Identifying Oneself When Posting a Blog or Comment
Since one of the goals of this blog is to create a community amongst the day school math & science teachers, I think it would be helpful for people to identify themselves by name (first & last) and school.

I am Ilene Sussman, Director of CJP DAF; Jane Cohen is the Head of School at South Area Solomon Schechter; David Novick is the Chair of Science Department and Teacher at Gann Academy; Nitzan Resnick is the Director of Science and Math Initiative at South Area Solomon Schechter.
I am not sure who Meredith and Rach are.

Thank you! Ilene

Please Respond on Next Steps for CSI Comes to Greater Boston

A number of us have been having an email conversation about next steps for CSI. It seems to me that this is a perfect conversation for the Blog which allows for the inclusion of many more voices.

Below I have tried to summarize the emails that have taken place up until now. (I did try to cut the length, but found the content too valuable to remove.) I highly encourage you to "speak up" so that any decision on future plans does not reflect the opinions of only a few. There is also a lot that we can learn from each other.

Thanks for your input. Ilene

Two original questions posed by Ilene Sussman (DAF):
1. How to create a program that enables students to participate more than once?
2. Should we continue to recruit high school-aged students?

Resulting questions from Nitzan Resnick (SASSDS):
- What were the original goals of CSI?
- Particularly since the event does not necessarily align with topics from the students’ present curriculum, does the event add value in connection the students or their parents to science?
- Does the event increase science awareness in the day schools?

Response from Ilene Sussman (DAF):
The main goal of the program is a marketing tool. Based on research done by DAF about 2½ years ago, we know that the misperception of parents, be they day school parents or non-day school parents, is that the quality of the math & science curriculum (and English curriculum, for that matter) at the day schools does not equal that of public or independent schools. We also learned that the quality of math & science programs is a key concern of parents when they are evaluating choices on schools for their children. Ideally we would like to use the program to get major PR about math & science in the day schools. Based on 2 years of the program, we know that this is a LARGE challenge over which we have little control despite all valiant efforts. That being said, we know that it does create word-of-mouth by current parents. The amount of which, only the teachers can assess; I would love to hear from you how successful we have been.

Just a quick lesson about word-of-mouth (WOM) and its role in marketing... We know that WOM is a primary tool that parents use when they choose their school. We also know that people are 10x more likely to speak negatively than positively.

This leads to 2 questions:
1. Knowing that generally parents feel an inadequacy about math & science in the day schools, does this help parents feel better about the math & science programs so that they are more positive about it? (We know that they are very verbal when they are unhappy.)
2. Why do the teachers, have to care about WOM or anything related to marketing. The answer to the latter is easy since positive marketing means more students something that all the schools are concerned about. This is important if you think about it in terms of job security.)

Obviously, it is unfair to ask the student to attend a program designed solely as a marketing tool.

So, I bring the question back to you:
Are we getting what we want out of the program which is good WOM and feelings about math & science at the schools? If so, then how can we use the program to support the good work that is already being done at the schools?

Response from Nitzan Resnick (SASSDS):
- What exactly are we marketing in this event?
- Is a one day event which is an outside school event suggests to the parents that the program to which they will send their kids is serious about math and science?
- Wouldn't it be better to try and seriously upgrade the programs in the schools and then market them to the parents?
- Other than a sense of a "fun day" do the students come out from the CSI day with a valuable scientific message? New skills?
- Maybe I am too serious and should see things more lightly. I feel that the reason why parents are unhappy with the science programs is because many of these programs are not good enough, serious enough, updated enough, long enough. To please the parents but even more importantly to create budding scientists from our students we need more than just marketing.
- Sorry about being so harsh, but I feel that these things should be said out loud.

Response from David Novick (Gann):
I'd like to relay some information that I have gotten from Gann students in the 9th and/or 10th grade that have attended this event, for it raises another question about this event. While they generally enjoyed it, they felt that it was more geared towards the younger crowd. They felt that a lot of the science and math was review for them. This might explain the small turn out of at least Gann students in spite of the valiant advertising effort.

For me, this really poses the additional question of whether this event should be limited to the lower grades, elementary and middle school.

In terms of the notion of this event being a marketing tool specifically for Jewish Day Schools, I too must share my doubts. I definitely see it as a way to get kids generally excited about science but if they aren't getting the same level at their individual schools then this event would only further point out the perceived deficiencies in Jewish Day School science programs (i.e. increase bad WOM).
It felt to me as just a fun science event that was attended by students from Jewish Day Schools and not something that specifically demonstrated what kind of experience these kids could look forward to in the individual schools.

I would say that perhaps events that physically occur at individual schools would more directly market that school.

Response from Jane Cohen (SASSDS):
I suggest we not hold CSI next year. Instead, we choose a day during school when one of three things happens:
1. The Jewish high schools invite the middle schoolers to their schools for a half day of science that introduces them to the scientific way of thinking at that high school.
2. All the schools hold a science day simultaneously with similar experiments.
3. All the schools hold a science day with local university scientists who come in and work with kids.
It is my belief that we have already accomplished the goals that the CSI set out to do and that that program no longer holds its marketing appeal. Now, we should look for something that authentically shows what we do in our schools.

Response from Nitzan Resnick (SASSDS):
Thoughts to add:
- This year South Area Schechter’s stem cell debate will take place in the spring at the Harvard Stem Cell Research Institute (HSCI). The invitation came from Brock Reeve the executive director of HSCI after they heard about our last year's debate.
- Wouldn't it be great if all the middle and high school students in the Boston area would attend?
- This would be a phenomenal educational and marketing event and the parents can attend as well.

iPodding on the Day School Podcast

Over at the Striar Hebrew Academy we have been having great success with recording and distributing our own podcasts on iTunes. Our podcasts cover include Torah thoughts, songs, drama, guest speakers and accounts of special activities (including science). We are currently looking for contributions from other schools in the form of mp3 audio files or short mp4 video files. I am also available to help you start your own podcast (it is really quite fun, easy and surprisingly inexpensive!). You can contact me at e_strickon@hotmail.com or at school 781-784-8724

You can listen to our audio offerings by looking us up on the iTunes music store under "The Day School Podcast" or by visiting our website at:
www.thedayschoolpodcast.libsyn.com