Thursday, February 12th marks the three year anniversary of my work leading the Digital Learning efforts at the California Academy of Sciences. It's been an incredible ride so far. I've been fortunate enough to work with an amazing team of educators, tech experts, and scientists at the Cal Academy, starting with my first manager Puja …
I'm excited to announce that the application is now open for teen programs at the California Academy of Sciences. So if you are a Bay Area teen or you know one, have them check out all the awesome programs we have available, including: Teen Science Game Jam: A one-day game design challenge happening on Sunday April …
On Saturday the California Academy of Sciences hosted a successful “nature hacking” playshop on Saturday with Mitch Altman (pictured above) of the SF hacker space Noisebridge! Fourteen awesome teens engaged in fun electronics hacking using the Arduino micro controller, LEDs, transistors, sensors, motors, and more. Mitch gave a quick and entertaining introduction to electronics and computing …
I'm incredibly excited to share the news that this April, I will be participating in the California Academy of Sciences' 2015 research expedition to the Philippines. I will be there as part of the educational outreach team on the trip, documenting what our researchers are doing there, connecting with local educators, and sending reports and …
Geocaching is one of those nerdy activities I have been hearing about for years, but never really tried. Last week, we were doing a staff retreat involving exploring a nearby neighborhood, which included a geocache component. I took that as my chance to finally give geocaching a go. I did only a few of the …
President Obama, in his last State of the Union address yesterday, included some strong language on science and sustainability that is worth highlighting. On medical scientific research: 21st century businesses will rely on American science, technology, research and development. I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of …
"Sticky" is a sweet and insightful animated tale about a singular species of stick insect living on Lord Howe Island, and the scientists who discovered this supposedly extinct insect living under a single bush. It's a beautifully animated short video directed by Jilli Rose. "Sticky" entertainingly explains the process of taxonomic field research and the …
Check out this great blog post by Chanun, one of our TASC Force youth volunteers, about his experience participating in a “youth civic hackathon” at TechShop San Francisco this past weekend. Chanun writes eloquently about what he and two other Academy youth did and learned over the course of the weekend. “My teammates and I …
I’m home with some illness, weak but not incapacitated. So I’m in perfect shape for trying out new digital products. Enter “Elegy for a Dead World,” a cross-platform digital game designed to inspire creative writing by the player. I came across “Elegy” in one of my feeds and decided to give it a go. Here’s …
Last week's "Science Today" video focuses on a topic near and dear to me : communicating science to the public. There's some great quotes from scientists, educators, and even science comedian Brian Malow on the importance of communicating science in ways that work for modern audiences, whether that be online or in-person. Watch this short …