I love this recent radio conversation with our executive director Jon Foley on local NPR affiliate KQED. Jon focuses on what he calls the “war on science” or the “war on facts” being waged in the federal government right now. Jon speaks so eloquently about the importance of scientific inquiry and the political process, and …
I was reviewing text for our upcoming module from Science Action Club, Clouds Over Your Schoolyard the other day. I found a perfect spot to do some reading, on the living roof of the Cal Academy! Excited to work on updating this module. So many cool activities in it!
Check out this neat infographic on the impact of museums in the United States and beyond. Some highlights: There are approximately 850 million visits each year to American museums, more than the attendance for all major league sporting events and theme parks combined (483 million in 2011). By 2006, museums already received an additional 524 …
I love this new video from the Field Museum of Chicago. It makes a simple assertion, that strangely needs repeating in this time: facts matter. That said, it's super messed up that the Field Museum even needs to make this video. See more at their website.
This has so many layers of adorable to it. For the past few years, we've been encouraging visitors to write valentines for our African Penguin colony that we have at the California Academy of Sciences. This year, our TASC Force teen volunteers wrote their own, and they are just the best. Here's a sample of …
Just realized that yesterday was my five year anniversary of working at the California Academy of Sciences! It’s been an incredible journey so far. I’m so grateful for my colleagues, supervisors, partners, and awesome young people I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past 60 months. Here’s some snapshots of the hundreds of …
From the wonderful Poorly Drawn Lines.
Last Tuesday, I co-facilitating an educator training in Chicago for Science Action Club, along with my colleague Andrew. I enjoyed getting to share our latest unit Birds in Your Schoolyard with 20 after school educators. We worked hard to make it a fun training for them. They learned about and tested out the latest citizen …
This is an actual email that was sent to me not long ago — apparently “to benefit the very evolution of our species” and “turn our ripples into waves.” I added the emphasis, removed identifying information, but otherwise this is the exact email as sent. (Spoiler alert: I respectfully declined.) Hi Rik, My …
Jon Foley, executive director of my museum the California Academy of Sciences, has been outspoken in his concern about the current administration's views on science and environmental issues. He just published a new piece on his blog Macroscope (reprinted from Scientific American) that I could not agree more with. Read it all here.