Jars of Stars

This morning when I walked into the Explainer lounge, I was delighted to hear everyone talking about the very thing that has been putting me in a good mood: Last week, Diane W. introduced us to something super magical–sea sparkles (bioluminescent algae)!  We each got to take home a splash of them in test tubes, and are experimenting with keeping them alive on our windowsills. I’m completely enamored with my sea sparkles; it’s a lot like catching fire flies, except they actually have a chance of making it through the night.  There’s just something about a sea of tiny, living beings that glow like stars inside of a jar that captures my attention.

With some insights from the instructables website, I (and many Explainers!) set out to try to sustain this life.  Just like everything else we do, this is an experiment that may need some revision.

Here’s what I did, and how it’s going so far:

1. Kept the sparkles in their original test tube for a few days (while waiting for a trip to the beach to capture some ocean water), and they did just fine.

2. Scooped up a jar of bay water from near Planet Granite. Since this spot is near the Golden Gate Bridge, I’m assuming that the salinity is similar to ocean water. (If I’d gone to Fort Mason first to check out “Tasting the Tides”, I might actually know whether that’s the case…)

3. Boiled the bay water for several minutes to kill any critters that might compete with or eat my algae.

4. Boiled another jar in tap water to sterilize it.

5. Let everything cool to room temperature.

6. Poured the sparkles (the “starter culture”) into the jar of boiled bay water.

7. Placed the jar in my windowsill–it’s a spot that gets indirect sunlight, so it doesn’t get hot.

8. Swirl the water around in the dark at night to watch the tiny stars!

9. After one day in the jar of bay water, the sparkles are alive but seem tired. It could be the new water, or it could be that there wasn’t much sunlight today.

I’ll update this post in about a week with their progress. I’m hoping that they’ll multiply… if they do, then my friends will each get a jar of their own:)

Sal shared this website with a story and photos about a bioluminescent algae occurrence  in nature. If anyone manages to get a good video of their algae, please post!

First Day Hopes!

Today was the first day of explainer training for the 2011-12 school year of field trip ! We shared our goals for the students that will visit this year.

I hope the school field trip kids…

-get empowered to ask why.

-have an amazing time at the museum and that they discover new things and share their discoveries with others.

-get a moment of beautiful confusion.

-get the knowledge that science is all around them in the world, and they have the ability to learn something at any given moment.

-find something in the museum that they think is marvelous and that energizes and inspires them and leaves them with more questions.

-have fun and learn something new.

-feel welcome into our community.

-learn that learning is not always boring.

-get excited about learning new things, feel empowered to ask questions and connect their experience to their everyday lives.

-realize that learning can happen anywhere, not just in a classroom.

-for them to have an amazing unforgettable experience at the Exploratorium and to make it friendly for them to explore without fear.

-leave not only with answers but with more questions. These questions will lead to more learning.

-get confused and simultaneously excited enough to purse an answer.

-will have an experience that they will excitedly share with others.

-will find at least one interesting thing or phenomenon that would stay in their mind and keep them thinking.

-don’t just learn something at the Exploratorium, but get excited to go learn more about something they saw.

It is going to be a great year!

This is a re-post from my other blog, The Summer Exploration Guild, where I’ve been trying out experiments with explainers and educators across the country, but since it’s about an interesting thing I noticed as an Explainer I thought it made sense to post it here too. Enjoy!

When I was an Explainer I always carried magnets around in my pocket, but oddly enough the main thing I did with them was demonstrate their ineffectiveness. When kids were asked “why do you think that’s happening,” one of the number one answers I heard was “magnets,” even at exhibits that had nothing what-so-ever to do with magnets. I would then pull out my magnets and let the kids test their idea.

it didn’t occur to me at the time, but looking back I realize that listening to common misconceptions like this one can reveal a lot about children’s deep understanding of phenomenon. As a thought experiment I decided to revisit the number one exhibit that attracted misplaced magnet theories and see if I could make some hypotheses about what those children were thinking. Here’s what I noticed:

1) This table is made of metal, a material that can be easily magnetized. Perhaps the children are aware of this phenomenon and associate metals with magnetism.

2) The rolling objects are round and black, just like some of the most common magnets found in science kits and on refrigerators. Perhaps the children associate round black objects, particularly ones with holes in them, with magnets.

3) The rolling objects tilt at an angle that appears to defy gravity. Perhaps the children suspect magnets when they encounter materials that seem to cause gravity defiance, because they know a magnet can be used to suspend objects that would otherwise fall.

I now plan on spending some time lurking near Turn table to see if I can find any magnet-confused subjects to test my theories on. This thought experiment has reminded me that underneath an incorrect answer there is often a correct idea worth digging for.

Climate Scientist Rap

In the spirit of awesomely geeky science songs (a strong tradition with the Explainers), I am posting an article about the climate change debate in Australia and a hip-hop video made by the climate scientists to argue their point. Pretty awesome!

Summer Exploration Guild

As Explainers we get lots and lots of opportunities to explore interesting materials in interesting ways, some of which we document and share with each other through this blog. In an effort to experiment with ways to extend these opportunities to museum educators throughout the larger Exploratorium community I’ve just launched a new project called the Summer Exploration Guild. The plan is to invite educators from various museums, including ours, to spend two weeks collectively gathering ideas for ways to explore a given topic or object. We’re currently half way through out exploration of bubbles, and I personally have been having lots of fun blowing all kinds of bubbles, including tiny bubbles, giant bubbles, cubic bubbles, and antibubbles. Come Explore the Summer Exploration Guild Blog, and if you’re an Explainer or museum educator please feel free to join in. Here’s a photo of my proudest bubble moment so far:

Mr Rogers

This week we had our sixth annual Mr Rogers training (inspired by former Explainers, Kristin and Hannah), and reflected on how we have the opportunity to make positive and personal connections with our visitors. Before the training, I looked up some Mr Rogers quotes and after reading them I am sure that Mr Rogers would have definitely been an Explainer fan. Here they are:

Fred Rogers quotes-
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

“Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me. ”

“In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.”

“Whether we’re a preschooler or a young teen, a graduating college senior or a retired person, we human beings all want to know that we’re acceptable, that our being alive somehow makes a difference in the lives of others.”

“When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.”

“The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile.”

I made a version of the trolley to Mr Rogers’ make-believe land. We each wrote things we do to make a visitor feel special on a slip of paper and put it in our homemade trolley. Then we sent the trolley around, and each of us read one of the sentences out load. Here’s what we wrote:

Try to remember the visitors’ names whenever possible.
Check in with the students that I did an orientation for later in the day.
Delight in a child’s discoveries- make it exciting to see what they are learning.
Give a kid a big smile, wide eyes, and enthusiastic praise.
In an orientation ask for a volunteer and be encouraging of what they do and try in front of their group.
Spend time listening to their discoveries at an exhibit.
Teach them how to do a magic trick and then have them do it.
Stop what I’m doing, look them in the eyes, and only listen to what they are saying.
Make them feel comfortable.
Listen to them.
Listen to people, be surprised when visitors find something new.
Do something together!
To be there for them when they need someone to talk to about their discoveries, concerns, stories, etc.
I can make kids feel special by listening to them and validating their ideas.

Water Poetry

In training the other day we wrote haikus and poems for the water exhibits. Sit back, relax and let the words flow…

tiny starts to life
are you aware of yourself
float, gasp, push along
plankton ballet

water spins freely
knob turns clockwise, drain closes
h2o still spins
nourishing wind

cold liquid flutter hypnotic
wavy sustenance
nourishing wind

equilibrium
periodic tremor
defies gravity
geysers

sweep across
coldness
drawing
patterns light
and dark
change liberating
meanderings

vortex, Doug Hollis
Leonardo daVinci
great minds think alike
vortex

spin quickly stare watch question turn wonder compare slowly touch pat ball
turbulent orb

go turn wispy world
big marble ball
mixing pattern
reflection
run!
joyful dawn
turbulent orb

turbulent orb spins
melts, fades, rushes by so fast
can I take a ride?
turbulent orb