About Us

The mission of the Santa Fe Science Initiative is to provide the best possible science instruction for elementary students and teachers. Our goal is to ‘nurture the art of doing science and promoting scientific literacy.” To achieve this, SFSI has created an environment where teachers can learn from seasoned professionals in workshops, network with other teachers, develop curriculum extensions side by side with their peers and successfully implement what they’ve learned into their classrooms.

Additionally, SFSI offers classroom mentoring that not only guides teacher instruction and performance but also provides students with active support integrating science into their curriculum wherever possible so that science investigations can be easily incorporated into literacy and math lessons.

History

The Santa Fe Science Initiative incorporated in 2001 as a collaborative effort of three professionals in the Santa Fe community: Phil Smith, a Santa Fe/Washington D.C scientist, former Director of the National Academies National Research; John Silver, Santa Fe parent, attorney, philanthropist; and Susan McIntosh, Santa Fe Public Schools teacher who has spent most of her 30 year career working with kit-based science. With their combined talent, interest and knowledge about science education for children and professional development for teachers, they created a pilot program that has demonstrated to Santa Fe teachers, parents, students, and school leaders how to successfully change teaching science in grades K-7 from “book learning” to “hands-on learning.”

President: Victor Cook Ph.D –Retired professor of physics from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Secretary: Anne Weaver Ph.D – Physical Anthropologist and Author
Recent publications with University of New Mexico Press

Diane Catron M.S – Biologist and instructor at Santa Fe Prep School, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Robert A. Eisenstein Ph.D – Retired Physicist, former Executive director of the Santa Fe Institute, retired Assistant Director for Mathematics and Physical Science for the National Science Foundation

Dona Durham, Ph.D – Special Education: Santa Fe Public Schools Dept. of Special Education; instructor: Lesley College, Mass.

Kurt Steinhaus Ed.D – Director of Community Programs Office, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tom Goolsby, M.S – Sandia National Laboratory; Albuquerque, New Mexico

William E. Keller, Ph.D – Retired physicist from Los Alamos National Laboratory

Michael J. Lee, M.A – Principal of Gonzales Elementary School, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Estelle Kramer, M.A – Retired Educator, Center for Early Education, Los Angeles,
California

Irene Lee, Ed.M – Principal Investigator, Project GUTS

SFSI is grateful for past and continued financial support from the Genzyme Corporation and Whole Foods. 2009-2010 support from LANL Foundation, NM PED and private individual donations.