Agency Details:

Science Buddies

Science Buddies is a non-profit organization empowering students from all walks of life to help themselves and each other develop a love of science and an understanding of the scientific method. With the help of our Mentors and Advisors, we help students improve their science skills and literacy, and we inspire them to consider additional study or careers in science.

Description:
Science Buddies offers a pyramid of online programs that maximize the value and student enjoyment of science research projects. Building on a solid base of content that describes how to do a science fair project, Science Buddies engages science and technical professionals in student mentoring. Science Buddies uses its knowledge of specific student needs to develop sophisticated online tools that enable students to "reach higher" as they prepare their projects. Employing all these tools, techniques, and volunteers, the pinnacle of our pyramid is an online, one-on-one mentoring program that began during the fall of 2001. Our programs focus on:

• Involving science and technology professionals to interact directly and indirectly with the students, making science real.
• Leading students to projects that are more challenging and have a higher science content than projects they might otherwise choose on their own.
• Saving students time and frustration: students WANT to use our tools because they save them time and make science research more fun and engaging.
  
  

At the base of our pyramid of programs are clever software-based productivity tools and easy-to-use "how-to" materials that will reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. At the top of the pyramid is our one-on-one mentoring program that will reach a small number of the most serious and deserving science students. The common theme running among all Science Buddies programs is the goal of identifying specific student needs (e.g. "I need help selecting a topic for my project") and creating solutions (not just reading material) that actively engage students and scientific professionals.

History:
The inspiration for Science Buddies came from founder Ken Hess seeing how much his teenage daughter learned and how much fun she had participating in science fairs. Researching science fair participation, Ken was dismayed to find out how few kids participate in science fairs, especially considering the critical need to improve science achievement levels of American students. As an engineer and as a high-tech businessman, Ken was all too familiar with the urgent need for our country to produce more science-literate citizens and more skilled knowledge workers to meet the labor demands of our high-tech industries. Ken thought that with science fair "productivity tools" and mentoring, many more students could participate in science fairs and develop inspirational relationships with science role models. Over time, such a program would help students improve their science skills and literacy while inspiring them to consider careers in science and engineering.

Contact people:

Amy Cowen, Volunteer Relations, (email) Kenneth Hess, President And Founder, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (650) 461-8524

Address:

PO Box 5038 Carmel, CA 93921

Web Site: http://www.sciencebuddies.org

Miscellaneous Information

Besides English, which languages are spoken at your agency?
	No others
What is the minimum age for volunteers at your agency?
	16
Is your agency wheelchair accessible?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 10?
	No
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 20?
	No

Last updated on May 1, 2009