From Bench to Classroom
Introducing current science, and scientists, to America’s students.
Blogger: Karen Tkach, PhD Student and NYAS Education Fellow
Finding your (science education) online match
A little over a year ago, I paid my first, giddy visit to the National Lab Day website, now renamed the National Lab Network. I had previously daydreamed, “wouldn’t it [...]
Jumping In: A Scientist’s First Time in the Classroom
When the New York Academy of Sciences began recruiting for the Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program, my eagerness to guide middle school students through biology experiments was mixed with a twinge [...]
Why We Need to Talk About Our Research
I never turn down the opportunity to tell someone about T-cells. Family, friends, friends-of-friends and Trader Joe’s cashiers who ask about my research receive a fairly complete narrative—a general description [...]
Lessons from the Past: The Consequences of Explaining Biology Badly
There are many heartbreaking lessons to be learned from Rebecca Skloot’s fantastic historical narrative The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a biography of the poor African-American woman who died in [...]
A Test-Down Revolution
Most stories about science education are written in the subjunctive mood—a verb mood used to express a wish, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred. Discussions in the news, [...]
When Science Goes Viral
Anyone who is Facebook friends with a scientist has probably witnessed the collective online squeal of nerds chancing upon the latest science-themed YouTube sensation.
“I’m not a science person” and other conquerable assumptions
There is a special pleasure in learning that long-held assumptions about your limits are not true. Having realized that I do in fact love Brussels sprouts and country music, my [...]
