Science Education Resource Center Blog

Create a reusable shopping bag!

2010-04-23T13:29:00.004-04:00

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!

Citzen Science:Take Action at Earth Action Day!

2010-04-10T06:17:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone, Nancy here.

Lacy and I are off to Chapel Hill today to Southern Community Park for it's Earth Action Day. This is our first time at the festival and we are really looking forward to it.

Earth Action Day celebrates sustainable living. The festival is full of interactive exhibits and demonstrations, live entertainment, and local food. The event is from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

We will be in the children's area and we will be talking about the Museum's campus-wide composting efforts and we're bringing along some Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches to help talk about how animals are helpful as decomposers. We'll also show you how to make a reusable Butterfly Feeder using materials you can find around the home!

Well, back to packing for the event. Stop by and see us and hit us up on the blog with some of the actions and ideas your class or family are doing for Earth Day.

Stay tuned and stay curious,
-Nancy

On MLK day we get a new bear cub!!!

2010-01-06T14:36:00.006-05:00

Welcome to your new home Yona!!! Yona will be arriving at the museum on January 15 and we are very excited for Yona to live here with our other 4 bears.

Yona was rescued from Townsend, TN and found weighing around four pounds: still a defenseless cub. She was found on the side of the road and picked up by a good hearted woman, who later named her Yona meaning 'bear' in Cherokee. The woman later called the Appalachian Bear Rescue for help in raising the cub...and they are sending Yona to live with us!

Unfortunately, Yona was imprinted by all of her human interaction and can not return to the wild. Imprinting is defined as a permanent visual socialization that will occur as soon as the animal or bird is able to focus. How does this affect Yona in particular? Yona was found at a very early age; she was then totally dependent on people for her food, shelter, warmth, skills, interactions and love. This seems like a good idea in the beginning, but as she grew older she bonded to people not bears. ABR tried to place Yona with their other bears; to re-introduce her to her own species & have her learn to be a BEAR... but she was too imprinted for the wild.

Yona will serve as a shining example of why we do not take in wild animals. It is not only very dangerous, but also selfish on the humans' part. A life in captivity is nothing compared to a life in the wild. I am glad Yona found such a great place to spend the rest of her life!

It costs the Museum more than $25,000 a year to care for its rescued bears. If you would like to help you can adopt a bear or make a contribution by calling the Museum at 919-220-5429 ext. 352.

Kit Tidbit: Native American Supermarket kit

2009-11-19T10:20:00.000-05:00

Are you going to have a full house for Thanksgiving? Trying to find fun and educational things to occupy the children? Well, I have the answer!!!!

We are promoting our Native American Supermarket kit for the Thanksgiving holiday season! You can reserve one by calling the SERC at 919.220.5429 * 356. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Coolest video game for learning ever!

2009-11-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

I just read a post and watched a video about a new video game that "looks like it was designed by a third grader" - Crayon Physics Deluxe. Check out the video, and see if you agree that this looks like it would be fun for all ages, and educational too! It's still in development, and not available yet. It's based on an earlier version called Crayon Physics that's not nearly as complex (you can only do squares) but is available free.

Cheers to Jimmy!

2009-10-20T15:34:00.002-04:00

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.

Congratulations!!!!!

Now Introducing....Lacy!

2009-10-06T15:28:00.002-04:00

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!

Cool Tools: Science News for Kids

2009-09-25T15:47:00.000-04:00

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?

great science resource website for kids!

2009-09-15T09:53:00.000-04:00

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!

Cool Tools: Free Posters!

2009-09-08T11:45:00.005-04:00

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

Citizen Science: Wish upon a Star....

2009-08-11T11:27:00.000-04:00

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:Shark!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-04T09:32:00.007-04:00

Hi 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, Whi tetip 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

Wow! We have been busy

2009-07-22T11:12:00.005-04:00

It feels like forever since I have posted, and I apologize to all of our loyal readers. The SERC has been extremely busy with DPS science kits, museum events, volunteers, vacations and thankfully renting lots of Science in a Suitcase kits. I can't believe that our summer is almost over! But the museum still has a few things up our sleeves before Fall.

I am really excited for our latest exhibit, Dinosaur Trail! So many people have worked very hard for this; fundraising, research, labor, ideas, meetings, trainings and creating activities & events! Opening day is fast approaching, July 25, and the museum is ready! We have lots of volunteers helping out this weekend, activities planned for our visitors, off site parking, face painting and much more!

Next time you come here, bring your camera. We have a flickr page devoted to 'Durham Dinosaur Sightings.' You can upload your pictures, share your experiences with the rest of the museum community and see what others are doing on the trail!

Hopefully, I will see you this weekend!!!

Citizen Science: Cheers to the Bald Eagle!

2009-06-18T13:15:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, the Bald Eagle is our national symbol. It stands for freedom, strength and power. The eagle, as well we several other species of birds, suffered an unfortunate decline with the use of an insecticide named DDT. DDT was first used in WWII to stop the spread of malaria and to kill mosquitoes. As DDT was killing the mosquitoes it was also damaging the environment.

In 1962 Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published. This book drew lots of attention to the rise of DDT and decline of bird populations. Silent Spring was one of the main reasons for the environmental movement, which gave rise to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. DDT was banned on a world wide level in 1972, just 10 years after Rachel Carson's book was released.

The main effect of DDT on bald eagles was a thinner egg shell. This caused the egg's to break under the weight of the parent eagles, causing a rapid decline in the species. The eagle has come a long way since 1962 (and before) and is now removed from the endangered species list. The bird will be continue to be monitored for the next 5 years, to ensure that the species is on the rise!

Citizen Science- Celebrate the Ocean!

2009-06-08T09:52:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone, Nancy here.

Year of Science participants are celebrating the Ocean and Water during the month of June.

Given that school is winding down for many North Carolina students and teachers, it is no doubt that many of them will be heading for the beaches and enjoying the ocean. Many students and teachers use their beach visits as learning opportunities by taking photos of animals that they may have seen, bringing back shells, egg cases or other artifacts and writing journals about their experiences.

If you're planning a trip to the beach this summer or want to know more about Ocean Literacy, check out this link to read blog posts from NOAA's Assistant Administrator for Research, see videos on scientific ocean drilling, play games and participate in a Species Naming Contest for the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish!

The Resource Center has lots of books available about the ocean as well as a massive shell collection that visitors can choose shells from to observe closer at home so if you don't make it out to the ocean, we can help bring a little bit of it to you to explore over the summer.

Stay tuned and stay curious,
-Nancy

Cool Tools: Identifying common snakes of NC!

2009-05-28T09:10:00.001-04:00

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: Be SunWise!

2009-05-21T10:39:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone, Nancy here.

With the UV index on the rise, our colleagues at the EPA want to get the word out about sun safety and raise awareness about a largely preventable health issue: skin cancer.

The EPA has partnered with members of the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention, the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote Don't Fry Day, the first ever national sun safety day being held the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, May 22, 2009.

As many of us prepare to kick off summer this weekend and spend a lot of time outdoors, the EPA and their partners are reminding us to practice sun-safe behaviors.

Educators are invited to go online and take the SunWise pledge. Participating classrooms will receive a set of sun safety resources.

To learn more, visit the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention's resource page where you'll find background information, statistics and facts and public service announcements you can either put in your school's newsletter or deliver electronically to parents and caregivers.

You can also visit the EPA's SunWise site. The SunWise Program is an environmental and health education program that aims to teach the public how to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun through the use of classroom, school, and community-based components.There are a lot of great interactive tools on this site to use at school or at home.

If you are visiting the Museum this weekend, visit our Investigate Health exhibit and check out the sun safety station where you can use a special camera that demonstrates how sunscreen protects your skin from ultraviolet light.

Stay tuned and stay sun-safe,
-Nancy

Cool Tools: Bat Day

2009-05-15T10:40:00.000-04:00

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

2009-05-10T10:48:00.000-04:00

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!

Cool Tools: 2,4,6,8, Who Do We Appreciate?

2009-05-08T12:16:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone,

Nancy here.

If you started doing the cheer up in the caption but had a little trouble filling in the blank, allow me to assist: TEACHERS!

Today, May 9th brings to an end national Teacher Appreciation Week, a week designated so that students and their caregivers and families and Parent Teacher Organizations take time out to recognize and celebrate their teachers for all their hard work.

So, for you teachers, I wanted to share a hot tip on an event that our friends at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University are doing beginning on Sunday, May 17th from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

This May and June the Nasher Museum of Art will be participating in a special project, the FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL PROJECT, that is encouraged for you to do with your students. It is a collaborative nationwide project intended to support the rebuilding of New Orleans by making the environmental conditions safer for its residents. The project's idea was created by artist Mel Chin, and he needs 3 million people to create FUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS. A FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL is a student-designed and created $100 bill.

The project is easy to implement in your classroom and is linked to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study Competency Goals in Science: Science K-12 Strand:Science in Personal and Social Perspectives.

You can even find a lesson plan to help guide you on the project's website.

If you make FUNDREDS with your students, you can contact Julie Thomson (julie.thomson@duke.edu, 684-8816) at the Nasher Museum so that they can be included in an exhibition at Golden Belt.

Looking for more ways to link art and science in the classroom? We can help you get started. Just contact us in the Resource Center via email or by phone at 919-220-5429x356.

Stay Tuned, Stay Curious , Happy Mother's Day and Congrats to all our local college graduates!

-Nancy

Citizen Science: Butterfly Bash- Dare Cafe!

2009-05-04T08:44:00.007-04:00

This year was our 10th Anniversary of the Magic Wings Butterfly House, so we celebrated it with Butterfly Bash this year! There were many new exhibitors and some veteran ones too! If you remember from my last BFB post, I told you about Dare Cafe! We talked about Entomophagy, different types of insects to try, the nutritional value and we got it all on video!

Brad (he is in charge of our Nanoscale Science programs and research at MLS!!) and I made this awesome video of Dare Cafe! It highlights some unforgettable moments from the program and shows off many of our members and visitors loving bugs! It will make you want to come to our bash NEXT year and experience this!

A big thanks to everyone who participated in Dare Cafe, to Brad for the help with this video and to Nancy and Uli for making the bash possible! The amount of hard work that goes into these events is mind blowing, it really makes me appreciate my fellow life and sciencers!

Here are pictures taken by a member. Her whole family really dug into this program and raised the bar for everyone (young and old) to give it a try! Thanks Maya!!

Did you make it on the video? If so, tell us how it turned out! We are very proud of our productions here and we love feedback!

The Guest List: Making Paper

2009-04-29T15:03:00.012-04:00

Papermaking is for everyone!

So, I am part of a group of moms who get together one night a month to craft and socialize. During April, it was my turn to organize the activity. But what to do? I remembered loving the Science in a Suitcase Papermaking Kit from my years as a Kindergarten teacher, so I decided to give it a try again, but this time with adults. It was a success! I also made several batches of paper with my two little boys, ages 5 and 2, and they loved it as well.

The procedure for making recycled paper is fairly simple:

Tear paper into small pieces. (You can use copy paper, construction paper, paper towels, etc.)
Blend the paper pieces into a “slurry” with water and starch.
Add in decorative items (glitter, wildflower seeds, bits of thread, etc.) as desired.
Pour the “slurry” through a screened frame and press out the water.

The moms enjoyed experimenting with colors, textures, and shapes. (Fresh rosemary was a beautiful addition.) Tearing the paper (a great fine motor activity for young children) was a bit difficult for my 2-year-old, but the rest of the process was very kid-friendly. My boys especially enjoyed watching the slurry change color as the papers mixed together in the blender. (This is a good opportunity for a color wheel lesson, such as “What happens when we mix blue and red paper?”) I found that making individual batches of paper (one full blender equaled one sheet of paper) worked best, because each person could then really customize the paper. (The kit calls for making large batches of paper – several sheets of the same color- at a time. This is ideal for large groups.)

The Science in a Suitcase Kits are great because all of the materials and supplies are provided for you. How easy is that? The Papermaking Kit in particular lends itself to lots of experimentation and variation. (I think next time we are going to use cookie cutters to shape the paper!) This is a super home schooling, birthday party, or rainy day activity -- It’s the perfect mix of science and art.

-Heather Nottingham, Member of the Museum of Life and Science

Thanks Heather for being part of our Guest List and for being a member! If you would like to rent this kit or another one, please contact me at kristenw@ncmls.org or 919.220.5429 X 356.

Arbor Day! 4/24/2009 :o)

2009-04-20T09:56:00.000-04:00

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!

Citizen Science: The BASH of the year....

2009-04-17T14:30:00.004-04:00

Come celebrate our 10th Anniversary of the Magic Wings Butterfly House at Butterfly Bash! We are going to have a great time because there is so much to do!

I am going to be hosting a one hour program on Entomophagy called Dare Cafe. I will be cooking insects and talking a bit about the history and culture of Entomophagy. We will be giving away stickers and asking people to join our honorary "I ATE A BUG CLUB!" This is very exciting because there aren't very many of us who enjoy munching on meal worms....so when someone wants to join us we get very excited! I will also have my video camera out there, so if you want to show off your best bug eating expression - bring it on!

The collection of shots and clips I get will go up on our website, so get ready to be famous:) I will be under the big tent next to the Butterfly House. There will also be crafts and an EPA speaker under the tent with me! The Dare Cafe is from 12-1...so come hungry!!!

See you there!!!

Plant natives this year!

2009-04-07T12:59:00.002-04:00

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!!!