Monthly Archives: February 2018

Guest post by Jessica Stoller-Conrad Curious kids can come up with some pretty tough science questions. “How many moons does Mars have?” “How does a hurricane form?” “What is the greenhouse effect?” It’s great that these young scientists want to learn more about our planet and our place in the universe! But what happens when parents, teachers, and librarians don’t know the answers? As grownups, we know that we can look up the answers online, but it’s sometimes difficult to tell if a website is a reliable source of information. And it’s even harder for kids to tell the difference between [...]

After a fall visit to the Field Museum, my colleague and I were inspired to share knowledge from the museum's extensive Specimens exhibit. We were particularly struck by the information about the Tully Monster, a prehistoric water animal whose fossils are abundantly found in Illinois, not too far from Skokie Public Library. We decided to focus on two main concepts for a Be the Scientist Program for grades 3-5: what are fossils and how do scientists determine what animals look like from them. Here’s what we did. We began the program with a brief slide presentation with background information about fossils. [...]

Guest post by Universe of Learning As we approach Women's History Month in March, we look to our partners to help inspire their communities, and future generations, to discover and explore the universe for themselves.  Join us in Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA to celebrate the women in STEM and NASA Astrophysics. Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA is an initiative within NASA's Universe of Learning, an informal STEM learning and literacy program.  Growing from the pilot program NASA Science4Girls and Their Families, we are entering the second year of the initiative, where we aspire to empower women's—especially young girls'—engagement in STEM [...]