Watch It, Don't Squash It!

WIDSI is UC Davis' homegrown science outreach crew. The group is mostly made up of graduate students in various programs, including Animal Behavior, Ecology, Population Biology, and Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology. However, anyone can join! We are always in search of new members excited about the opportunity to spread enthusiasm about life science, conservation, and literacy to a bunch of great kids.

We plan lessons and activities focused around animal behavior, ecology, environmental science, and physiology. Often, these activities have an artistic as well as a literacy-oriented component. We usually are able to bring in live animals or specimens for a "hands-on" approach.

For the last two years, WIDSI visited classrooms at the Harmon Johnson Elementary School in Sacramento during their START program. START is a afterschool program for low-income students, usually ranging from 2nd to 5th grade. Our presence there was often the first introduction to science and "scientists" that these kids get to have.

We're are partnering with the Davis chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology to expand our membership and to create the possibility for further outreach activities in new areas. This quarter we're pleased to announce several potential ways to get involved with classrooms right here in Davis! Please see upcoming activities listed below.

Time commitment can vary widely. The minimum commitment we ask is that you are able to make one WIDSI visit per month. The door to door time is usually from 2 PM to 5:30 PM. If that's too big a chunk for you, you're also welcome to come late or leave early. At our first meeting every quarter, we pick a day (or days) from Monday to Thursday that work for most schedules. Planning meetings are scheduled a week ahead of time so that we can coordinate activities for the upcoming visit.

What They're Saying About Us

• Thank you so much for last week! It was definitely a highlight of the year for them. Right now we are doing parent conferences (report card time) and almost all the parents said that their child came home talking all about it. We are going to begin our own unit on adaptations soon, so it was nice to have that great introduction. I am sure that this will help them understand it much better... Thanks again! -Mele Echiburu