Science in Action

From 2005 through 2008, National Semiconductor's major K-12 education initiative has been Science in Action, a $1 million program to help K-12 teachers bring exciting, hands-on science education to their students.

National Semiconductor's Science in Action Initiative, funded by the National Semiconductor Foundation, has two components: awards and professional development grants.

In total, more than 4,000 teachers and their 100,000 students have received top-notch science instruction and classroom materials. Many exciting projects have been launched as a result of this initiative.

Science in Action Awards 

Recognizing teachers who inspire students to explore science

National Semiconductor's Science in Action Awards recognized and rewarded inquiry-based classroom projects with up to $2,000 for individual classrooms and up to $5,000 to groups of classrooms to purchase tools for hands-on science projects. From 2005 through 2008, 121 teachers have received $300,000 in awards to carry out exciting science ideas.

National Semiconductor's Science in Action Awards details are available here.

Professional Development Grants 

National Semiconductor has provided over $700,000 in grants to education partners to help teachers increase their knowledge and experience with inquiry-based science curriculum. We are proud to support professional development through grants to our Science in Action Partners, education experts located in our key U.S. communities.

Science in Action Partners:

Silicon Valley, California
Resource Area for Teaching
Santa Clara County Office of Education

Maine
Maine Mathematics & Science Alliance

Tarrant County, Texas
Arlington Independent School District
Mansfield Independent School District

Results 

 Many exciting projects have been launched as a result of funding from National Semiconductor's Science in Action Initiative. Here are a few highlighted projects.

National Grant Helps Students Learn Science Through Edible Cars

Why did the chickens cross the road? To teach students about the cycle of life.

Solar-powered robots help students learn about energy and motion

Local Teachers Use Science to Solve a Mystery

National Grant Helps Students Learn Science Through Edible Cars

Joey Wall and Mark Weber's Carbohydrate Car was the big winnwe at the Incredible Edible Car Race at St. Mary's School in Los Gatos, Calif.

June 13, 2008 - Students in Julia Miller's 8th grade science class at St. Mary's School in Los Gatos, California, spent the past eight weeks learning about force, motion and aerodynamics by designing, building, racing and eating edible cars. The project, aptly called "The Incredible Edible Car," was made possible by a $1,600 grant provided by the National Semiconductor Foundation's Science In Action grant program. The funds helped purchase motion detectors and laser gates, to detect the speed of the cars, and software and hardware to measure and graph the motion of the cars.

On May 30, the project culminated in the "Incredible Edible Car Race." Student teams came to the event in the school auditorium wearing costumes that reflected the theme of their cars. The Shark-mobile team came in full San Jose Sharks wear (including eye-black), the Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage team donned formal gowns and tiaras, and the Hippie Van team came in tie-dye shirts and long-haired wigs. Once the competition started, the students got down to business. The cars were judged on their speed, design, theme and edibility.

In between speed trials, teams had the chance to repair their edible cars.

Cars were timed going down an inclined ramp and volunteers interviewed the students about how they selected the theme and design of their cars. But the most exciting to watch was the "edibility challenge." Each team was required to bring a container with the edible materials they created their cars out of. They then were timed to see how long it took to eat their cars. For some, like the Rice Crispy treat "Barbie-mobile," it was easy, but the "Green Cheese-mobile" and the cars with wheels made out of giant jawbreakers posed a greater challenge.

The fastest car of the day and the big winner was the Carbohydrate Car." The car, designed by Joey Wall and Mark Weber, had a biscotti cookie body, noodle axles and ginger snap wheels. When asked what they liked most about the project Mark said, "It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot. I learned about aerodynamics and how it affects the speed and acceleration of the car."

Julia Miller, the science teacher and mastermind of the project, was thrilled with the outcome. "The kids stayed engaged all the way through the eight weeks of the project. For eighth graders at the end of the school year, this is incredible. If you can make learning fun, they'll remember it."

Detailed reports including design-ideas and test data was required of each student in Julia Miller's 8th grade science class		The ultimate challenge - eating the car!

Read the Mercury News article about the project

  Why did the chickens cross the road? To teach students about the cycle of life.

The first-grade class became proud parents to sixteen chicks.

Teaching young children about the cycle of life can be a difficult task. But Faye McCoy, first grade teacher at Willie Brown Elementary School in Mansfield, Texas, created a project to do just that.

McCoy's project, "Here a Chick, There a Chick," received funding from National Semiconductor's Science in Action Awards program. The purpose of the project was to help her students learn about the life cycle of chickens. They ordered equipment and two dozen "free-range" chicken eggs, and after 21 days, the first grade class became proud parents of sixteen chicks.

Two dozen eggs are kept in a temperature-regulated incubator as students await the chicks inside.

Learning goals and objectives were met through science, math, and language arts content standards. Students read and researched incubators/eggs/chickens. They observed, measured, recorded, performed classroom investigations, and journaled daily through art and writing. Life skills were developed through teamwork, keeping records, and planning and organizing.

"For my students, they were able to demonstrate an understanding of a life cycle in more depth than I ever dreamed possible," McCoy said. "For myself, as their teacher, I felt my own sense success as my students and I handled eggs for the first time, witnessing first-hand the beginning of life."

  Solar-powered robots help students learn about energy and motion

A student from Eddington School shows off her finished robot.

Gone are the days of learning about solar energy from a book…now students are building their very own solar energy robots.

Three teachers from Eddington School in Eddington, Maine received a National Semiconductor Science in Action Award to carry out their project, "Experimenting with Solar Energy and Motion."The goal of the project was to help fourth-grade students better understand the concepts of energy by working to build solar-powered robots. Throughout this project, students experimented with solar and electrical energy in a hands-on approach.

At the end of the project, students put together exhibits showcasing the process of creating a solar robot.

The teachers, Donna Oliver, Susanne Gallant, and Lisa Beers, helped the students to research different forms of energy and developed a beginning understanding of ways energy can be produced. And, students began to understand the motion of objects and how forces can change that motion. The students were fascinated with the gears in their robots. They found that the placement of gears and whether they were loose or tight were major factors in the use of the force created by the motor. They also found that the tightness of wheels and moving parts had a direct relationship to the motion of the robot.

Students gather outside so that their solar robots can soak up sun rays.

To help students apply inquiry and problem solving approaches to science and technology projects, they were required to fix robots as they broke down. They had to figure where the problem was and then find and try possible solutions.

"Thank you so much for the opportunity to give our students this hands-on learning experience," Donna Oliver, lead teacher for the project, said. "I'm sure it will be one of their remembered experiences as they go through the years ahead."

  Local Teachers Use Science to Solve a Mystery

Teachers use chemistry to determine the type of ink found on a note at the crime scene.

Apr. 25, 2006 - On Monday night, several of National Semiconductor's Santa Clara, Calif. conference rooms looked like a scene from an episode of CSI, a popular television show about forensics. The conference rooms were converted to mock crime labs to help local teachers use science to solve a mystery. The session, hosted by National's Science in Action Initiative, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Teacher to Teacher Initiative. Instructors from the Department of Education showed local science teachers how to use forensic science to teach science standards to their students. Forensic labs were set up to do mock fingerprint analysis, ink analysis, blood typing, and more.

Fingerprint analysis helps pinpoint "who done it."

The 75 participating teachers learned about fun, engaging ways to help their students understand the importance of analysis, classification, measurement, and other science standards. Much of what they learned in the workshop will be put to good use in their classrooms, because all of the activities directly related to California's state science standards. This was the fifth in a series of Teacher to Teacher Initiative workshops hosted at National and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Other workshop topics included assessment and teaching science to English Language Learners.

The instructors, Shannon C'de Baca and Gail Wortmann, are both nationally renowned teachers who have been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to provide professional development around the country as part of the Teacher to Teacher Initiative. C'de Baca appears on PBS's NOVA program regularly and has also served as ambassador to Bahrain. Wortmann has a 32-year career as a teacher, and currently oversees one of the country's first online high school's Anatomy and Physiology courses.