The OISC is proud to be a Project of Community Partners a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation in the State of California.
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The OISC is proud to be a Project of Community Partners a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation in the State of California.
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Click below to see photos from our Optics Bench lessons at the THINK Together sites. May 2004
Photos below are from our program in December 2003. THINK Together and the OISC has completed their first joint project to reach over 650 students, staff and volunteers.
Teens studying with Optics Suitcase Teens learning about Fresnel Lenses Donn lining up Teens to Study LCDs. Theme Packets
Donn showing the FX Strobe to Teens Andrew and the Fresnel Lens
Elementary Students learning the Color My World lessons.
Virginia & TA Teaching 1st Grade painting plates Explaining the Scientific Method Testing the Hypothesis
Our Program with
THINK Together
How it all began.
We are most proud and inspired by our
work with THINK Together, and I would like to take the rest of this
e-newsletter to tell you about this wonderful project. It began when I met
Tom Linnert, THINK Together's Director of Volunteers, at a local luncheon for
fundraising professionals, sponsored by Cal State Fullerton's Non-Profit
Professional's Alumni Association. When we went around the room introducing
ourselves and when Tom said what THINK Together was all about, I said to myself, 'I
need to get to know him and THINK Together'. And so it began. I invited the folks
from THINK Together to visit my classroom at the UCI GSA program, which they did, and
the rest is history. My wife, Ana Maria, and I visited a THINK Together
site to learn how they operate and to see how the OISC could help bring
science to their programs.
Where the classroom materials
came from.
I met with Larry Woolf from General
Atomics and their Science Education Foundation, who has been very active in
optics education outreach, particularly with his, 'It's a Colorful Life'
materials for middle school students. Since the majority of the THINK
Together students are elementary students, Larry suggested that I speak to his wife
Wendy, who had adapted this material for the younger students and had
successfully used it for many years. Wendy's material is titled,
"Color
My World"
and when presented to the folks at THINK Together, there was overwhelmingly
approved for use at all their learning centers. However, we did need to come
up with some 'Bonus' material for the middle and a few high school students;
so we brought in the Optics Suitcase from our friends at the OSA Rochester
Section. This filled out the program perfectly. But we weren't done yet.
Engaging Teenagers to study
optics and help get them to college.
We wanted to have a means to entice the
older students to come back for some more advanced optics training that could
help them get into college. So our friends at Irvine Valley College let us
barrow a couple 'Optics Bench Kits' to show the students at the Teen Centers
and middle school sites,
after the Optics Suitcase presentations and let them know that if they had FUN
with the Color and Optics and wanted to do more, they could let their Site
Coordinators know and they could sign up for the "THINK Optics Club" that will
start in the Spring and will use these Optics Bench Kits from IVC!! The
OISC has applied for (and will receive) an SPIE Educational Grant to document the process of
starting a High School (or After School) Optics Club and we will use the THINK
Together sites as our alpha/beta sites.
Thanking those who helped.
The OISC wishes to thank and acknowledge
those "Optics Professionals" who donated their time to "Adopt-a-Center".
Susan
Raffensperger, from the OSSC & Northrop, Adopted the
Grant Learning Center and helped out with the elementary students.
Ryck Daniels,
from Irvine Valley College, presented the Optics Suitcase to the Highland Teen
Center Students
Victor Kardos,
from Ushio America, presented the Optics Suitcase to the Noah Teen Center
Students
Donn Silberman,
OISC Director, helped out at both the Davis and Washington Elementary School
sites and presented the Optics Suitcase at both the Currie Middle
School and the Shalimar Teen Center.
The OISC sends a very special "THANK YOU" to
Virginia Sepeda, THINK
Together's Academic Program Specialist, who worked with Wendy Woolf and
customized her curriculum to work smoothly with the THINK Together sites.
Our Reach and Next
Steps
This program actually reached well over 90
Teens, 500 elementary students and 45 THINK Together staff and volunteers and will
clearly reach deep into the local communities as these people will be
'chatting it up' over the holidays. Completed in the last two weeks before
the holidays, this program did have lower attendance that anticipated, due to
the flu, school budgets and timing. The OISC & THINK Together continued this
program with part 2 in April & May 2004, when we presented more light, color
and optics lessons from various authors. We will also presented the Optics
Benches barrowed from Irvine Valley College's Laser Electro-Optics Department.
And, we may be starting a few THINK Optics Clubs at the Teen
Centers in the Summer 2004.
See the links to the photos above.
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