn’t previously reach with unique, exciting content that combines STEAM with football.”

The 49ers are the first pro sports organization to partner with Khan Academy. The organizations started working together in 2015 for the launch of LearnStorm, a math competition that rewards grit and hard work in addition to math mastery.

“The San Francisco 49ers have supported education for many years,” said Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan. “We’re excited to make math and science lessons that are related to football widely available free for anyone, anywhere.”

As the first professional sports organization to embrace the STEAM learning concepts for youth and provide free onsite programming, the 49ers STEAM Education Program aims to tangibly show students how STEAM is applied at a professional football team.