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The Mix: a New Youth-designed Teen Center in San Francisco Opening June 18!
In just a couple of weeks, The Mixat the San Francisco Public Library is opening! The Mix is a youth-designed teen center open just for teens (ages 13-18) to hang out, explore technologies, work...
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Visiting Autodesk's Epic Makerspace on Pier 9
Tonight I had the pleasure of visiting the amazing maker space at the software design company Autodesk on Pier 9, San Francisco. I was participating in a Bay Area Maker Educator meetup, along with 40...
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Will Claude the Albino Alligator Learn to Share his Heated Rock?
Yesterday, in the California Academy of Sciences there was a buzz of excitement about a very rare occurrence in our swamp tank: one of our five alligator snapping turtles had managed to get onto the...
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Color of Life Exhibit opens June 12 at Cal Academy!
I'm jumping on a flight to LA for the Digital Media and Learning conference this weekend. But I am so so excited about our new "Color of Life" exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. Opening...
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Tribute to Brother Mike, Chicago Poet, Artist and Educator (1976-2014)
At the Digital Media and Learning Conference last weekend, one of the most powerful sessions was a talk on an "ecological view of equity" by Dr. Nichole Pinkard, founder of the Digital Youth Network in...
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Six Tips for Staying Emotionally and Physically Healthy at Conferences
Me keynoting the Second Life Community Convention in 2006Last weekend, I was at the Digital Media and Learning conference in Los Angeles, an intense, three day gathering of academics, educators, tech...
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Making the Case for Maker Ed: Lists of Resources
Here's a list of resources for making the case for maker education that I've found helpful for a variety of contexts.MakeEd Resource LibraryMaking and Learning site list of referencesAre there others...
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Visiting the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center
I recently had the pleasure of visiting the space shuttle Endeavour (OV-105), now housed at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. As a big space nerd, getting to be in the presence of one of...
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Watch this Video Chat with Academy Scientists on our Epic Philippines...
Last week, Google Science Fair organized a neat Google Hangout with some of the scientists who went on the last Philippines Verde Island Passage Expedition. I caught some of it live and now am happy to...
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Professional Headshots at the Cal Academy
We often have need of headshots to use for conferences and events that we are participating in from our department. I realized last week that I don't have any nice portraits of me done in our museum,...
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Awesome Colors Cabinet in Cal Academy "Color of Life" Exhibit
I'm still so impressed with the new "Color of Life" exhibit at my museum, the California Academy of Sciences. "Color of Life" focuses on the many amazing ways that color communicates, conceals, and...
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"Mission Fishin": A Teen-designed Game on Scientific Fish Collection
"Mission Fishin" is a digital game created by a team of teens at the California Academy of Sciences last year to educate the public about how our scientists collect specimens in the field. The game...
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Check out the Field Museum's Digital Learning Blog
The field of digital learning professionals in science and natural history museums is a miniscule one. So when a new blog appears focusing on digital learning at a museum, it makes me very happy.My...
View ArticleCute Cal Academy Tweet on World Emoji Day (Yes, there is a "World Emoji Day")
I didn't even realize there was a World Emoji Day. Apparently its on July 17? Anyway, this tweet from the @Calacademy account was particularly adorable.In honor of #WorldEmojiDay, visit us & we'll...
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Listen to Object-Oriented Ep 2: Games-based Learning for Science Education
Barry Joseph of AMNH, Eve Gaus of the Field Museum and I have published episode two of Object-oriented, the podcast on digital learning at collections-based museums. In this episode we focus on a topic...
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All Teens Invited to 3rd Annual Teen Science Night at Cal Academy August 14!
Teen Science Night at the California Academy of Sciences is BACK on Friday August 14!Teen Science Night is a free event open to all Bay Area youth aged 13-18 to come explore science through fun...
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Cal Academy's Zeray Alemseged Shows "Lucy" to Obama, Gets on "The Daily Show"!
The Cal Academy's senior curator of anthropology Dr. Zeray Alemseged is not only one of the world's experts on human evolution, he's also great at media sound bites. Here he is in Ethiopia with...
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The Science of Color: Videos from the Cal Academy
To coincide with our new and amazing "Color of Life" exhibit, we have several neat videos on the science of color created by our viz studio. Check them all out!Monarch Colors Colorful Cephalopods...
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Subscribe to Ranger Rik via Email
I just enabled email subscriptions to Ranger Rik, in case that is more convenient for you. Fill out the form below or to the right if you would like to receive an email when there are fresh posts to...
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De-digitizing a Mobile Game: Analog Spaceteam!
The "cooperative shouting game" called "Spaceteam" has been a part of the culture of my Digital Learning team for a couple of years now, ever since my friend Manu turned me on to it. If you have never...
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