Neighborhood Outreach Gets Kids Excited About Science
The youngsters are members of Island Explorers, a USC Neighborhood Outreach-funded program that uses a multi-sensory teaching method to introduce students to the fundamentals of marine science. Whether scrutinizing tiny plant and animal life under a microscope or watching a movie about the life cycle of plankton, students are studying the ecosystem of Catalina Island and the San Pedro Channel.
In addition to marine science, the Island Explorer hands-on curriculum exposes students to geology, chemistry, careers in the marine sciences field, pollution and recycling.
The program, which began as a pilot project in 1996, received a 1997-1998 grant of $38,484 from the USC Neighborhood Outreach program, a 10 percent increase over the initial funding.
Also, the funding now covers four of the USC Family of Five Schools. In 1996, only Foshay Learning Center participated in the pilot project.
The 3-year-old program is trying something new this year, said Sea Grant Education Program Coordinator Lynn Whitley. During the school year, parents or mentors of 24 students will join their youngsters studying life’s ancient birthplace, the sea.
“When we did the [pilot project], we wanted to involve parents and the community, and we took some parents as chaperones,” Whitley said. “They were so inspirational to us. They were so eager to learn. We had parents actually walking around taking notes. They were literally learning at the same time” as their children, she said.
The Island Explorers program has been so successful that its curriculum has been adopted by several other area schools, Whitley said.
The USC Neighborhood Outreach grant supports salaries of USC graduate students who helped design the Island Explorers curriculum and provides classroom supplies, microscopes and research tools. Island Explorers is one of 14 USC-community partnership programs made possible through faculty and staff donations to the 1998 USC Good Neighbors Campaign.
Donations are tax deductible. Founded in 1993, Neighborhood Outreach is a nonprofit corporation that supports projects and programs that improve health, safety, education and cultural offerings in the neighborhoods surrounding USC’s two campuses.
This year’s campaign -- with a goal of $500,000, a 10 percent increase over last year’s record amount -- continues through Oct. 30, and employees will receive information from their departments on how to participate.
Latest stories
- Ray Irani, Michael Waterman Elected to NAE February 10, 2012 10:35 AM
- MSW@USC Student to Compete in 2012 Paralympics February 10, 2012 9:22 AM
- Judy Woodruff: Public Broadcasting Has Changed for the Good February 10, 2012 8:49 AM
-
For Journalists »
-
USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
-
-
Campus News
- Capital Connections
- USC faculty, staff and alumni in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento
- In Print
- New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff
- Family Matters
- Achievements and awards
- Obituaries