I have on my desk a pile of plastic 3D-printed marine animal parts that I’ve kept for years. I’ve use it as a reminder of that: Technology can and often does behave in unexpected ways. Running a Digital Learning program involves a certain amount of risk and uncertainty. Plan accordingly. I realize that I’ve been …
I’ve been binge-watching the reality show “The Great British Bake Off” for the past couple of months. For those that haven’t watched it, “The Great British Bake Off” is a baking competition in the UK where amateur bakers compete in a weekly series of cooking challenges, set by two expert culinary judges. If you are …
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has teamed up with DJ Ben Mirin to bring us BeastBox. Make your own music by mixing wild animal voices with beatbox loops and unlock "Beast Mode" by adding five animals from the same ecosystem. You get access to a special track created by DJ Mirin! I've been playing with it …
On Saturday, I, along with hundreds of others, watched a giant robot punch a car for the first time. Okay, it was kind of a nudge, more than a punch. But small steps! The robot is named the MK.II, and he's getting ready to fight it out against a similar giant robot from Japan. The …
This weekend, I caught one of the last showings of the Strandbeest at the Exploratorium, along with some work colleagues. A series of “kinetic sculptures” created by Theo Jansen since the 1990s, the Strandbeests combine his interests in science and art. Here’s a video of the Strandbeests in their native environment, the beach. As you …
Give a listen to the latest episode of "Object Oriented," the podcast on digital learning in collections-based museums, hosted by Eve Gaus of the Field Museum, Barry Joseph of the American Museum of Natural History and myself. In this show, we focus on what's new at our respective institutions, and man are we up to …
A couple of years ago, I met Simone Giertz, a young Swedish woman interested in lindy hop and making electronic gadgets. That's three things that I love in one person: dancing lindy hop! making electronic gadgets! being Swedish! Chatting with Simone at a lindy hop social, I mentioned that I worked at a science museum and …
I have been helping lead one of our teen project groups for the internship program at the Academy. Project groups are opportunities for our interns to work together on some longer term project or topic, supported by a staff person, over the course of a semester. My project group is called “Big History”, a group of five teens …
Okay, it took awhile to get out episode three of our podcast "Object Oriented," but we are pretty excited about this one. In this episode, Eve, Barry and tackle one of the most exciting new trends in museums and other learning institutions: the Maker Movement. I begin with the basic but complicated question of whether …
The cool folks at TechHive at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley have launched a crowdfunding campaign to expand their programs to reach 75 Bay Area teens this year. It's a really cool program that helps Bay Area teens become not just makers, but educators and science communicators in their communities. Head to their …