Memories of Bob Miller

We at the ExploratOrium were saddened to hear of the death of Bob Miller this weekend. He was an artist, scientist, educator and one of the founders of the museum. Although I didn’t know him as well as some others, I feel fortunate to have experienced one of his famous light walks this [...]

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Teaching Science

Is it just me or are there a lot of articles about right and wrong ways to teach science lately. Here’s another one from the paper today.
I wish that I had that experience when I was in high school. I think a big reason why its hard for me to get some of the topics [...]

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It’s a Rough Life

Last night we had one of those moments that just makes you happy to feel like you’re making a difference in the world. At the Halloween Heroes event, Marcus and I explained some things at the Exploratorium for the 49er girls (mainly where to stand as we took a picture). They were so grateful for [...]

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The bubbles in your test tube

Hey crew,
This just in from Karen K:
(to answer the question about how the bubbles that are attached to the DNA got there)
“At the interface the water and alcohol mix, and bonds are broken and reformed. Alcohol is bonding with water, more so than the percentage
initially. When this happens, heat is given off (this process [...]

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It’s Grapple Time

Remember way back in training weeks when we were talking about hybrid fruits and I was like oh you mean like a grapple and then people looked at me like I was crazy and said that there’s no way that an apple can be combined with a grape? Remember?
Well I did some research and if [...]

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There’s an Explainer in my basement!

Walking home this afternoon, I noticed the garage door of my apartment building was open. I peeked inside and saw the light was on over the banged up Miata in the back of the garage. A man looked out from behind it.
I introduced myself as a tenant in the building and asked what [...]

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To Hack or Not to Hack

This morning for training we had a conversation about the time we spend at the beginning of the day when most of us are outside waiting for school groups to arrive.  One person is “on clipboard”, which means they are in charge of greeting groups as they arrive, getting them organized and dispatching explainers to [...]

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Cool Explosion Photo

This is why I love my job!

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The Worksheet Question

In the sprit of not violating copyright laws, I am not posting the worksheet article you asked me to post (however, you can always find a hard copy in my office). Instead, here’s a free to post, shorter article that discusses similar ideas. This article has a good, concise overview of field trips research that [...]

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Why Tea Leaves Settle in the Center of a Mug

As part of explainer training we completed an example worksheet with a very simple question on it concerning the spinning tea leaf exhibit. “Why do tea leaves settle in the center of the cup?” Several of us pondered this for several minutes and came up with some adequate sounding answers, but I sensed [...]

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