Wood Hill 7th Graders Blend Science, Mythology, Art, and Technology in PBL Projects

One of the distinguishing characteristics of PBL (project-based learning) is the integration of student study in multiple disciplines within a single project.  Wood Hill 7th graders on the east team recently presented projects that brought together their scientific study of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, thunder, and volcanos with their research on mythological explanations for these phenomena from around the world.  Each student team produced a video presenting the myth they had researched and included original artwork visually depicting scenes from the myth story.

Scientific explanation paired with mythical explanations were presented using StoryMap presentation software

 Each student group presentation was presented using the StoryMap presentation application available for free online (http://storymap.knightlab.com).  The program allows students to indicate where in the world the myth originated by adding buttons to specific locations on the interactive map.  When a location with a button is selected, the viewer is presented with a brief student-narrated slide show telling the story of the myth and offering a scientific explanation for the natural phenomenon on which the myth is based.

Parents and students view the final presentations

Many parents and relatives visited Wood Hill just before the December break to view the final draft of the program.  The project was truly unique in its design by bringing together social studies, science, art, and technology - a combination not frequently found blended together with such creativity and integration.  Congratulations to the the 7 East students and teachers Tina Kelly (math/science), Kathryn Conti (social studies/language arts), and Lisa Miller (special education) for an original presentation and learning experience.

You can check out all of the projects online at http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/storymapjs/latest/embed/?url=https://6fdf67b1173b2fe9809d7fc8f439c5caf5e5ae6c.googledrive.com/host/0B2T0QOVlQiztelFUUFZWYlpUTlk/published.json .

Doherty 7th Graders Display Endangered Species Habitats

     The Doherty Middle School cafeteria looked like a miniature zoo last Friday as 7th grade students on the 7A team displayed their endangered species zoo enclosures created as part of their PBL (project based learning) unit on biomes.  Student groups of three or four students were assigned an environmental biome to research and present to classmates.  As part of their research, students identified an endangered species that lives in their biome and designed an enclosure for this species that could be found in a modern zoo.  The living conditions and needs of the species were researched and the information used to build a model of the animal enclosure for display.

Sean McDonald and Jack Beherrell researched tarsiers

Suren Maheswaren and Jack O'Brien studied Canus lupus, the grey wolf

      As with most PBL units, students worked on different aspects of their projects in all of their classes.  In math, data gathered about biome climate and animal populations were presented on line graphs.  In past years, students composed a letter to a federal legislator in support of continued protection for the endangered species being studied.  However, this year, students wrote letters to the Andover town manager expressing concern about the potential impact of a gas pipeline running through Andover which is part of a deciduous forest biome.

The amur leopard got some exposure thanks to Carly Dyer, Natalie Brennan, and Vinzay Vieia-Vazquez

Myles Robinson and Lukas Kaufman-LaDuc presented their findings about the endangered hawksbill turtle

     On Friday, December 12, students presented their biome and species research and model enclosures during an hour long open house for parents and guests.  While interviewing students about their research, I found most students had developed a good knowledge of the animals they investigated and the issues related to their survival.  There was a lot to see in an hour!

Bradley Abel, Ben Merggendahl, and Christopher Lyman created an enclosure model for African wild dogs

AHS Environmental Sustainability Interns Making an Impact

     AHS senior Meghan Johnson spends time each week working with mentor Brad Weeden of the Bancroft School PTO developing a recycling program at elementary level.  Fellow student Ellie Mapstone is working with mentor Brian Salazar on place making project seeking to identify locations and attractions in Andover that would bring attention to Andover as a destination to visit as part of the Andover Tomorrow project.  Mr. Salazar is also mentoring senior Peter Rex on a transit-oriented development mapping project for Andover while Town Planner Paul Materazzo is mentoring Julia Fraser with her work on the Andover Tomorrow project.  Rhiannon O'Donald is working with Conservation Commissioner Bob Douglas on an effort to relocate a proposed gas pipeline through Andover while Van Shrestinian works with Mr. Douglas to develop local trials and conservation sites.  Andover Green Advisory Board member Charissa Rigano is mentoring Jake Golan's work to create a new hiking trail on Andover conservation land.  Each of these students are all seniors currently enrolled in one of Andover High School's newest courses, the Environmental Sustainability Internship Course also known as ESIC.    

This year's AHS  ESIC interns   

     Now in its second year, this course pairs the enrolled 12th graders with a mentor from a local organization or business to develop an internship experience related to environmental sustainability. The ESIC program is quickly growing in notoriety and is drawing a lot of positive attention as a result of the impact that interns are having on programs and initiatives across Andover.
     The weekly schedule for the course has students working on their internship projects with their volunteer mentors on their Tuesday and Thursday and working in class on Mondays and Wednesdays either reporting on their projects, sharing struggles or successes, learning workplace skills, or working together on a group project assessing air quality at the school.  ESIC students are also conducting an indoor air quality study at AHS using the EPA's IAQ Tools For Schools Kits.  On Fridays, students are usually visited by a guest speaker who comes to the high school to talk about an environmental sustainability topic or program.

AHS ESIC intern Ellie Mapstone working with students from Phillips Academy on her place making project

       AHS science teacher Melanie Cutler led the development of the course and teaches it to a class of 14 seniors.  She is supported by retired AHS science teacher Jane Sonntag who serves the program as the mentor liason.  In this role, she visits mentors to check in on how the internships are proceeding and to offer support to mentors and students in the development of the internship relationship.  The program is also supported by Steve Fink of Green Andover who works to network and build connections between the ESIC course member and local organizations and programs.  It's a team effort that is greatly supported by volunteer mentors from a variety of backgrounds.
       ESIC students had been gaining attention locally for the quality and importance their research and presentations to local organizations in a variety of areas.  Victor Amesoeder is working with AYS Director Bill Fahey on the greening effort of the new AYS Youth Center.  Beitrice Choo is collaborating with School Committee chair Annie Gilbert on designing a a potential learning lab space in an environmentally sustainable manner.  Mentored by Town Energy Manager Janet Nicosa, senior Carly Droof is identifying old refrigerators in town buildings to be replaced by more energy efficient and economical units while McKenzie Nash is supporting recycling initiatives at Andover High, West Middle School, and Doherty Middle School.

AHS senior Sophia Allen describes her work on assessing the need and feasibility of a community garden in Andover to session attendees at the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers Conference in November.

     This year's participants have been earning rave reviews from their mentors and others aware of the work they are doing in support of numerous local sustainability efforts.  In addition to gaining knowledge about the topics they are working on, students are developing valuable project management, collaboration, and presentation skills while experiencing the ups and downs of moving authentic projects through unexpected developments.  Once the course is finished in January, some participants will continue to work on their projects through the spring.  When all are finished, they will have made a lasting impact on their community and have gained valuable life skills that will serve them well on their futures.

Cool Science Comes to West Elementary

     It's been an exciting couple of weeks for students at West Elementary School with visits from two enjoyable and informative science presentations visiting the school.  On December 2, second grade students welcomed Michael Bergen from Top Secret Science (http://www.topsecretscience.com) for a presentation about chemistry.  With the entire 2nd grade seated at tables in the cafeteria, students learned and experimented about different kinds of chemical reactions.

Michael Bergen from Top Secret science preps students for making snow

The first experiment involved mixing two liquids together that when reacting, created a mass of expanding, fluffy artificial snow!  Students learned that this substance is frequently used on movie sets to make it seem like winter even in the middle of summer.

Junior scientists at work making snow

     Next, ordinary plastic beads were strung on pipe cleaners to create somewhat dull looking bracelets...until the beads were exposed to sunlight - then they turned a variety of colors when reacting to ultraviolet light.  Several other demonstrations and activities were enjoyed by all 2nd graders during the hour-long program, an annual event funded by the West El PTO.


     On December 10, it was the 4th grade's time to enjoy their annual visit from Mr. Tom Wahle of Techsploration (http://www.techsploration.com) who presented an electrifying program in the auditorium about electricity.  The sparks were flying with Van der Graff generators, Tesla coils, wind turbines, and a variety of other electricity-related devices all on display during an outstanding presentation introducing students to what electricity is, how it behaves, how it is made, and what it can be used for.  The program was presented just as students begin their electricity unit of study in science.

Mr. Wahle, with help from a friend, demonstrates how copper wire and magnets can be used to generate electricity

After the presentation to the whole grade, Mr. Wahle presented hour long workshops for each 4th grade class during which students build a variety of low voltage circuits complete with switches, bells, electromagnets, and a variety of design challenges.  As with Top Secret Science, the electricity program was made possible through funding provided by the school's PTO and is always regarded as one of the highlights of the 4th grade experience.

An introduction to the parts of the electronics kits is presented.

The challenge - to build a parallel circuit

Experimenting with different kinds of switches

Troubleshooting new circuits

Forensic Science Classes Looking for Clues

      Dusting for fingerprints, learning about identification using DNA samples, studying decomposition rates to establish time of death, and learning about toxicology and chemistry are just a few of the areas of investigation being undertaken this fall by students in Andover High School's newest science course, Forensic Science.  Fueled in part by the wildly successful CSI television series and regular attention given to forensic evidence in high profile court cases, forensic science has become one of the most popular science electives in high schools across the country.  In its first year being offered, five sections of Forensic Science are being taught by AHS teacher Lindsey L'Ecuyer.

AHS School Resource Officer Jason Dowd talks to forensic science classes about managing crime scenes.

      Forensic science involves an assortment of techniques and procedures related to other sciences including biology, chemistry, and physics as well are drawing on the fields of law enforcement, psychology,  and criminal law.  As with authentic forensic investigations, students are required to work collaboratively in teams to collect, process, and analyze the evidence, critically examine the information to make inferences and draw conclusions, and effectively communicate findings in clear, thorough, and convincing manner.

Gathering evidence at the Polly Pumpkin crime scene

     This Halloween, students were challenged to put their forensic skills to the test when investigating the mysterious death of Polly Pumpkin found in one of the science prep rooms.  Crime scene recording, proper data collection, handwriting analysis, and witness interviews were conducted by forensic teams in order to unravel the mysterious circumstances of her untimely smashing.
     The new forensic science course is getting rave reviews from its participants who are enjoying participating in a truly applied science course.  One lesson learned early on - it's not quite as easy as they make it on TV!

West Middle School Student Competes in National Science Fair Competition

     West Middle School 8th grader Floyd Greenwood has been in the news recently in recognition of his recent success in the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS competition, a science fair competition run through the Society for Science and the Public. Greenwood's research, entitled “Selectively Breeding Nannochloropsis Microalgae To Become A Healthier Feedstock For Freshwater Rotifers”, an effort to breed healthier microalgae that serve at the bottom of many aquatic food chains.  For his efforts, Greenwood earned one of the 30 finalist places from among 2054 entrants and a trip to Washington, DC,  in October where he had the opportunity to meet President Obama.  For video and press coverage of Floyd's accomplishment, visit any of these press sites: 

WBZ-TV story with David Robichaud

Boston Globe story

Andover Townsman Story

Kindergarten...Where the Wild Things Are

      On Friday, I had the opportunity to visit Sanborn School and spend some time with the students of Mrs Carlson and Mrs Woo's kindergarten classes.  Woodland Animals is one of the science themes for the kindergarden program, so I brought along a selection of animal pelts (fox, beaver, bobcat, skunk, raccoon, otter, coyote) from Andover High School's collection for an afternoon show and tell. Each of the pelts was presented individually along with some information about the animal and few questions and stories from the students.  We talked about how mammals all have hair/fur and how each one has its own special adaptations for its lifestyle.  After the presentation, each student had the opportunity to touch the fur from each of the pelts and experience the differences in texture and color patterns.

Sanborn kindergarten students have close encounters with wild animals

     The visit was an enjoyable learning opportunity for myself as well as the students.  Being an educator whose career has been spent teaching high school and middle school students, the experience of interacting with some of our youngest students renewed my awareness of critically important role that kindergarten and preK teachers play in introducing students to learning in a school environment and facilitating the development of important social and learning behaviors needed in this environment.  It's not too difficult to impress kindergarteners  - they are fascinated by many things as they naturally strive to understand the world around them.  Science is fundamentally just that - the effort to understand the world around us.  The naturally curious minds of kindergartners and other young children ideally position them for developing a capacity to think scientifically about their world.  Kudos to the teachers of our youngest students for the critically important work they do building the foundation on which teachers in later years will continue to build.

Steve Sanborn

Middle School Engineering Teachers Work and Play For a Day at the Center for Engineering Education Outreach at Tufts

After about a month of implementing and integrating new Legos Mindstorms learning resources into 8th grade middle school engineering classes, all three engineering teachers, Dan Miley (West Middle), Steve Tisbert (Wood Hill Middle School), and Tiny Helinski (Doherty) joined me for a day long visit to the Center for Engineering Education Outreach (CEEO) at Tufts University (http://www.ceeo.tufts.edu) for the opportunity to have some conversation with researchers at CEEO about best practices for teaching with Mindstorms resources and for the opportunity to work with the Legos resources ourselves while sharing experiences and ideas generated since the start of school

Upon our arrival at CEEO, Dr. Chris Rogers, director of the CEEO gave us each a Mindstorms EV3 Core Kit, the exact same kits that we use with Andover students, and were presented with the Silly Walks Challenge - to design a vehicle that moves forward without using wheels.  "I'll be back in an hour" Chris told us as he left to meet potential Tufts freshmen, turning us over to Dorit Assaf, a post-doctorate research associate who was present to help with technical issues, offer moral support, and share some insights about engineering education but had few directions on how to complete the challenge.

Setting to work on the Silly Walks challenge

     I think I can safely speak for all four of when I say that the first 20 minutes or so of the challenge were marked with uncertainty, frustration, and an acute awareness of how as educators, we are typically in the position of holding the answers and controlling the situation.  The recognition of this reaction really made clear how important it is for teachers to be as with comfortable making mistakes and struggling with uncertainty as we aspire our students to be in a classroom environment promoting creativity and risk-taking.

Tony Helinski - Doherty Middle School

After any number of dead ends and false starts, a design direction began to emerge and take shape for each of us.  It was fascinating to see how differently each of us approached the challenge - each of our designs were completely different in design.

Steve Tisbert - Wood Hill Middle School

Dan Miley - West Middle School

When Chris Roger's returned around noon, he was sporting shorts and a tee-shirt and clutching a couple of frisbees.  We were swept along to join other members of the Tufts engineering department for their weekly lunchtime game of ultimate frisbee - "it clears the mind out for a while so you can think better after" Chris tells us.  The good news was that we all made it through without injury or incident

After lunch, we returned to our projects with the challenge of adding sensors to our vehicle to prevent it from driving off of the table.  This step provided us some time to puzzle with the Mindstorms software and deepen our understanding of coding patterns.  We all came a long way both in the construction of our vehicles but also in our appreciation of how it feels to operate in an environment where there is no one right answer and mistakes and dead ends are a necessary part of doing business.

Our remaining time at CEEO was spent with Chris and Dorit discussing the direction of Andover's new program, best practices for maximizing student learning, and discussing research findings and how they might inform our instruction and curriculum development. We came away with a lot of great ideas for projects and activities that can be build into our students' experience.  The CEEO offers a variety of engineering education programs and resources to teachers and students in the Greater Boston area and we are hopeful that we can continue and grow our relationship with this group as our own engineering programs grow and evolve.

Rich and productive conversation with Dr. Chris Rogers about engineering education using Legos Mindstorms resources 

All in all, it was a tremendously productive, growth-filled, and enjoyable professional development experience, one that will certainly have an immediate positive impact on the learning of our middle school engineering students.


Steve Sanborn    

AHS Oceanography and Marine Biology Students Hit The Beach

     On an overcast yet pleasant Monday afternoon (Sept 29th), 75 Andover High School students loaded up a pair of buses with research equipment and field guides and headed for the beach at the Parker River National Wildlife Reserve on Plum Island in Newbury, MA.  The students were all enrolled in Andover High Schools Oceanography/Marine Biology or Marine Science courses taught by AHS science teacher Jennifer Rodier.  The purpose of the trip was to observe and investigate first hand many of the concepts presented and explored in the classroom in each of these courses.

AHS Science Teacher Jen Rodier checks in with a work group.

    Upon arrival, students divided into two main groups - one for tidal pool survey and investigation and one for a beach walk/scavenger hunt/landforms observation.  Ms. Rodier supervised and supported small student groups setting up one by one meter transects at different positions of the tidal zone.  Students collected specimens for observation and recorded data for comparison with other student groups set up in different areas within the intertidal zone.

Teacher Sarah Fisher talks about geological aspects of the beach environment.

     While one group worked among the rocks and tide pools, another group walked along the beach with AHS science teacher and earth science specialist Sarah Fisher to both search for specimens to identify and observe, to learn about the dynamic nature beaches as a land formations, and to gather up as much trash along the way as possible.  Also joining the group was retired math teacher Bill Drummond, a nationally recognized expert birder, who helped to identify numerous species of birds in the area.

Fending off the sandwich thieving gulls while enjoying lunch

     Aside from some mechanical problems with one of the buses on the return trip, the beach excursion was enjoyed by all students who were able to both apply their coursework learning in an authentic setting while squeezing in a little picnicking and football before returning to Andover High.

AHS to Send Delegation to Environmental Sustainability Summit in Costa Rica

     Plans are underway to organize a student delegation of 11th and 12th grade students from Andover High School to attend an Environmental Sustainability Summit next March in San Jose, Costa Rica.  The two day summit is organized by EF Education and will include five additional days of travel within Costa Rica to gain an awareness of the different ways organizations in this country are addressing issues of maintaining biodiversity and promoting environmental sustainability.

     Prior to attending the summit on March 21-22, students will visit the Tortugeuro Sea Turtle Conservation area as well as other conservation projects in the Arenal region of Costa Rica, famous for its spectacular volcano.  The itinerary includes tours and speakers as well as opportunities to get to know the natural beauty of Costa Rica from whitewater rafts and forest canopy zip lines.

     A highlight of the program will be the two day Environmental Sustainability Summit featuring keynote speaker world-known conservationist Jane Goodall.  In addition to workshops and presentations by prominent presenters, Andover students will join groups of students from other states and countries to work together developing and proposing solutions to environmental problems and challenges presented by the summit organizers.

     Planning for the trip is underway and being coordinated with staff from EF Education.  The plan is for Stephen Sanborn, PreK-12 Science Program Advisor, and Melanie Cutler, science teacher at Andover High School, to lead a group of 12 students to the summit and related travel.  The Global Summit initiative is a relatively new program offered by EF Education and this trip to the Environmental Sustainability Summit in Costa Rica will serve Andover High School as a pilot to help evaluate the possibility of attending other annual EF summits in the future focused on themes such as Innovation, Human Rights, and the Future of Energy and taking place in locations around the globe that provide rich settings for exploring the designated theme.
     Information about the Environmental Sustainability Summit in Costa Rica can be easily accessed by visiting a web site established specifically for the AHS group at http://www.eftours.com/1632002HU.  

     There will be an informational meeting for parents and students interested in learning more about this program on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 pm in the Andover High School Media Center.  A representative from EF Education will be attend to present an informational program and answer questions.

Andover High School Joins WeatherBug Network

Last spring, Earth Networks installed a new weather station and web cam on the roof of Andover High School signaling the arrival of Andover Public Schools as member of the national WeatherBug network of schools and organizations.  

Screenshot of AHS online data display taken from the WeatherBug site

Attached to the Andover High Weather station is a web cam pointed to the field below and the sky above West Middle School.  The image is refreshed a few times a minute and both day long and month long time lapse images can be viewed.  High school students frequent the permanent weather data display in the science department to check on radar images, weather conditions, and forecasts in preparation for their afternoon and weekend activities

AHS webcam view of the sky above West Middle School

      Along with the weather station equipment, lifetime access to WeatherBug online educational resources was acquired for all 10 of Andover’s public schools.  This access includes use of the WeatherBug Achieve web resources, a rich collection of tutorials, videos, maps, lessons, and other curriculum resources designed for different grade levels for use in all subject areas.  Many of the Achieve lessons integrate live data from the Andover station.

      For example, the graph below compares temperature vs relative humidity and begs the question of how one might explain the shapes of shapes and possible connections between the lines on this graph.  A variety of math lessons are possible with these graphs as well.

       Another example of a useful learning resource is the Lewis and Clark Weather Portal, an archive of journal reports including weather conditions recorded during the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806.  These journal entries can be used in a social studies or history course

Excerpt from Lewis and Clark journal of September 8, 1805

     Joining the WeatherBug network and gaining access to the Achieve resources was made possible by a $20,000 grant from ACE, the Andover Coalition for Education.  Because the data from the station is accessible by anyone online, this grant serves not only Andover's students and but anyone with access to the internet.  And don't be surprised to see data and images from Andover's station pop up during WBZ-TV's weather forecasts.

     Andover’s Weatherbug station data can be accessed by anyone by visiting www.weatherbug.com and entering 01810.  There's even an Weatherbug app for your phone or computer.  Check it out !

Corning donates new lab equipment to AHS

     An unexpected delivery marked the first day of school at Andover High with the afternoon arrival of six large boxes of new laboratory equipment gifted to Andover High School by the Corning Corporation.  These boxes contained a variety of Corning lab ware including beakers and flasks of different sizes, graduated cylinders, pipettes, a digital hot plate/stirrer, and other useful equipment.

AHS science teacher Jen Rodier looks over the new lab equipment from Corning

 

     The lab equipment, worth approximately $3000.00, was given to Andover High through the Corning Partners in the Community program.  Two AHS parents who are employed by Corning, Shital Shah and Sudha Mukund, nominated Andover High School as a donation recipient school.  We were notified last spring that AHS was selected to receive the equipment with a September delivery.  Our students will also have the opportunity to hear from a Corning scientist who will speak about lab equipment use and tissue culture procedures.

     The science teaching staff, on behalf of their students, is very grateful to Corning and our AHS Corning parents for this great addition to our lab equipment inventory!

         

MINDSTORMS brewing in Andover's middle schools

     When 7th and 8th graders return to their engineering classes in a few weeks, they will quickly recognize some changes that are in store for them.  With generous financial support from the Andover Coalition for Education (ACE), students in engineering classes at all three middle schools will have the opportunity to design, build, and program devices using Legos Mindstorms EV3 Core and Expansion kits.  Four large pallets of Legos boxes arrived last week and middle school engineering teachers Dan Miley (West Middle), Steve Tisbert (Wood Hill Middle), and Tony Helinski (Doherty Middle) came in for the day to unpack the boxes, inventory the equipment, get acquainted with the Mindstorms software, and discuss the adventure that lies ahead during the implementation process this fall.

  

Engineering teachers Dan Miley, Steve Tisbert, and Tony Helsinger unpack and
inventory nearly 200 Legos Mindstorms kits 

     Once the revised engineering program is up and running as planned, 7th grade students will spend part of their 9 week engineering class working in small groups with a Mindstorms core set to construct a predesigned project and once built, begin learning to program the "brick" processor to make their device accomplish specific performance objectives.  During the 8th grade engineering cycle, pairs of students will select a design challenge or problem of their own choosing and utilize a Mindstorms core set and expansion kit as well as other construction materials of their choosing to design and present a solution to their problem.

     But that is the vision for the future - the upcoming school year will see the teachers and many students alike on the steep part of the learning curve in using the Mindstorms resources.  Undoubtably, students who are experienced Mindstorms users will play an important role in the implementation of the kits into the curriculum.  The engineering teachers recognize that there will be a lot of work ahead but look forward to engineering classrooms where everyone present is engaged in authentic discovery and in the engineering design process.  The word "adventure" is emerging as a common descriptor for what lies ahead in the weeks to come.

New Doherty Middle School engineering teacher Tony Helsinger contemplates the adventure that lies ahead.

     The introduction of the Mindstorms resources to the 8th grade engineering classes was funded by ACE with a grant of $34,000 while the 7th grade program cost of $18,000 was provided in the APS budget.  Mindstorms software needed to program the EV3 computer bricks will be installed on repurposed laptop computers (formally used by teachers) that will be dedicated to the engineering classrooms.  The acquisition of these resources will allow students at every middle school equal access to high quality learning resources that can be used to learn both engineering design and coding skills regardless of their individual learning differences and prior experience.  Andover Public Schools is deeply grateful to ACE for making it possible to implement the Mindstorms resources to an extent that provides an optimum opportunity for our students to learn.

     So stay tuned and we'll check in on our young engineers once the year is underway and the adventure has begun. 

     

        

Welcome to the new APS Science and Engineering Blog

     Welcome to the Andover Public Schools Science and Engineering blog, a new effort designed to share with our community news and information about some of the programs, projects, initiatives, accomplishments, and resources associated with our science and engineering education programs from Pre-Kindergarden through 12th grade.  APS students are presented with many exciting, innovative, challenging, and engaging learning opportunities in the sciences and engineering - the primary purpose of this blog is to provide the reader with a window into our schools and our programs in order to share what our students and teachers are up to and perhaps to trigger some ideas from among our community members for creating new and extended opportunities for all of our students.
     The primary blogger here is me, Steve Sanborn, PreK-12 Science Program Coordinator for Andover Public Schools.  The district-wide science program coordinator position was established by Superintendent Marinel McGrath in 2012 by modifying the role of the former 9-12 Science Program Advisor position.  The responsibilities of Science Program Coordinator now include leadership and supervision of the Andover High School Science Department as well as coordination and support of science and engineering curriculum and instruction at all grade levels.  This is an exciting time for science and engineering programs in our schools.  Having completed a district-wide program review of our science and engineering program last year, we are looking ahead to a busy 2014-2015 as we work to implement recommendations resulting from the program review.  The content of these commendations will make for good blog entries in the coming weeks - stay tuned!
      For now, I simply wish to welcome you to this blog and hope that you will check in occasionally to see what our students and teachers are up to.  If you have any suggestions for blog entries or if something you read raises a question, raises an idea, or suggests an opportunity, please feel welcome to contact me at ssanborn@aps1.net.  While there is a lot of great stuff already happening in the sciences for Andover students, we've only scratched the surface of the resources and opportunities that exist within our community.  I'm hoping this blog can serve to communicate where we are and where we hope to be in the future.  Welcome!

Steve Sanborn
PreK-12 Science Program Coordinator
Andover Public Schools