Bayer Presents Making Science Make Sense Grant to Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey

As Bayer employee-volunteers and Girl Scouts from troops in Washington Township and Parsippany, N.J., planted 10 trees as part of the Billion Tree Campaign at Lake Rickabear, Bayer also announced a new $19,000 Making Science Make Sense® (MSMS) grant to the Girls Scouts of Northern New Jersey.

The new MSMS grant will underwrite three 2008 “Super Science Fun Days,” aimed at increasing girls’ self-confidence in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The special daylong workshops are designed to develop critical thinking skills through hands-on experiences, like creating a catapult or hovercraft, exploring the world of fiber optics and optical illusions, or studying their own DNA.

Bayer offers its congratulations to Biotech Partners and the Toyota USA Foundation on its new partnership in California’s Bay Area.

Recently, the Toyota USA Foundation awarded a $200,000 grant over a two-year period to support Biotech Partners, one of the leading school-to-career programs in the United States. Established in California’s Bay Area 13 years ago by Bayer HealthCare and the City of Berkeley, Biotech Partners targets disadvantaged students from underrepresented groups and, through a program of hands-on in-school curriculum combined with real-world lab experience, prepares them for challenging careers in the important bioscience field.

“By combining real-world experience with comprehensive hands-on training, Biotech Partners is preparing these students to become part of the rapidly expanding biotechnology workforce in the Bay Area,” said Patricia Pineda, Group Vice President, Legal, Philanthropy and Administration at Toyota Motor North America. “Toyota believes in supporting worthwhile programs that share our beliefs in the value of science education.”

Biotech Partners’ summer internships allow high-school students – many of whom speak English as a second language – to walk through a door that otherwise would not have been accessible to them. Many of the students have exceeded the expectations of the communities they live in and go back with a new perspective and sense of self-confidence. Since 1993, almost 700 students have participated in the program and been set on a path of learning and professional achievement. Program assessments show that students who join the program in the 11th grade enjoy a 98 percent graduation rate, compared to the 70 percent state average.

The two groups were introduced to each other at Bayer’s 2006 STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Education Diversity Forum in Washington, D.C. where Biotech Partners was featured as one of the best practice secondary STEM education programs and Michael Rouse, Corporate Manager, Philanthropy and Community Affairs, Toyota Motor Sales, was a panelist on the “Education Partnerships: What Businesses Can Expect” panel.

Bayer is currently reaching out to all the best practice programs highlighted in the forum’s companion resource guide Planting The Seeds For A Diverse U.S. STEM Pipeline: A Compendium of Best Practice K-12 STEM Education Programs to learn about other new partnerships and opportunities that may have developed over the last year. We’ll keep you posted.

Bayer Executives, Others Continue To Speak Out on STEM Education Diversity Issues

Bayer President and CEO Dr. Attila Molnar delivers the opening address at The Conference Board’s 2007 Business and Education Conference in Washington, D.C.

Helping to keep STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education diversity issues on the front burner, Bayer’s President and CEO Dr. Attila Molnar, Bayer USA Foundation Executive Director Rebecca Lucore and longtime Making Science Make Sense® spokesperson Dr. Mae C. Jemison, along with various best practice STEM education program directors, have spent the last few months on the road addressing key business, government and education representatives at national, state and local conferences, including:

• The Conference Board’s 2007 Business Education Conference
• National Governors Association
• The Baker Institute for Public Policy and The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas “Improving Science and Math Education: Texas Confronts the Gathering Storm” Conference
• Task Force on The Future of American Innovation in conjunction with the Congressional Research & Development Caucus briefing “Sputnik in a YouTube Age”
• Pittsburgh STEM Summit 2007: Enhancing Education Now for Pittsburgh’s Business Future

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell engages in hands-on science activities with Pittsburgh elementary school students, using an ASSET Inc. science curriculum kit.

The Bayer USA Foundation recently presented a $135,000 grant to ASSET Inc. (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching), the exemplary science education reform program Bayer helped to create in southwest Pennsylvania in 1994 that today is considered a national model of industry-education-government partnership.

This latest grant marks Bayer’s ongoing commitment to a program that ratchets up the quality of elementary science education by providing inquiry-centered, hands-on science instruction to 40 school districts, charter and private schools in southwestern Pennsylvania and directly impacting more than 1,800 teachers and 125,00 students annually, helping them to achieve in the subject.

The new, unrestricted grant will be used by ASSET for operations purposes for its southwest Pennsylvania program, including the school/curriculum support services it provides the districts, such as inquiry-centered curriculum modules; ongoing teacher professional development; and leadership training.

“Science education is of key importance to Bayer. Early on, we at Bayer knew that, if we were to work with the local schools to improve science education, we had to support a program like ASSET that begins with the source – the teachers. After all, how can we expect our students to succeed and achieve in science when their teachers aren’t properly trained to teach it nor do they feel comfortable teaching it?” explained Dr. Attila Molnar, President and CEO, Bayer Corporation. “ASSET works because it gives teachers the training, tools and support they need to be effective in the classroom.

At the same time, Bayer Corporation lauded Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell’s efforts to bring ASSET’s method of science teaching and learning to schools across the state with his “Science: It’s Elementary” (SIE) initiative.

“We are deeply grateful to Bayer for its longstanding and unwavering support of ASSET these many years,” said Dr. Reeny Davison, Executive Director, ASSET, Inc. “This grant is especially important now in this era of our unprecedented growth because it allows us to continue providing unparalleled service to ASSET member school districts here in the region that are not part of Governor Rendell’s ‘Science: It’s Elementary’ (SIE) initiative.”

Since the 2006-2007 school year, ASSET has received a $23 million budget allocation ($10 million the first year and $13 million this year) to design and coordinate SIE for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. As a result, ASSET has trained 2,600 elementary school teachers in 120 school districts to use the ASSET curriculum to instruct more than 59,000 students in science.

Recently, Governor Rendell announced a new budget allocation of $15 million more for year three of SIE. This additional funding will expand the program in the current 120 school districts, as well as additional school districts around the state.

Governor Rendell proposed the "Science: It's Elementary" program as one of several efforts to better prepare Pennsylvania's students for the competitive environment of the emerging global economy. Intensive math and science training is increasingly in demand in many workplaces, the governor noted, and high-skill careers often require employees with strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

At an SIE announcement in July 2007, Governor Rendell said, “Science: It's Elementary" brings science to life in the classroom. It allows children to learn by doing - one of the most effective and engaging ways to teach and foster a love of learning. Thousands of elementary school children benefited from this innovative teaching tool last year. Now, thousands more will enjoy this hands-on learning experience."

"Science: It's Elementary" goes beyond traditional textbook instruction, allowing elementary students to learn by doing,” the Governor explained. “Classrooms are provided with science kits, enabling children to experiment and see the "big picture" of how science impacts our lives, studying topics such as weather, water, balance and motion, electricity, and rocks and minerals.”

This approach allows children to not only observe the practical aspects of science, but also to experiment, interpret, propose solutions and test their own scientific theories.

"Pennsylvania students aren't just competing with peers in other states, they are competing with students around the world," Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak said in July 2007. "It is our responsibility to ensure our children receive a cutting-edge education that will prepare them to succeed in a high-tech workforce."

Year One "Science: It's Elementary" Results Report is Positive

"Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) is being benchmarked each year by Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI), an independent educational evaluation firm based in Chapel Hill, N.C. The first-year assessment report, released recently by HRI, indicates SIE is on track to making science education come alive in Pennsylvania’s elementary schools.

For example, in evaluating student performance, HRI’s research shows that:

• in four of six comparisons, students receiving instruction using the SIE-provided modules by teachers who participated in SIE professional development scored significantly higher – 16 percent to 44 percent – than students not receiving instruction from that module.
• students of teachers who participated in all three days of SIE Professional Development (PD) scored even higher on the post-test (approximately five percent) than those of teachers who participated in only two days of PD – pointing to a significant and positive relationship between full participation in SIE professional development and student achievement.

For additional results, please visit www.assetinc.org.