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Arts

Storytelling With a National Geographic Explorer

2021-05-29T07:59:39-06:00

Have you ever looked through a National Geographic magazine and wondered what it would be like to be a National Geographic explorer?  Well now you can have a chance to find out!  The National Geographic Society has added 3 new courses to its offerings. The introduction to the series is here. These are the courses: 'Storytelling for Impact: Photography' 'Storytelling for Impact: Audio' 'Storytelling for Impact: Video' These courses are different from all the ones already available in a number of ways. - First of all, they are offered as a series collected under the title 'Storytelling for Impact.'  Other National [...]

Storytelling With a National Geographic Explorer2021-05-29T07:59:39-06:00

All the Many Observatories in Space! Build Your Own Space Fleet

2021-05-28T21:43:22-06:00

Today is the first Friday in May.  That means it is National Space Day! What better way to celebrate the day is there than by building your own fleet of model space observatories? On the NASA website there are printable models of a number of spacecraft.  Links to all of the models can be found on the Universe Spacecraft Paper Models page.  There you can download and print: The Great Observatories: Hubble Space Telescope (First of the Great Observatories) Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (Second of the Great Observatories) Chandra X-Ray Telescope (Third of the Great Telescopes) Fermi Gravity Probe B James [...]

All the Many Observatories in Space! Build Your Own Space Fleet2021-05-28T21:43:22-06:00

STEAM Engines from home: the busiest physicists

2021-02-10T15:42:30-07:00

Towards the end of summer, I fell victim to one of those AMAZING PAINTING YOU WILL BE MESMERIZED type videos floating around on social media. I admit that, like a cartoon squirrel presented with a decoy nut, I am easily captivated. I am handily distracted by cookie decorating videos. TRANSFORM THIS OLD WHATCHAMACALLIT INTO SOMETHING (objectively useless but still) COOL videos regularly siphon valuable minutes off my life. But readers, there was something to this AMAZING PAINTING video. It was an art form called pendulum painting, in which an artist sets a hanging paint container with a hole in the bottom [...]

STEAM Engines from home: the busiest physicists2021-02-10T15:42:30-07:00

STEAM Engines: Nephology

2021-02-10T15:44:16-07:00

We had a beautiful summer in Skokie, and though I really miss being in the library and getting to see all of our eager young science friends, There have been some real silver linings (cloud reference segue absolutely intended!). Always somewhat outdoorsy, this summer, the kids and I spent an unprecedented amount of time outside, taking walks, playing in the yard, and a new game - watching for shapes in the clouds. A discussion on the general merits of living in a cloud (the look so soft and fluffy, right??), led to an absolute nerd-out about what clouds actually are, and [...]

STEAM Engines: Nephology2021-02-10T15:44:16-07:00

World Origami Days are Here! 20 Days of Workshops and Tutorials

2021-01-27T16:29:22-07:00

Like so many conferences, festivals, and other events, World Origami Days has gone virtual this year. Beginning on October 24, the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer (1898-1992), who founded the first origami group in the USA and was one of the founders of OrigamiUSA and the British Origami Society, this event will host workshops and tutorials daily through November 11, which is Origami Day in Japan. Everyone who registers will receive links to the videos of the daily tutorials in November, so don't worry if you miss one or a few. There is a page of templates for folding a flapping bird [...]

World Origami Days are Here! 20 Days of Workshops and Tutorials2021-01-27T16:29:22-07:00

STEAM From Home: Soap Magic

2020-07-27T08:04:05-06:00

Like everyone else, the question of connection looms large during this pandemic. Connection with patrons, connecting ideas - how to provide these meaningful experiences remotely? Especially STEAM for a young audience. When so much of the learning is experiential, how can we can reach our patrons? I have a glass half full (depending on the day) situation wherein I have two naturally curious, creative, youngsters at home, one of whom (my son Desi) is willing to be on camera. While this provides its own set of challenges (filming with my children is akin to trying to get an eager cat to [...]

STEAM From Home: Soap Magic2020-07-27T08:04:05-06:00

Julie Andrews Reads Aloud and Remote Control BirdBrain Robots

2020-05-21T14:15:20-06:00

Hello again! I wanted to point out two online resources that I failed to mention yesterday. One is Julie's Library.   Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton have begun offering podcast storytimes.  I first knew of  Julie Andrews as the main character in the movie "The Sound of Music," but by the time she performed in that movie she was already famous.  She'd already performed in "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot" on Broadway, in "Cinderella," a made for television musical, and "Mary Poppins," on the big screen.  She has also written quite a number of noteworthy books for children, including: The [...]

Julie Andrews Reads Aloud and Remote Control BirdBrain Robots2020-05-21T14:15:20-06:00

Build Your Own Solar System and Resource Update

2020-05-20T23:47:31-06:00

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone is healthy and at home. To start off, I want to share this really cool resource I found this morning, and which has kept me distracted (granted that isn't hard to do) for longer than I care to admit.  It's an online game in which you get to create your own solar system, and watch it develop through time.  Thankfully it isn't real time, or we'd be waiting for interesting developments for a veeerrrry loooooooong time.  Instead, it passes through a million years every minute. That's 1,000,000 years every minute.  Keep an eye on it the [...]

Build Your Own Solar System and Resource Update2020-05-20T23:47:31-06:00

Happy Superhero Day!

2020-04-28T21:37:18-06:00

April 28 is National Superhero Day! Marvel marked the day by celebrating the heroes on all our minds and thoughts these days - nurses, doctors, EMT's, first responders, medical researchers, grocery store workers, restaurant workers offering curb-side and delivered meals, long-haulers and delivery drivers, production workers, and all the thousands of others who risk their lives daily by going to work so that the rest of us can shelter in place. So why don't we celebrate our favorite superheroes on their day? To learn about some of the more famous classic superheroes, we can take a look at their biographies at Superhero [...]

Happy Superhero Day!2020-04-28T21:37:18-06:00

World Book Day and GISH Scavenger Hunt for Covid-19 Relief

2020-04-23T16:53:15-06:00

Happy World Book Day, everyone! Also known as World Book and Copyright Day and International Day of the Book, this celebration that is more well-known in the U.K.  than in the U. S.  was first held in 1995.  Organized by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to promote reading, publishing, and copyright, World Book Day takes place on April 23 each year.  This particular date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the deaths of several famous authors: Miguel do Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega/La Inca, as well as others.  This date is the [...]

World Book Day and GISH Scavenger Hunt for Covid-19 Relief2020-04-23T16:53:15-06:00
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