Congratulations!!!!!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Cheers to Jimmy!
Labels: 27704, jimmy, mls, museum, museum of life and science, SERC
This is just a quick shout out to Jimmy, my manager! He has officially been working at the museum for 10 years! He has transfered from a few different departments- but he now calls the Science Education Resource Center home, and we are lucky to have him.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Now Introducing....Lacy!
Labels: 27704, jimmy, kristen, lacy, museum, museum of life and science, Nancy, SERC
We have gone through many changes in the SERC lately...but the most exciting is gaining a new colleague...Lacy! She has been volunteering with us for about 6 months; refurbishing DPS science kits, SIAS kits and helping clean up our building. She was in need of a career change and we were in need of a new addition to our team.
Welcome to the museum Lacy!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Cool Tools: Science News for Kids
Labels: 27704, cool tools, help with science projects, kid science, kristen, musuem of life and science, ncmls, SERC
I am always looking for new science resources for our little people and students alike...and I think I have found one of the best websites yet. It is called Science News for Kids. It has games, articles, science fair help AND EVEN A TEACHER SECTION!!!
I can definitely see myself using this site to develop new curriculum! Does anyone else know of any really child friendly science sites?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
great science resource website for kids!
Labels: help with science projects, resource center, science education, science resource, website, wetlands
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!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Cool Tools: Free Posters!
Labels: 27704, duke, durham, ncmls, SERC, year of science
Hi everyone, Nancy here.
We here in the SERC are always looking for ways to save educators and families money on resources so we have a hot tip for you:
Our friends at Year of Science and Cal Berkley have put together this great resource for science educators that we wanted to pass on to you.
Here is a link to an electronic version of the "Understanding Science" poster that they developed. You can print this out in color to give to your students or have a local copy shop enlarge the file poster-size and laminate to post in your classroom.
Speaking of posters, did you know the SERC has a closet full of posters that you can use in your classroom? Many of you know we have books, artifacts and equipment you can sign out like a library book to help support your science explorations, but we also have posters about mammals, reptiles, astronomy, ecology and several other topics that you can sign out as well. It is a favorite resource of many of our Duke University Student U and their Elementary Pre-service program students to use during their field experience in Durham Public Schools.
One of our members organized a "Bug Week" in her neighborhood for all the neighborhood kids for Summer enrichment and our collection of bee posters were a huge hit!
Drop us a line and let us know how we can provide materials support or if you know of a cool resource to share, pass it along!
Stay tuned and stay curious,
-Nancy
We here in the SERC are always looking for ways to save educators and families money on resources so we have a hot tip for you:
Our friends at Year of Science and Cal Berkley have put together this great resource for science educators that we wanted to pass on to you.
Here is a link to an electronic version of the "Understanding Science" poster that they developed. You can print this out in color to give to your students or have a local copy shop enlarge the file poster-size and laminate to post in your classroom.
Speaking of posters, did you know the SERC has a closet full of posters that you can use in your classroom? Many of you know we have books, artifacts and equipment you can sign out like a library book to help support your science explorations, but we also have posters about mammals, reptiles, astronomy, ecology and several other topics that you can sign out as well. It is a favorite resource of many of our Duke University Student U and their Elementary Pre-service program students to use during their field experience in Durham Public Schools.
One of our members organized a "Bug Week" in her neighborhood for all the neighborhood kids for Summer enrichment and our collection of bee posters were a huge hit!
Drop us a line and let us know how we can provide materials support or if you know of a cool resource to share, pass it along!
Stay tuned and stay curious,
-Nancy
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Citizen Science: Wish upon a Star....
Labels: 27704, citizen science, kristen, metor shower, museum of life and science, Nasa, science, science at home, science education
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
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
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Cool Tools:Shark!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: aurora, Discovery Channel, DPS, ncmls, SERC, sharksHi everyone, Nancy here.
I hope you all have been having a great summer. We have been very busy in the SERC. We've already sent out our first round of Durham Public Schools Science Kits to the Year Round Schools. The students are starting their year off studying life cycles of plants, animals and invertebrates.
An animal that they won't be caring for in their classrooms however is getting a lot of attention this week.
Each summer, the Discovery Channel hosts Shark Week, the longest running week of television programming focused on a particular animal. Shark Week has been a fixture of the Discovery Channel for over twenty years.
If you've been out to the Museum lately and tried your hand at digging for marine fossils out at the dig site on the Dinosaur Trail, you may have found some shark's teeth. The mix of fossil "dirt" that you can explore was excavated from a phosphate mine in Aurora, NC. North Carolina was once part of an embayment that had lots of diverse sea life. Some of the shark's teeth found in the dig site at the Museum are from Sand Tiger Sharks, Whitetip Sharks and White Sharks. Some explorers to the quarry in Aurora have been lucky enough to find Megaladon teeth.
Discovery Channel's website has a lot of great shark resources including games, videos and an identification guide. Check out the link from our friends at How Stuff Works to learn more about how sharks' teeth work. Did you know that sharks can have up to 300 teeth? They can also have anywhere between 5-15 rows of teeth.
For more information on Shark Week, you can check out Discovery Channel's website.
Stay tuned, stay curious and if you live in Amity, stay out of the water...
I hope you all have been having a great summer. We have been very busy in the SERC. We've already sent out our first round of Durham Public Schools Science Kits to the Year Round Schools. The students are starting their year off studying life cycles of plants, animals and invertebrates.
An animal that they won't be caring for in their classrooms however is getting a lot of attention this week.
Each summer, the Discovery Channel hosts Shark Week, the longest running week of television programming focused on a particular animal. Shark Week has been a fixture of the Discovery Channel for over twenty years.
If you've been out to the Museum lately and tried your hand at digging for marine fossils out at the dig site on the Dinosaur Trail, you may have found some shark's teeth. The mix of fossil "dirt" that you can explore was excavated from a phosphate mine in Aurora, NC. North Carolina was once part of an embayment that had lots of diverse sea life. Some of the shark's teeth found in the dig site at the Museum are from Sand Tiger Sharks, Whitetip Sharks and White Sharks. Some explorers to the quarry in Aurora have been lucky enough to find Megaladon teeth.
Discovery Channel's website has a lot of great shark resources including games, videos and an identification guide. Check out the link from our friends at How Stuff Works to learn more about how sharks' teeth work. Did you know that sharks can have up to 300 teeth? They can also have anywhere between 5-15 rows of teeth.
For more information on Shark Week, you can check out Discovery Channel's website.
Stay tuned, stay curious and if you live in Amity, stay out of the water...
-Nancy
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