Luke Fostvedt outside the Ferry building with the Bay Bridge in the Background

The American Educational Research Association had the annual meeting in San Francisco last weekend drawing around 15,000 participants from around the world. I was accepted to present some research from the SWH project regarding the effect of the implementation quality of the SWH on student performance. The presentation went well with roughly 75 people attending the session at 8am on sunday morning. There was quite a bit of interest in the topic and methodology after presentation.

The SWH team had four presentations displaying many of the good results we have been seeing due to the inquiry based approach to teaching science that has been employed in all these elementary schools across Iowa. Marcia was presenting results regarding increases in critical thinking and a couple of Brian Hand’s post docs also had presentations. I think everyone enjoyed the great weather in the city and the plethora of good food. I know I couldn’t wait to get some good sourdough bread and various seafood dishes. After all, many of us strictly adhere to the rule: “No seafood if we are more than 50 miles away from the ocean.”

Tulips surrounded by snow on the Iowa State University Campus

One of the benefits of a San Francisco conference is my Grandparents live an hour north of the city so I was able to spend a day seeing them. On Tuesday we went out to Mt. Tamalpais State Park and went on a 7-8 mile hike beginning at Stinson beach up to the Pantoll Ranger Station. The views along the coast were awesome. We ended back down at Stinson Beach and a mandated walk in the shallow surf was mandated as the next time I will be in such proximity to the ocean is uncertain. After the hike we headed back to Santa Rosa to sea to rest of the relatives and the nostalgia from so many family vacations as a kid. No trip to Santa Rosa is complete without a walk/run around Spring lake.

After the great weather that everyone was treated to in the city for the past 4 days, what else could we expect in Iowa except the largest may snow storm since 1944. After all, April showers brings May flowers….

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