Archive for the ‘teaching’ Category

BioBus—Bus Of Learning (poem)

Monday, July 4th, 2011

You’re a golden bus of learning.

You’re main power source is the sun.

As your solar panels keep energy surging,

Your engine needs only oil to run.

 

Righteous is your main goal

To feed the interests of the young

To make their scientific education whole,

While at the same time letting them have fun.

 

With stunning computer screens throughout

Each one bright with microscopic images

You show these unaware louts

That life exists in many instances.

 

When they grow into successful scientists,

They will look back to this golden bus of learning

That helped them become such curious adventurists

That got the wheels in their bright minds turning.

 

—Jordan Sutphen

Start BioBus 2011 with a Bang!

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

2010 was an amazing year for the BioBus. Here are some of our proudest achievements:

  • Over 13,000 people boarded the BioBus at 59 different schools and communities
  • Surveys and interviews with over 300 students and teachers revealed that students’ attitudes towards science are strongly improved following a visit to the BioBus, and that the impact is lasting
  • The BioBus now employs two full-time scientists! I look forward to introducing you to Sarah Weisberg, our new full-timer in the weeks and months to come. In addition to our full-time staff, we have had an amazing part-time staff in addition to 50 volunteer scientists that helped teach in 2010.
  • We’ve received fantastic press coverage, from NBC to Discovery News to the New Jersey Herald to German National Television. Check out the “Maker Pioneers” video for an example.
  • 100′s of you donated thousands of dollars to the BioBus to keep us moving forward and allowing affordable visits to low-income schools. Over half of BioBus students come from federally identified “low-income” households.

Vote Today and Help the BioBus Win $25,000!!

Pepsi has chosen the BioBus as a contestant to win $25,000 this month! With your help we will win and continue to offer discounts to low-income communities, in addition to finishing our lesson that focuses on diabetes and obesity. You can vote three times every day this month by doing the following:

1. Text “105112” to Pepsi (73774)

2. Facebook Click on ‘Go to App’ and search for ‘BioBus’

3. Pepsi Refresh Website (Shortlink: http://pep.si/dX8i7o or http://www.refresheverything.com/cellsinmotion). Quick and easy registration using your email address, then vote again.

We need you to vote every day in January. We will win if we are in the top ten by the end of this month. I know we can do it!

Send a blank email to pepsi+subscribe@biobus.org to receive short daily emails reminding you to vote and with updates on our ranking.

However, if you’d rather not have anything to do with this contest, please consider making a direct donation instead: http://www.biobus.org/donate

Thank you for your continuing support,
Ben

BioBus & Pepsi

Beat It!

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

BioBus spent the day at the Beczak Environmental Center yesterday. The center is on the banks of the Hudson River, where you can gaze across the frigid, brackish waters to the ice covered cliffs of the Palisades across the way. The center focuses on the ecology and geology of the Hudson River, and they have a set of super cool hands-on activities that allow students to explore and learn about the environment.

They invited the BioBus there to work with two of their student groups, and we had a lot of fun checking out various crustaceans and protists. Check out one of the movies the students made of a paramecium, where you can see lots of beating cilia and chunky organelles inside:

And if you have time, please join us later today (Saturday, Feb 20) at the Williamsburg Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The BioBus will be there from 12-1:30 putting on a special program for Green Apple Kids, but people of all ages are welcome to stop by!

How Not to Teach

Friday, January 29th, 2010