Create a reusable shopping bag!

The museum has been giving away Reusable Bags, as our member giveaways, for a few years now...which everyone loves! I just found a contest though Kroger to design your very own bag. If your bag gets the most votes, then it becomes the design for Kroger's reusable bag and you win $1000.00 dollar Kroger card! Whoop Whoop, that is music to anyones ear now-a-days!

Here is my design, vote for it! If you create a bag, let me know and I will vote for yours! Good luck and let mother earth serve as your artistic inspiration!

-Kristen!

great science resource website for kids!

Yesterday I was reading a book about wetlands for possible inclusion in our new SIAS wetlands kit. It was a really good book, and on the last page there was a website - facthound.com. I checked it out, and it was a really neat idea!

When you go there, you can type in anything you're interested in learning about, from wetlands to animals to ghosts, and they'll give you three age-appropriate book recommendations! The site is very parent and child friendly, and doesn't have any annoying pop-ups or inappropriate material.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Citizen Science: Wish upon a Star....

If you have any great wishes to make, tonight and tomorrow night are going to be the two best nights to view the Perseids Meteor Shower .

Each year in August stargazers get a chance to view meteors from the comet Swift-Tuttle that create 'shooting star' effects in earth's atmosphere.

A great article on Nasa's website about the meteor shower can be found here as well as the best times and locations in the sky to view it.

The meteor shower can be seen from July 17th 2009 to August 24th 2009, but peaks on August 12th.

Some superstitions say that wishing upon the first star you see will grant that wish, so make the first one a good one!

Happy Stargazing,
~Kristen

Cool Tools: Identifying common snakes of NC!

Yesterday I had a personal encounter with a snake that I was unfamiliar with; so this morning I was searching to find out what species it was and I found a really helpful website.

This site is great for identifying all of North Carolina's reptiles/amphibians. It is easy to use and has lots of pictures to help narrow down the search. It even has maps to show the range of where the species can be found. It is always a good idea to carry a field guide with you any time you are exploring in NC; my favorite is Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia.
by Bernard S. Martof, William M. Palmer, et al. You can pick one up at most book stores.

The snake that was in my backyard was a Black Rat Snake, it was really cool because we actually found him climbing a tree! It was a huge snake, 5ft. This is why I am a firm believer that we should never approach (especially touch) wildlife, certainly not snakes!

Found anything interesting in your backyard? Let me know!

Cool Tools: Bat Day

Are bugs bugging you? If so, put a bat house in your backyard! Bats can eat up to half their weight in food in a single night, one little brown bat can eat more than 600 mosquitoes in one hour! Thats a lot of insects! Now imagine a whole colony of bats...you won't have any problems eating outside this summer!

You can get bat houses in many ways; you can order a pre-cut house and just assemble, paint and put in your yard or you can order the plans off-line and build it yourself. There are certain tips (or guidelines) for your bat house. The paint color, location and height are all dependent on the region that you live in - but you can find all that information right here!

Let us know about your bat success stories!

Piedmont Wildlife Festival

As many of you know, the spring is the busiest time for museum outreach. We travel all over the triangle, go to all types of events, educate people about the museum as well as cool science, and much more.

Last weekend we went to the Piedmont Wildlife Festival, in Durham. There were lots of solid education venues there; SEEDS, the Eno River, the Falconers Guild, Piedmont Wildlife Center and many more. It is always nice to see what our counter-parts are doing and its great to chat with them about whats going on at our museum!

We focused on NC wildlife this time out; so we took a few of our animal friends, skulls, animal track identification, did a little bit of promoting bat day and bear awareness week and a few freebies. As far as animals go - we took Ed the alligator and Optimus Prime the pine snake.

We always have fun when we are given the chance to go out into the community.  We will be hosting our own events and going out in the triangle all summer long, so come visit us!  

Arbor Day! 4/24/2009 :o)

Arbor Day is a holiday that is celebrated by planting or caring for trees. Arbor Day was established in Nebraska and was first proposed in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton. Morton was very passionate about nature and trees. His love for trees was spread to others when he became the editor of Nebraska's first newspaper. He wrote and explained how beneficial trees would be to Nebraska's people and agriculture, and soon others caught on.

It is said that on the first Arbor Day, more than one million trees were planted!

"Arbor Day was officially proclaimed by the state's Gov. Robert W. Furnas on March 12, 1874, and the day itself was observed April 10, 1874. In 1885, Arbor Day was named a legal holiday in Nebraska and April 22, Morton's birthday, was selected as the date for its permanent observance."

Today, Arbor Day is celebrated all over the US and is a great excuse to get outside and participate in nature! There are many organizations that will send you trees for free, all you have to do is add the elbow grease!!

Happy planting!

Plant natives this year!

Spring is the time when everyone is weeding, digging and planting to make their yards and gardens beautiful...but how many native plants do you have in your garden? There are many benefits to planting natives; more wildlife, low maintenance, fewer invasive species (of plants and insects) and they are just as beautiful and desirable as all of the exotic plants!

NC State has a great website explaining why going native is the right choice for your garden and what plants are best for your area and lifestyle! They even have a helpful video to watch!  

The book "Bringing Nature Home", is a great example of why planting natives really does improve an ecosystem.  Any doubt that one has about all of the benefits of planting natives will quickly be earsed after reading this book.  

Every person who plants natives is truly helping the environment! Just think, if a whole neighborhood planted the right plants in the proper areas, they can help connect small blocks of habitat and allow animals to more easily move across an urbanized region. Now that's something to be proud of!!!

Citizen Science: Have a Slice of Pi!

Greetings friends!

If you read the subject line then I am sure you are conjuring up some ideas of Boston Creme, Lemon Meringue or Strawberry Rhubarb...

Well, it's not that kind of Pi. Tomorrow, March, 14th, marks two momentous occasion in math and science culture: The birthday of Albert Einstein and Pi Day!

Pi Day is traditionally celebrated by Math enthusiasts and educators alike each year on March 14th. 3.14 or Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to the diameter. It began as a Museum-based celebration at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1988, and has become a day to celebrate math.

"Pi says to e: Get real!
e says to Pi: Get rational!"

If you would like some math resources - we have lots of great activities, math kits and posters that you can check out! Let us know if we can make your pi day any sweeter!

Stay tuned and stay curious,

-Nancy

Citizen Science: Darwin Day!

The 12th of February is Charles Darwin's200th birthday! I am not going to give you a history lesson on Darwin, instead I am going to tell you about February 12, 2009. This year on the bicentennial of his birthday, a ship (a replication of The Beagle) will set sail on a journey to repeat Darwin's expedition. The scientists will also be conducting two on-going original research projects over the five year voyage; Metagenomics and DNA barcoding. There will also be several smaller research projects.

The ship will be furnished with new laboratory equipment, up to date technology, functional galleys, living quarters for all and much more. There are many ways to get involved with this project! You can track their status, make a suggestion for one of those research projects, make a donation, buy a supportive shirt or just spread the word!

This will help you if you want to get involved in a local Darwin Day Celebration!

Check it out, the Beagle has a blog!

Kit Tidbit: Building a Science In A Suitcase kit from start to finish!! (part 1)

These next few blog posts are going to be about our most recent project in the SERC, creating a new Science In A Suitcase (SIAS) kit from the very beginning to the end. The topic for this kit is going to be Wetlands, and will be targeting grades 6-8. So...here we go!!

The first step to this process is figuring out the topic and budget for our new baby. We decided that a Wetlands kit concentrating on middle school science is going to be great for many reasons. The main thought is because we have an awesome Wetland at the Museum, and we really want educators to take note and use the resource around us! Another reason we chose this topic is because we can incorporate lots of field study activities...and get ready - an ENVIROSCAPE!

For those of you who do not know what an EnviroScape is, its a table top model of an Environment in which you can manipulate different aspects of it. The model we chose is titled "Wetlands" and it shows all the different industrial reasons a Wetland can become polluted. Because we're all about interactive science and work with lots of inner-city schools, this quote really sold me on including this resource.

"We go out in pairs with the EnviroScape to inner-city after school programs and Native American resource centers. Many people are unaware of the importance of wetlands. With EnviroScape we can dramatically show the points we are trying to make and the kids love it. Everybody gets a chance to interact and they get excited about learning something new."

JANE SCHMITT, League of Women Voters, Henrietta, NY.

The next step is to create great hands on activities for the kit! This is where we are now. Soon to come I will explain the process is this too! For me, it is all a trial and error because this is my first time creating a SIAS kit!!! Until next time:)

Citizen Science: "One Simple Change For A Brighter Future"

The company 'Lamp Corporation' is promoting a new energy efficient green fundraiser campaign titled "ONE SIMPLE CHANGE FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE." The fundraiser contains a 4 pack of 13 watt CFL light bulbs compared to your traditional 60 watt light bulbs. This fundraiser is for any school or charity that wants to do something good for itself, the community and the environment.

Check it out! And remember October 3rd is National Change a Light Day!

Kit Tidbit: Science In A SHOEBOX? A new edition at the SERC

As many of you know we have something called "Science In A Suitcase" (SIAS) kits here at the Museum; which can be rented by educators, parents, home schoolers, etc. They are one of the great resources in the SERC, but a new thought has popped up. What about creating a science kit that is very similar to our SIAS kits, but smaller...really small...something a parent can rent and complete in a weekend??? So- we let our minds wander a bit and then came back to the table with this new idea.

It will be smaller, have between 3 and 5 activities for each topic, still have the activity guides and the kits will have all the materials included (i.e. hand lenses, books, field guides...). And so Science In A SHOEBOX was born! We chose 3 kit topics from our SIAS kit list to start with: Rocks, Eco Explorers and From Seed to Plant. I have already started creating the prototype for the Rocks kit, now I have to create a little activity guide, gather ALL the materials for the kit, find a functional container for the kit and then show it off and see how it goes!

I am excited that we are going to be creating these mini-SIAS kits! They are going to be less expensive to rent then the SIAS kits and will hopefully be more functional for the average parent, babysitter or awesome parent whose child is having a birthday and has run out of ideas to keep the kids busy!!

So, right now I am at a stopping point with this little project. I am hopefully going to be able to take pictures soon and I will get them up so you will be able to see all of my works in progress!!

Now, I have some questions for you! Would you be interested in Science in a Shoebox? What kits or topics would you like to see us adapt for smaller groups? How many kids should Science in a Shoebox be set up for - is 5 kids enough, or should we provide enough materials for up to 8 kids? Let us know in the comments section!

Citizen Science: Light Up The Night

Hi everyone, Nancy here.

As the nights have been getting cooler, my family and I have been spending more time sitting outside together on our porch and I have noticed that we haven't seen as many fireflies or "lightning bugs" as my son calls them. We went out last night and took part in our usual ritual of catch and release but didn't end up finding very many. My son was perplexed as to why there weren't very many. My husband thought it had something to do with the temperature.

Megan (also of SERC fame) found a post about this initiative that the Boston Museum of Science is doing to track fireflies and learn more about why they seem to be disappearing. There is some great information on this site to help you get involved in this project. It is a great family science opportunity. Check it out!

Stay tuned and stay curious,
-Nancy

Cool Tools: Another great resource!

As I have been working on our Science in a Shoebox kits, I have come across a few great websites full of science activities, recommended books, games and much more! The latest one is from the makers of The Magic School Bus, Scholastic.
This site is great! They have a different, easy, at home science experiment each week. They also give you opportunities to learn more about that topic! So, if you have a need for a great science activity...you should check it out!

Teachers In Need!

Hi guys! This post is a little off topic, but not really. I found this site as I was looking for more science resource websites to share with you! Its called DonorsChoose.

This site is designed for the teachers that need classroom materials and for the people who want to donate but don't know where to put their money! You might be in one of these situations yourself; you can scroll through other proposals, read stories, get ideas, submit your own project or donate to someone else's!

This could be a great idea for your child's school OR an idea for the teachers holiday gift!

If anyone post's or donates to this site, let us know so we keep track of the projects!

Thanks:)

Cool Tools: Teacher Tube!

Have you ever needed a quick, easy and modern way to communicate something in your science class...like a video!?! This site is specifically designed for teachers and teachers only, it is called Teacher Tube. It has tons of videos ranging from this one (Bill Nye) to Schoolhouse Rock all the way to clips of teachers rapping about fractions!

There are many advantages to this website: there is no inappropriate content, you can post your own video clip, the information is useful & current. Sometimes it is nice to see how other teachers convey their ideas and principals on certain topics and materials.

I included this clip of Bill Nye because he has a fantastic way of teaching science concepts and relating it to real life...all through a tv! Enjoy this site and if anyone adds their own video, let me know! I would love to see how you are teaching science!

Hello World - Welcome to the SERC!

Hi, Hey, Hello! My name is Kristen Wolfe. I am a Science Education Resource Center (SERC) Assistant at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. I am creating a blog to tell people about the awesome resources we have available. Upcoming posts will talk about new things we are doing, interesting science topics and ideas from websites and community contacts. We want to be a general science contact for inquiring minds!!

In the weeks to come, there will be new posts from my colleagues. Until then, I want to tell you a little bit about Science in a Suitcase kits. They are a great RESOURCE for parents, teachers, home schoolers, babysitters or any one working with kids!! These age-specific kits are aligned with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study - everything you need for a fantastic science experience is included! AND there are discounts for MEMBERS!!!:).