Jennifer Marsh, Rocky Mountain
The following is the short article on our Denver Zoo experience that you requested. Other activies/speakers have been: Ball Aerospace programs Deep Impact, Mars Rover, and CloudSat. Exploring our solar system: built a model and explored relative distance as well as online interactive activities. Dave the Bug Guy. Thorne Ecological Institute. Upcoming activities include: laser optics and building model solar cars.
We have had many exciting guests this year but the highlight has been an overnight trip to the Denver Zoo. This February, I was able to take 23 students to "Bunk with the Beasts" thanks to a generous scholarship from the Denver Zoo, private donations, and MESA program funds. The program focus was Africa: predator vs. prey and we learned about animal adaptations and how to identify if an animal is a predator or prey: think " eyes in front, time to hunt; eyes on the side, run and hide".
Our adventure began with a guided nighttime tour of the zoo and a chance to use night vision scopes. There were several learning stations set up throughout the zoo where we were able to do some hands on learning and ask zoo-keepers and docents questions. We were able to get up close and personal with a few of the zoo residents, including a blue- tongued skink. It was very exciting to see the zoo after hours but since humans are not nocturnal, we needed to get some sleep! After an African bedtime story, we were tucked in for the night.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were sent out on our own to explore the Primate Panorama. While we were looking around, one of the zookeepers asked if we wanted to help her feed the ducks, geese and swans. We all got a chance to feed the birds and learned about how they track the migration of the flock. We hated to leave but had an appointment with the zoo kitchen.
The zoo feeds a lot of animals! In fact, several trucks full of food are delivered weekly to the zoo and kept in giant walk-in refrigerators. We learned about the typical daily diet of some of the inhabitants. Did you know that vampire bats really do drink blood?
We all had a really fabulous time at the zoo and look forward to "bunking with the beasts" again!
Susan Blanchard, Erie Middle School 5/6 MESA
9/26 Edible Car contest
10/10 Cartesian Divers
10/24 Denver Botanic Garden-Moldy but Goody Lab
11/14 Fiske Planetarium, infared camara lab, and meteorite lab
11/28 Chemical snow, Windbags and Mentos Geysers
1/9 Dave the Bug Guy
1/23 Bottle Bug Houses and Bugs
1/13 Parachute - Drop Zone Parachute Challenge
Scott Brungardt, 7th-8th Erie Middle
Janet Benter, Heritage Middle School
Seven field trips to NCAR were included in this year's programming plus an additional trip to NOAA to tour the Space
Environment Center. We will be learning about how coronal mass ejections
from the sun affect the various electrical systems on Earth.
NCAR scientists in their “labs” guided students as they:
Steve Davis, Sunset Middle School
We have two CU MEP mentors to help (Sabrina and Caleb). Our club is devoted to exploring alternative energy in Colorado. So far we have built solar cars and built a wind turbine tester. Our next few meetings will involve designing and testing wind turbine blades. The underlying rationale for our club is that new green energy technologies will create a wide range of new, "green" jobs in the coming years. We are hoping to visit the NREL wind testing site off Highway 93 later this spring and also one of the local solar panel installers.
Carlota Loya-Hernández and Michael Lozano, Casa de la Esperanza
Our program has started out the year with a “bang” and a schedule full of activities for the spring semester. For the second year, we have a high school robotics team and are collaborating with Skyline High School to outreach to other Latino students. Our Casa MESA Robotics team has been busy with the following:
CU Boulder has been given a Presidential Award for their outreach efforts and will feature the Casa MESA FIRST Robotics team in a video. The award recognizes the CU MEP students’ extraordinary mentorship with the Casa de la Esperanza youth. They will shoot the video on February 18th as the team works to pack up the robot for shipment. In the last 13 years the Casa de la Esperanza Resident Program has existed, we have been fortunate to have hundreds of CU students volunteer thousands of hours in our community enriching the lives of our families.
Ana Teresa Salcedo, Loma Linda Kindergarten
MESA Programs have been very valuable for the students. I have enjoyed doing these with Kindergarten. Presenters have been wonderful, on time and they have come with great ideas and presentations. My favorite and the students have been the Zoo presentations and what I love from them is that they are very well prepared to plan the presentation for the appropriate age.. I talked to the presenters from Start Lab and I gave them my feedback about the presentation, which was great but the information was high for the grade level where kids need more visual, movement and hands on. They were
great understanding and took some of the ideas I gave them.
Nina Amabile, Spangler
We began the year with a class on observation and gathering information and the scientific method. Then we had two visits from the instructor at Sandstone Ranch. She taught the students about water animals and stream health. We went to Sandstone where the students gathered stream samples and tested the oxygen level and temperature of the water. They also looked at the samples through microscopes to see what was living in the water.
Following this were 2 classes about the water cycle and where water comes from and what happens to it. The students learned about water pollution and conservation. We also showed them a segment about water from the Planet Earth series. Science Discovery from CU sent two fabulous instructors to teach 2 classes about the human heart. They learned how the heart works and how it is designed. They listened through stethoscopes and checked their pulses after doing various activities. The highlight of the class for many was holding a real cow’s heart!
Thorne Ecological Institute is currently working with our students on decomposers and we have learned about food chains and food webs in anticipation of a visit from the Denver Botanical Gardens for the Eco Explorer class. In March we will have three classes about habitats and animal relationships to the environment from the Denver Zoo. This will be followed by a visit to the zoo. Boulder Parks and Open Space will bring their exhibit here at the end of our program.
Mary Magee, Coal Ridge
CRMS MESA students have participated in a variety of activities this year, including four full-day field trips to the Denver zoo (as part of the Young Scientists Program), continued participation in and piloting of Hands-on Optics, and piloting activities from the new Colorado MESA activities notebook. As part of the Young Scientists program, our electives classes have studied two species, squirrel monkeys and black-crested macaques. The students have benefited from on-site visits by zoo presenters, and from learning about recording, formatting, and analyzing field data. This year’s optics materials were drawn from modules 3 (magnificent magnifiers) and module 6 (Communicating on a Beam of light.) The students learned about morse code, and then translated that to modern communications via a laser-activated amplifier, powered by a solar cell. The favorite activity so far from the Colorado MESA notebook is the car-design activity, Edible Cars. This spring we look forward to a university visit and a chance for our students to travel to the St. Vrain MESA expo.
Submitted with deep gratitude to the sponsors who have helped our students have these marvelous learning activities.
Ruth Hanna, Columbine K-1
Columbine K-1 MESA began the year with a study of the human body. We learned about our five senses and how our body works. We explored the skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems. We also spent some time learning the food groups and about healthy food choices. The students enjoyed many interactive activities including running through a giant chalk model of the heart and lungs to learn about how blood flows through our body!
Next we began learning about animals and habitats. CU Science Discovery provided an excellent introduction to animal classification with their Fur, Feather and Fins presentation. The Denver Zoo came to further discuss classification of mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish. During the Animal Discovery presentation from the Denver Zoo, the students were able to see and touch some of the animals they were classifying! Both programs brought amazing resources to help the students understand the differences between animals, as well as, what adaptations animals have that allow them to live in their habitats. We are continuing our study of animals as we explore their habitats.
Eco-cycle came and taught the children about food chains and the importance of recycling so we can protect the habitats of many animals that live in Colorado. They learned that we need to protect the animals that need trees for food and shelter and those animals who depend on the tree animals. We will continue our animal study with another exciting Zoo presentation, a study of insects and arachnids and a visit from the CU Discovery and Butterfly Pavilion.
Jennifer Giles, Columbine Elementary
The 2-3 grade MESA has had a presentation by the zoo, Awesome Australia, where we got to see some Australian animals. The CU Science program has come twice, first to do Polar Connections and again to do Weather Works. In addition, we have been studying the eye and dissected a cow's eye as a finale in December. We are deep into the ear, and made model ear drums just yesterday.
We look forward to having Dave the Bug Guy come in April along with CU Science's Bugmobile. And that's the update!
Elizabeth Mourer, Loma Linda 4th Grade
We have had an incredible year in 4th Grade MESA. We have studied insects and had 2 visits with the Thorne Ecological Institute as well as a visitor to work with the kids on water pollution and conservation.
After winter break, we have spent 6 weeks working with the University of Colorado, investigating space and engineering. The students built circuits, and geodesic domes. We will wrap up the year with some other presenters from the University of Colorado School of Engineering. All of our presenters and presentations have been informative and very kid-centered. It has been a great year!
Karen Mancusi, Longs Peak Middle
I started my MESA club in November. I started MESA with a 3 week activity on building cars out of a piece of paper, straws, 4 lifesavers, and a piece of tape. We raced the cars and then used the design to make edible cars. The students especially loved the edible car activity.
In December and January, I completed a short unit on light with the students. The Science from CU Outreach Program presented on Light, Polarization, and Liquid Crystals. We then made light spectrographs from materials provided by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
This month Matthew Marshall has been presenting activities provided by the Colorado Energy Science Center to expose students to energy efficiency. I also have three students from the University of Colorado who have begun helping me with the program.
Over spring break, I am taking the students to Denver Zoo for Bunk with the Beasts. I was awarded a Red Apple Scholarship to assist with the expenses of this overnight field trip.
I have enjoyed doing MESA this year and have some more ideas of what to do with the club next year. I have a small but loyal group attending. A few students have asked me why we can't have MESA every day after school.
David A. Myers, Westview Middle
Here is a summary of our year:
Kelley Crispin, Burlington Elementary 4/5 MESA
Our focus was on living green and we had the following presenters visit: Eco cycle, Thorne Ecological, Longmont Power, Rain Rain
We have 85 students K-5 who participate and we have a waiting list of over 50 students who we would love to have become a part of MESA. Burlington's three MESA advisors are Nancy ferraro, Jodi Willden and Kelley Crispin.
Heidi Genty, Lyons Elementary MESA
Lyons Elementary started second semester with a great presentation from CSU Science Discovery. It was called Electronics Lab. The students were given circuit boards and he talked them through different tasks. Since we expanded the time for MESA the students were then able to 'play' around and try other things with the circuit boards. The next three weeks were spent talking about and designing projects around electrical circuits. The task they were given was to operate a light, buzzer or motor with a circuit, so we had the inner planets rotating using a motor, a model airplane with working propellers, a treasure box with a buzzer and many ways to turn off and on light bulbs. One student designed an experiment to test whether a material would conduct electricity. Now we are going to learn some simple chemistry using household items.
Kelly Bernhardt, Loma Linda 5th Grade MESA
We have been busy scientists and engineers in fifth grade MESA! We have explored the stars with Fiske Planetarium and the Starlab, and learned about the kinds of materials that different planets are made of. Ball Aerospace came and we learned about Mars and the rovers that explore it, and the function and design of satellites. We even build our own satellite models! We learned about different kinds of cloud formations and created our own cloud in a jar using moisture, particles, and air. We also recently built our own snowshoes from pvc pipe…a feat of fifth grade engineering! Now we just need everyone to do a snow dance for us so we can go snowshoeing! Finally, our group
was able to enjoy the experiences offered by Science is Everywhere.
We learned about cryogenics, global warming, water pollution, weather patterns, and how stars are monitored and studied using heat sensitive cameras. We look forward to sharing our learning with our families at the Science is Everywhere event at Fiske in Boulder!
Maria Murillo reporting for Skyline High MESA
Space Weather class – Fall semester
18 students participated (8 were girls)
Collaboration from CIRES
Visits from Jose Matienzo (NASA engineer) Eduardo Araujo-Pradere (NOAA scientist)
Challenger Learning Center e-mission: Space Station Alpha
Students prepared for and experienced a mission where astronauts in the Space Station were in danger of
upcoming dangerous Solar radiation
Featured in poster presented at NASA Living with a Star meeting – January 2008
MESA Computer club
Meets once a week (Thursdays)
Using primarily Python language
MESA – All School Activities
IBM - La Familia (Your Future in Engineer) – CU-Denver (about 40 students)
CU- Fall Fling (16 students – overnight) – Trebuchet and Boat competitions
Devry – Young Women in Science and Technology – Denver ( 20 students)
MESA After-School Group
Meets once a week (Tuesdays)
Fieldtrips :
Colorado Youth Program – adventure Club
Rabbit Mountain (collecting seeds)
Haystack Mountain Goat dairy farm
Longmont Job Fair
Pringle packaging activity
Ground Water Flow Model – Presented by Longmont Conservation District
Mars Rover – Presented by Ball Aerospace
Electrathon: Electric Vehicle Competition
Collaboration from Ken Jones (FRCC) and Josh Daniels, Carlos
Silva-Ortiz (CU College students)
Students design, build and compete with an Electric Car
FIRST Robotics:
3 Skyline students working in conjunction with the CASA- MESA team
Students design, build and compete in a FIRST Robotics Competition