About the BSA Sip³
Scientific Inquiry Through Plants
Project

Welcome to the web site for the BSA Sip³ "Scientific Inquiry Through Plants" Project. We are pleased you've stopped by!

The site and project are in the early stages of development. There are three basic concepts behind what we are trying to achieve. First and foremost is the concept of scientific inquiry and the wonders of "doing" real science. Second is the concept peer-to-peer problem solving. And the third is that of mentorship and support for scientific inquiry and peer-to-peer problem solving from subject matter experts.

Members of the project committee can be found at: http://www.botany.org/scientific_inquiry/committee.php. We thank them for their input and dedication to science and education.

BSA Sip³ "Scientific Inquiry Through Plants" project (initially known as BSA Sci-π) has developed in response to a challenge to the Botanical Society of America from Dr. Bruce Alberts, President, The National Acadamies (National Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine and National Research Council). As the Keynote Speaker at the Botany 2003 Conference, he challenged us to become involved with science in a way that used sound research indicating the power of "scientific inquiry", and the absolute joy of experiencing science, as a base for the program. And, to make whatever we developed accessible and usable by all.

We contend plants provide the most usable and accessible medium for experiencing science. Plants are excellent subjects for student hands-on experiments, easy to access, and relatively inexpensive. We trust this site will meet and exceed Dr. Alberts' expectations.

Dr. Alberts suggested we get in tough with Dave Master, creator of Acme Animation. Acme had organized a website designed to support developing animators using the same concepts we had discsussed as being important for supporting science, inquiry, professional mentorship, and fun. Dave and the Acme team have played a crucial role in the development of the BSA Sip³ project.

Initial development of the BSA Sip³ project began in 2004. Bill Dahl, BSA's Executive Director and Dave Master led a panel session at the Botany 2004 Conference in Snowbird, Utah to present the BSA Sip³ concept to the community for feedback. Click here to view the abstract for the session.

In March of 2005 we were ready to move forward and the development committee met in the BSA office in St. Loius to plan for the pilot. Watch the rest of the story grow over the coming months.

BSA Sip³ was featured and presented to Texas educators at the Botany 2005 Conference in Austin Texas, August 13-17.

If you have any questions or comments please email us at: sip3@botany.org. We'd appreciate hearing from you!