For the past 40 years, MSI has opened up new worlds of understanding of the marine environment through innovative education programs.
What will MSI do next? Here is a sneak preview of a few new programs for the 2010-11 school year:
 Imagine a 7th grader learning to see solutions in the natural environment for issues that challenge us the most, such as creating and storing energy. The “tubercle effect,” a design that increases wind turbine energy production by 20%, was inspired by bumpy Humpback whale fins. This is Biomimicry, sometimes referred to as bio-inspired design, our newest education initiative. Our nation’s top scientists are increasingly turning to biomimicry for technology advances.
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We believe today’s young students can learn biomimicry fundamentals and that this approach to life science studies will increase student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects – and so do our leadership funders Motorola Foundation’s Innovation Generation Grant Program and Cisco Foundation’s Silicon Valley Impact Grant Program. This new direction will create a generation that approaches problem-solving with expectations that human solutions must be sustainable and non-toxic. To find out how nature would solve a variety of human problems, explore Ask Nature, a project of the Biomimicry Institute. |
| How you can help: Spread the word to 4th through 8th grade teachers that their classes can be a part of our Biomimicry pilot this fall. Contact Gail at (650) 364-2760, x10, for more information. |
Save the Bay’s beloved program Canoes In Sloughs has found its new home with MSI beginning this fall. When Save the Bay had to make the difficult decision to discontinue this education program, we stepped up to carry them on in the South Bay. Canoeing in the bay’s sloughs gives students a unique opportunity to become intimate with the Baylands habitat. From the canoes, students perform water quality tests and discover how human activities impact fish, invertebrate, and bird habitat. And now, with the addition of this new fleet of vessels, we will be offering canoe-based member events as well!
| How you can help: If you are interested in booking the Canoes In Sloughs program for your school, please call Gail at (650) 364-2760, x10, or click here for more information. |
After many years of attempts, we are so very proud to announce that MSI has been awarded its first ever Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grant administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Through our project, Ocean Views, nearly 200 underserved San Mateo County students will learn to see the ocean in their immediate environment, no matter where they are in the watershed. In a series of 6 hands-on environmental education experiences, these Redwood City, La Honda, and Pescadero 5th and 6th grade students will learn about their own and each other’s watershed locales along a corridor that spans bayside to coastside, across the Santa Cruz coastal mountain range. To carry this out, MSI has put together a special team of State Beach Rangers from the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Santa Cruz District – San Mateo Sector, docents from the San Mateo Coast Natural History Association, and a NOAA Advisor from the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
We are still in need of a transportation sponsor for the Ocean Views project: a grant of $7,000 will pay all transportation costs for the 200 students to participate in the many outdoor experiences throughout the year.
Please contact MSI Development Director Janeen Tuitupou at (650) 364-2760, x14, or at janeen@sfbaymsi.org if you can help. |
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all ages and financial backgrounds learn about the environment and
take action to preserve it for the future.
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