What We Do

The San Diego Science Alliance sponsors projects that connect teachers with resources from the local scientific community and help teachers learn about and use exemplary instructional materials.

MSSELI
The Middle School Science Education Leadership Initiative (MSSELI) is a program developed by the San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego City Schools, The San Diego Foundation, and the San Diego Science Alliance. The goal of MSSELI is to identify lead science teachers from San Diego City and County middle schools. Once identified, these teachers participate in an intensive summer and academic year professional development program focused on science content, leadership strategies, and collaboration with area public and private scientific institutions.

STEM Professionals with Class

The Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Professionals with Class is an innovative program that matches STEM professionals from business, research and higher education with K-12 classroom volunteer teaching opportunities. The program leverages the involvement of a community rich in scientific professionals to provide positive science role models to students and teachers.

Resource Catalog
The Resource Catalog is distributed to more than 2000 local teachers through the SDSA web site, and is made available online through the SDSA web site, where it is continually updated.

Science Alliance E-News
The “Science Alert” e-mail service provides advance information about local events and resources for the more than 1,300 registered teachers.

SDSA on the Web
The web page (sdsa.org) is another essential networking tool used by both educators and students to learn about resources and current projects.

Additionally, SDSA annually recognizes outstanding examples of business/education collaboration at its Partnership Awards event.

San Diego students, K-12, can participate in hands-on activities that helps foster a passion for science education and apply their intellects through a variety of programs. These include the following:

BE WiSE
The BE WiSE Program (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering) encourages 7th & 8th grade school girls from San Diego County to pursue careers in math, science and engineering. The project stresses the importance of taking classes in these areas at the middle and high school level and provides female scientists and engineers as role models. There are two types of activities for BE WiSE participants: Girl's Science Overnight for the girls when they first enter the program and then follow-up Saturday Symposia, until they graduate from high school.

Expanding Your Horizons (EYH)
Expanding Your Horizons, a conference coordinated for 6th through 10th grade young women by the national Math/Science Network that increases the participation, retention, and advancement of girls and women in math, science, engineering and technology. More information at http://eyhsandiego.org/pub/eyh_docs/eyh/home.html

Get SSET
Get SSET! (Sport Science, Engineering and Technology) is a 4 day and 3 night academic Academy for girls entering grades 9-10. Fun, educational hands-on activities introduce young women to the basic physical science, math, and engineering of sports. During the four day and three night residential academy held on University of San Diego campus, students attend lectures, conduct hands-on sport science projects and prepare multi-media presentations of their results.

High Tech Fair
This annual event provides up to 2,500 middle and high school students with the opportunity to interact with representatives from more than 50 local businesses who offer educational materials and a wide variety of hands-on exhibits. Look for the date on the High Tech Fair web page.

Health Sciences Initiative
The Health Sciences Initiative project is the most recent collaborative effort between SDSA and healthcare and education organizations to encourage students to study science and health in high school, specifically at high school health academies, as well as enhance Latino students’ health and science education experience.

Robotics Programs
SDSA provides 7th–12th grade students the opportunity to learn more about and use basic skills that are important to modern robotics through innovative programs including: Botball, KISS Institute, and FIRST Robotics.