Shawn Carlson Updates the LABRats Program

Dr. Shawn Carlson, Founder and Executive Director of the Society for Amateur Scientists, has been hard at work on the LABRats program he conceived several years ago. His most significant achievement thus far is "LABRats: A Community-Based Research-Directed Learning Approach to Science Literacy," a formal paper that he will soon submit to a leading science education journal. This paper clearly outlines the failure of science education in the United States and points out how current approaches have largely failed to solve the problem. Educators and citizen scientists alike will find much to like about this paper, for it is reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin's legendary attention to detail and his lifelong interest in taking science to the general public.

Here is his Shawn's latest LABRats progress report:

Fasten Your Seatbelts...

We've made a great deal of progress on LABRats in the month since your last update.

Program Discussion Forum Launched

I hope you'll log on to our new program discussion area at labratsweb.laketech.net.

I've posted quite a few critical details about the nuts-and-bolts of the LABRats program that have never been published anywhere else. You'll also find quite a few comments and suggestions from your fellow LABRats insiders. 

I think you'll agree that a lot of thinking has gone into these important details. Please let me know what you think! This forum is your chance to help us build the best possible science education program we can.

Thank You Greg Crawford

My personal thanks go to Greg Crawford. Greg donated his time and some of his company's server space to create this discussion forum for us. It's a great aid, and a great service to science education! 

LABRats Website In Process

A lot of basic design work has been completed on the new Website. The Website must allow entry points for members, mentors, parents, youth leaders and adult leaders and give different powers to each. Also, we want to completely integrate the banking needs of all the individual Synergies with the National Organization to streamline the payment of dues as well as the transfer of monies between the LABRats National and the local organizations. We think were are honing in on a complete list of our database-related needs.

Greg Crawford is an expert on Web-based databases, and he has volunteered to help us build the appropriate tools that will enable LABRats to handle all its database needs seamlessly (or nearly seamlessly).

Fledgling Developers Site

The first site we need to get up and running is the one that provides Developer's Support: that is, gives help and guidance to people who write content for LABRats. A very primitive version of this site is now on-line. I'm sharing its location with LABRats insiders, as it is not nearly ready for prime time. However, it does allow people to register as LABRats Developers. The address is: http://www.sas.org/labrats/Developers.html

NEEDED: Content Writers

We need people who are competent writers as well as knowledgeable in science/technology/engineering/and mathematics (STEM) to start producing content materials for LABRats. Just think about it. If LABRats becomes even half as successful as Scouting, your work and your insights could affect the lives of millions of young people for generations to come. So please register as a LABRats Developer today!

The Big Four

The Developers site also provides PDF downloads for five important new documents that describe how to write the four different types of educational material that will define the LABRats program. They are:

1) Science Skill Awards (SSA): The SSAs are the tightly-focused individual activities that form the foundation of the LABRats education program. SSAs teach a practical science-related skill. Most can be mastered in a single sitting. LABRats will eventually include hundreds of SSAs. (Download a sample SSA and "How To Write a Science Skill Award for LABRats" from the Developers' Website.)

2) Synergy Activities: Most Synergy meetings include a fun-filled hands-on activity in which the members work collaboratively within their Groups, and the Groups compete against each other for honors and prizes. These Synergy Activities are one-page sheets that describe how to organize these projects and provide talking points for discussions. LABRats will eventually include scores of Synergy Activities. (Download "How To Write a Synergy Activity" from the Developers' Website.)

3) Synergy Demonstrations: These are cool demos that illustrate a foundational principle of science. They are performed by the Youth Leadership for the entire Synergy. LABRats will eventually include scores of Synergy Demonstrations. (Download "How To Write a Synergy Demonstration" from the Developers' Website.)

4) Research Projects: Research Projects are experiments that last three months; the Quarterly Projects I've discussed elsewhere on this forum. They give every Labrat the chance to get deeply involved in a program that really interests them. All of the other materials--the SSAs, Activities, and Demonstrations--support these open-ended introductions to real hands-on science. These Projects are the most important part of the program. LABRats will eventually include scores of Research Projects. (Download "How To Write a Research Project" from the Developers Website.)

The Developers Website has downloadable PDF files that describe how to write each of these for LABRats. You'll also find an example SSA I wrote titled "Electronics: First Steps—Resistors"

Note: Like the rest of the Developer's site, these documents are DRAFTS. They haven't been graphically laid out or even properly edited. But they will get you started on producing educational materials for LABRats.

NOTE REGARDING SUBMISSIONS

The Proposal and Submission features on the Developers Website aren't working yet. So please send your proposals for work (after downloading and reading the "How To" documents) directly to me at scarlson@sas.org. 

NEEDED:  Editors and Graphic Artists

Do you have any experience working as a copy editor? Do you own a copy of Quark Express (or some equivalent Mac-compatible page layout software) and have you ever been paid to use it? We need professionals who are willing to donate their time to help turn the writing and images we receive into quality PDFs that are ready for young people to download and get their hands-on science. 

If you can help, please contact me ASAP at scarlson@sas.org.

LABRats Headed for Peer Review

It's important for the long-term success of this program that we get the LABRats concept into the peer-reviewed journals. Since it takes up to a year to get a paper published in the academic education world, I took time out this month to write a somewhat lengthy paper that describes the LABRats program. I've just posted a PDF draft version at the LABRats Development Progress page.  You'll find it at: www.sas.org/labrats/LABRatsDvpt.html

If you'd like to make comments or corrections, you'll need to act quickly. I intend to polish the text a bit more and then submit it to the Journal of Research in Science Teaching before the end of the month. 

I hope to hear from you! 

Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.
Founder and Executive Director
Society for Amateur Scientists

Creator: LABRats