Outreach
Paytan Biogeochemistry Lab

Geokids at Stanford University

Students explore the different rock types.

This program was started at Stanford University as a field trip for Adina's daughter's first grade class. The program has since grown to include many elemantary schools in Santa Clara County. It is a fun “first grade geology experience. First graders come to the Stanford Geology department with their teachers, get introduced to the work of a geologist, and experience educational hands-on activities led by graduate students. All students and facilitators enjoy this fun and rewarding experience. For more information see the Geokids Webpage.

Geophysics Kids at Stanford

Fourth graders learning about plate tectonics.

The success of the Geokids program led to the development of a new fourth grade geophysics program in the Fall of 2004.  In this new program, fourth graders field trip to Stanford University for a half day program in which they learn about Plate Tectonics, Volcanism and Viscosity, and Stratigraphy and Faulting during hands-on laboratory exercises.  The fourth-grade-geologists remembered coming to Stanford as first graders and remembered many of the instructors from that time and were excited to see them all again for a new round of fun geology!

Sixth Grade Oceanography Unit

Students use a microscope to look at micro-organisms.

In the Fall of 2003 Stanford cceanography students went to Almond Elementary School to teach 3 separate classes on different aspects of oceanography to the sixth grade sciences classes. The curriculum was developed by graduate students at Stanford under the direction of Adina Paytan. The three classes focused on light and density; nutrients and life; and paleoceanography.

Sally Ride Science Festival - Oceanography: Adventures in a Drop of Water

Girls test seawater from the San Francisco Bay for phosphate concentration.

On October 5, 2003, the Sally Ride Science Festival for middle school girls was held at Stanford University. The women oceanographers at Stanford participated and presented a Discovery Workshop at the Science Fair Oceanography - Adventures in a Drop of Water. The festival is a production of the Sally Ride Science Club, which aims to make science, math, and technology accessible and fun for girls with natural curiosity. The Club works in collaboration with universities and colleges, girls and women's organizations, schools, and science and tech businesses.

The workshop started with a short power point introduction that explained: What is oceanography? What oceanographers do? And, Why is it important to us? The workshop included extensive hands-on activities that give opportunities for the girls to interact with female oceanographers and the tools of the trade.
Four different hand-on activities were conducted.

(1) Salinity and Density - What are these characteristics and why are they important?
We made solutions with different salinity using tap water and salt. Determined the density of our solutions and of natural waters samples. Evaporated the water samples and determine the salt content. Demonstrated how dense salt water sinks under fresh water (density stratification).

(2) Nutrients and pH - What are the limiting nutrients? Why are there different concentrations of nutrients in different waters? What are nutrients important for and why too much of them is problematic?
We measured nutrient concentrations and pH in natural water samples as well as other fluids and discussed the effects and controls on natural and anthropogenic distribution and effect of these parameters.

(3) Turbidity and Light - Why is the ocean blue? How deep can light penetrate seawater? Light supports life in the ocean! High turbidity from sediment re-suspension limits productivity.
We determined the adsorption of different colors (wave lengths) in seawater, measured turbidity of several water samples and discussed what can affect light penetration in the ocean and why would this matters.

(4) Life in a drop of water - What lives in a drop of water? Where would life in the ocean be concentrated? What sustains life in the Ocean?
We looked for life in a sample from a plankton tow under a light microscope as well as on other ready-made slides of samples of oceanic creatures.

We concluded by showing an aerial photograph of SF Bay and discussed what we learned in the workshop. Where would we expect the saltiest water? Freshest water? Where would it be most turbid? Where would nutrients be highest? Where would other contaminants accumulate? We will list some research projects that are ongoing to solve problems in SF Bay and illustrate how oceanographic research is relevant to the Bay Area residents.

SUCCESS Summer Science Camp

Alix shows where different rock types are found and what that tells us about the past environment.

SUCCESS is a week-long science camp that was held at Stanford in 2004. A group of Stanford women faculty, research staff and students directed the "Stanford SUCCESS Science Camp" for 7th and 8th grade girls at Belle Haven School in the Ravenswood School District (SUCCESS stands for "Stanford's Ultimate Choice Camp for Exciting Summer Science"). The camp included a day at Jasper Ridge and various fun projects at the Solar Research Center, Geology Department, Carnegie Institution, and the Stanford Center for Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies.  The girls will build huts out of native grasses, learn to make slime and to isolate DNA in strawberries, use spectrometers to look at the sun, and learn about rocks and fossils. The program is free to the students. The Office of Science Outreach, which handled the camp administration and logistics, was looking at this program as a potential pilot for other similar ventures in the future that Stanford faculty may want to undertake as a way of getting youngsters interested in science. There is a national concern about the drop in the numbers of students going into science and engineering in America.  The numbers of non-minority men entering these fields has dropped.  Women currently constitute only 8% of all engineers and natural scientists and Hispanics constitute only 3%. However, in California Hispanics constitute about 45% of all students in our public schools, with only about 57% of them graduating from high school in four years (according to a 6/3/04 report from the Education Trust-West in Oakland). Nation-wide, only 10% of Hispanics graduate from four-year colleges.

The School or Earth Sciences hosted middle school girls from the SUCCESS science camp to learn about the work of an Earth Scientist. The earth science portion of the SUCCESS program was spear-headed by Adina and instructed by graduate students in SES. The girls participated in five stations: Rocks, Minerals, Soil, Fossils, and Water. With each group run by two graduate student instuctors. Each station incorporates a hands-on experience for the girls, so that they can get a genuine feel for earth science concepts.

ROCKS- the girls observed samples from the GES rock collection and discuss how certain features were formed and what that means for the environment in which the rocks were created.
MINERALS- The girls explored the SES mineral collection by the library and discuss the properties of minerals, how they are formed and what the presence of a mineral in a rock might mean for that rocks formation.
SOIL- The girls took a closer look at the soils around them. What lives in soil, what are the properties of soil, what variations in soil property might mean for the vegetation which lives within it.
FOSSILS- The girls got to look at some fossils, discuss how fossils are formed and what can be learned from fossil species.
WATER- The girls will experiment with the properties of water: Temperature, Salinity and Density, and what this means for circulation, climate, and ecosystems.