•        Focusing on K-12

–       School Assemblies (150 to 500+ students)

Presentations will be prepared and delivered that are targeted to various grade groups, starting with middle school grades 6-8.  These presentations will be interactive, asking for student participation in the form of questions (from the presenter) to the students soliciting replies that may have ‘unexpected’ answers.

Follow-up materials (hand-outs) will be distributed to students, teachers and administrators so that additional classroom and non-classroom activities can take place.  Also, contact information about afterschool, weekend and summer programs as well as opportunities to form school clubs will be included.

–       Classroom Clusters (30 to 150 students)

Similar presentations as those for the larger School Assemblies, with the added benefit of of some  ‘hands-on’ project materials.  The same type of follow-up materials will be distributed. 

–       After School Programs

Students, teachers and administrators will be directed towards these programs as part of the follow-up opportunities from the School Assemblies and Classroom Cluster presentations.  Working with California After School Education and Safety Program administrators and local providers, OISC will offer its services and assistance to help students with math, science and technology through examples using optics.  A follow-up proposal to the “Optics Education – A Blueprint for the 21^st Century”, sponsored by OSA, SPIE, NOAO & MESA California,  “Hands-On Optics – Making an Impact with Light (HOO)” offers the opportunity for OISC to work at the local level as an integral part of this endeavor.  Initial contacts have already been made and will progress when funding becomes available.

–       High School Clubs

These programs will be a subset of the above After School programs and will be directly linked to OISC Founding Sponsors’ & Benefactors’ organizations such as OSA, SPIE & IEEE.  OISC will help establish these clubs and provide mentors and other local volunteers. 

–       Science Fair Projects & Judging

These optics projects will be developed and distributed to established organizations that support Science Fairs in Southern California.  Schools with students and teachers already producing science fair projects using optics will be awarded and consulted to expand the use of optics in more student projects.

•        Community Colleges

–       Guest lectures & mentors

OISC will provide a pool of speakers & mentors available to local Community College science classes who can present materials on optics in science and industry and assist teachers in setting-up hands-on experiments for the students.

–       Outreach to K-12

OISC will provide local Community Colleges links to its client K-12 schools and After School Programs to encourage and assist two way communications for the Colleges to find the students and the students to find the college programs.

•        Summer Programs

     These programs will be modeled after a number of successful programs already in place or programs currently being developed for this specific purpose.  As an example, the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona has agreed that OISC can use any or all of its APEX program materials for these programs.

•        Public Centers

–       Discovery Centers, Museums & Planetariums

OISC will work with various local public centers to improve hands-on and other exhibits, provide speakers and presentations and contact information for local K-12, After School and Summer Programs.  These centers can offer OISC opportunities for long standing exposure to the community.