April 15, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Staff: Space: Science: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Mae Jemison, who grew up on Chicago's working-class South Side to become the first black woman to go into space, believes science literacy must begin at a young age
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April 15, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Staff: Space: Science: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Mae Jemison, who grew up on Chicago's working-class South Side to become the first black woman to go into space, believes science literacy must begin at a young age
Mae Jemison, who grew up on Chicago's working-class South Side to become the first black woman to go into space, believes science literacy must begin at a young age
Mae Jemison, who grew up on Chicago's working-class South Side to become the first black woman to go into space, believes science literacy must begin at a young age
Nonprofit celebrates devotion to science
By Violet Law
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, April 15, 2005
Mae Jemison, who grew up on Chicago's working-class South Side to become the first black woman to go into space, believes science literacy must begin at a young age.
Jemison said adults' apathy toward all things science troubles her.
"We all have the social responsibility in where the world goes," Jemison said Thursday night before addressing about 200 people who gathered at the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in the Strip District. "How can we make reasonably informed decisions without understanding science?"
The gathering was a celebration of the 10th anniversary of ASSET Inc., an educational nonprofit devoted to science instruction. For the past decade, ASSET, which stands for Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching, has been sowing the seeds of curiosity in science.
Established in 1993 by Bayer Corp., the South Side educational agency has grown from serving two school districts -- Montour and Quaker Valley -- to 45 in Western Pennsylvania. Every year, it helps train 3,000 science teachers, and supplies curriculum materials -- from bugs to books -- to 63,000 students.
"(ASSET's) professional development work is very strong," said R. Gerard Longo, Quaker Valley Schools superintendent and ASSET board member. "Their influence has been pervasive."
Longo, who has been on the nonprofit's board since its inception, said that before ASSET, science instruction relied primarily on textbooks, "which didn't take advantage of the natural curiosity of children in how the world works."
A year after ASSET was incorporated in 1994, the National Science Foundation made a $3 million grant to support the nonprofit's work.
Meanwhile, Jemison, now of Houston, has been doing her part to attract children to science. Since leaving NASA in 1992, shortly after she conducted experiments above the Earth's atmosphere as part of the space shuttle Endeavour's crew, she has run an international science camp for teenagers.
In 2002, she came to the city to join a SciTech Festival panel discussion on science and technology education at the Carnegie Science Center. The professor-at-large at Cornell University also founded medical technology company BioSentient Corp.
Last night, Westinghouse Electric received the first award for educational leadership from ASSET.
ASSET's executive director, Reeny Davison, said she hopes to expand the group's efforts beyond science and technology to include reading and mathematics.
Violet Law can be reached at vlaw@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7884.
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Story Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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