SciSpotlight: NYSCI News Digest
February 2012
18 posts
Joey says: Don't be bored!
Remember Joey?
Before he demonstrated his Extreme Marshmallow Cannon to the President at the White House Science Fair, he showed people at World Maker Faire how not to be bored. He was featured on Make Magazine today which inspired us to dig-up the archives. Our video interview with Joey at last year’s World Maker Faire:
World Maker Faire will be back at NYSCI September 29 and 30, 2012.
What did John Glenn see? →
earthobservatory.nasa.gov
1964 in NYSCI’s Great Hall, nearly 50 years ago…Frank Capra’s last movie, Rendezvous in Space is a 20 minute long quasi-documentary with Danny Thomas trying to explain what will happen in the Space Station that will eventually orbit the Earth (a question that still lingers with the International Space Station). At one point in the movie —which I have put on youtube, its a lousy print, but you can get the idea, —the footage cuts to the images that John Glenn took from his first Friendship 7 orbits of the Earth.
It is the first time most people every saw the Earth from outside the Earth. I remember it vaguely, but the rush of images, culminating in the image of the Earth from the moon and beyond, have diminished the shock. We are on one planet, not on separate continents. Political lines do not show up on the actual globe (I actually remember being kind of surprised, since the only globe I had at home was a political map). The ocean, the clouds, the atmosphere are vast and transnational.
For the new exhibition we are planning in NYSCI’s Great Hall, we are inspired by this sense of connectedness to consider the global systems that shape the future of the planet. Not just the natural systems, but the social, economic, transportation, and electronic networks that are deeply influential in peoples’ lives. The immediate impacts of these human global systems shape our lives more directly than the longer range impacts of changing natural systems.
Steve Uzzo, a network science PhD and polymath leading the Great Hall Project insists that climate change is a symptom of a world out of balance, and that making communities healthier and more sustainable (in a human sense…better education, health care, transportation, economic opportunity) is the best way to address climate change.
There is a wonderful set of TED talks by Hans Rosling that use clever visualization to show how data reveals transnational social change. Check it out. It is an image of a globally interconnected world that is more abstract than John Glenn’s orbital pictures of the earth, but equally compelling in showing how connected we are.
The Björk Bolt
Don’t worry. The thunderbolt is in town and she has collaborated with NYSCI and the Creator’s Project on an education series for middle school students. Björk, the Icelandic music superstar, has made New York City the first U.S. stop on her Biophilia tour, with shows at NYSCI and Roseland Ballroom. Not content to just sing about nature and science, Björk has made education an integral part of her New York residency. Through the Biophilia Education Series, music and science instructors are educating 50 Queens students by using Björk songs to teach topics like dark matter, crystalline structures, and viruses. Students were recruited from middle schools in our neighboring communities of Corona and Flushing.
In the Biophilia after-school workshops and this week’s winter break camp, students explore the fundamentals of music composition and production using iPad apps created by Björk for her latest project, Biophilia. Students also participate in demonstrations and hands-on activities led by NYSCI instructors that explore the scientific themes of Biophilia. The result is a unique educational experience that will get kids feeling electrified about songs, nature and technology.
Think of it as a bolt of inventiveness for science and music learning.
Photo: Students learn about the phases of the moon at a Biophilia workshop. Photo by Andrew Kelly. View more photos.
World Maker Faire at NYSCI, changing lives →
blog.makezine.com
A great story about how Maker Faire can inspire and change a child’s life …
Sorry for any repostings between facebook and this. Just getting the hang of the way this works.
STEM steps up for White House Science Fair
Congrats to the outstanding participants in yesterday’s White House Science Fair.
And NYSCI salutes our partners recognized by the White House yesterday for their commitments to boost STEM teaching and learning. Among them:
Making the Future, Cognizant’s philanthropic initiative which is providing the support for our soon-to-be-completed MakerSpace (opens March 2012…)
Connect a Million Minds, lead sponsor of our recent Design Make Play conference.
100K in 10, where NYSCI has committed to building a new center for design-based teaching and learning.
Change the Equation, which has recognized our Science Career Ladder as a model program for mentoring the next generation of STEM leaders.
The Works at NYSCI →
theworks-nysci.tumblr.com
Here’s a new blog by the Chief Content person at NYSCI, Eric Siegel:
At the NY Hall of Science, there are a whole slew of things I am working toward on any given day. This blog will focus on five projects that are all pretty large scale, all interesting and challenging across several different dimensions, and all in about the same stage of development. I will also…
Design I/O at NYSCI: Design I/O at NYSCI! →
design-ionysci.tumblr.com
Design I/O is a Brooklyn based creative studio specializing in the design and development of cutting edge, immersive, interactive installations. Design I/O is led by founders Emily Gobeille and Theodore Watson. For the next four months we will be residents at the New York Hall of Science,…
