News

Monday, August 30, 2010

District team benefits from training at the Sally Ride Science Academy

Sally Ride, center, with members of the Santa Barbara School District team attending the Sally Ride Science Academy, including, left to right front row, Shannon Carpenter, Peggy Lubchenco and L’aura Wilson; middle row left to right, Megan Cotich and Athena Sims; and, back row left to right, David Ortiz and Aaron Harkey.

The Sally Ride Science Academy is dedicated to helping teachers raise students' interest in science. It is based on research, which shows that introducing young students to the wide variety of science careers available, and the many paths to becoming a scientists, fuels their interest in science and makes the study of science more meaningful to them.

Encouraging students' interest in science has never been more important. The demand for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) professionals is expanding rapidly, yet fewer and fewer students are choosing to prepare for these important careers.

The team from the Santa Barbara Secondary School District participated in the July 11-15 training in La Jolla and had the opportunity to meet Ms. Ride. The districts’ team consisted of La Colina principal David Ortiz, head counselor Athena Sims, eighth-grade physical science teacher L'aura Wilson, seventh-grade life science teachers Shannon Carpenter and Megan Cotich, and Santa Barbara Junior High School seventh-grade life science teacher Aaron Harkey. Former La Colina teacher Peggy Lubchenco (current STEM outreach coordinator with the county) also participated as part of the team.

Principal David Ortiz said, “Meeting Dr. Ride was an honor. She is pretty special and a real advocate for equity, especially gender equity. The focus was gender equity and STEM careers. The experience was extremely powerful and relevant.”

This districts’ team has been trained in the Sally Ride material, and will be conducting eight-hour trainings, spread out over two days, for our districts’ math, science, or technology teachers. For more information contact La Colina’s Megan Cotich (mcotich@sbsdk12.org). All participants will receive a set of "Cool Careers in Science" books.