Please Help Launch the Second Season

I'm ready to start setting up a second season of science cafés here in Stillwater for the 09/10 school year! The "Born to Do Science" Café allows kids to speak directly with working scientists, to see first hand how the process of science allows us to learn new things about the world.

Would you like to help? I'm looking for two kinds of volunteers:

Of course I need scientists! I'm looking for folks who are currently doing research, good at speaking in public, and willing to try (with lots of help from me) to explain their work to kids and families. The commitment involves one meeting with me, perhaps some follow-up questions by email, preparation of visuals and/or hands-on materials, and a one hour or so evening presentation.

This year I'd also like to start a support group. For this I'm looking for folks (adults and/or kids) who love the idea of the science café and want to help make it happen. We'll meet a few times either online and/or in person to help plan, publicize, and pull off the events.

Please write back to me if you're interested in helping out in either way. Put "Speaker" or "Support Group" in your subject and I'll get back to you with more details.

Please also pass this message on to anyone else you think might be interested. Thanks!!

P.S.

The cafés will happen on weeknights, most likely Thursdays, once a month starting in October. I'll write soon with more specific dates and times so you can mark your calendar. If you want to be involved and you have strong preferences about the scheduling, please let me know.

Last Science Café of the Season

Last night we did the last of four science café's for the opening season, "Don't Stress Me Out," with Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven. I felt like this one went really really well in terms of getting across the gist of my guest scientist's work. And, we had a fun activity with the mock experiment.

Here's me, preparing to kick things off with a song. My new song this time was called "It's Not Fair (When Your Mother is a Scientist)."

Here is Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven, explaining her work.

This is during the mock experiment. These girls are collecting their spit on a swab, so their stress hormone levels can be measured. (We didn't actually get to measure hormones, but we went through the motions.)

More spit swabs. Each pair was asked either to talk about a problem or design a theme park. The theme park pairs were in the control group. The problem pairs were in the experimental group; we expected to see their stress hormone levels rise.

This pair is designing a theme park.

This pair is discussing a problem. Look how stressed they are!

This topic inspired lots of discussion.

I'm working on a Spring schedule now, so please stay tuned!

Don't Stress Me Out!

Don't miss the next exciting "Born to Do Science" Café!! Tuesday December 2 at 6:30 in the hastings coffee shop here in Stillwater, OK. We are the only science café in the world (as far as I know) catering to kids and families.

Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven will speak about her research into how friendships can influence stress.

I met with Dr. Byrd-Craven the other day to plan our session, and this promises to be a lot of fun. We will set up a mock study and give our audience members the experience of becoming experimental subjects! (Don't worry, it won't stress you out too much to participate!)

Please be there if you can, and please tell and/or bring a friend! We make a conscious effort to keep these sessions fun and informative both for adults and kids in second grade and up. 

This is our last scheduled café for the Fall season. Watch for info on the Spring season coming soon, and keep your first Tuesdays open!

The Microbe Hunter

Howdy Friends,

On November 4 we had a great café with Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, "The Microbe Hunter." I kicked it off with a brand new song using the same title.

I gave a three minute summary of Dr. Elshahed's research. Then we passed around some bacteria cultures for everyone to look at, and I wrote down a bunch of questions from the audience.

We spent the bulk of the time answering and discussing questions about bacteria, and about how Dr. Elshahed identifies and isolates new species. Here are a few photos...

Examining a bacterial culture:

Dr. Elshahed:

Me, in the foreground, taking questions:

Answering questions:

These kids are lined up to see...

Bacteria under a digital microscope, thanks to our friend Dr. Bruce Ackerson, shown here setting things up.

Vote For Science!

This is just a reminder that the next "Born to Do Science" Café is coming up this Tuesday, that's right - election day! So do your voting early, then come on out to the coffee shop in hastings, here in Stillwater, OK at 6:30PM for the third installment of our brand new science café series, the first that we know of in the nation that's geared toward kids and families!

Our guest scientist will be Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, "The Microbe Hunter." Dr. Elshahed is a microbiologist at Oklahoma State University, and he recently received an $800,000 grant to assist in his search for a brand new phylum of bacteria! He has found the evidence that this new creature exists, and will be attempting to isolate it in the lab. Join us for a discussion of this fascinating process! Kids and adults will be encouraged to ask questions and will have the chance to observe some bacterial cultures with a microscope. See you there!

Café Attendees See the Light!

It's been a busy week! I'm happy to finally be sitting down to tell you about Tuesday's "Born to Do Science" Café!

I kicked things off with a brand new song, "My Molecular Eye!" It was another last minute effort, though I shouldn't really say that because I've been writing it in my head for months. Anyhow, I was very pleased with it, and it got a nice round of applause.

Dr. Hoff explained his research on bacteria that can "see" light using a photo-sensitive protein, which we may have coined a name for (a Google search will lead you to this page!) - the "Molecular Eye." Did you know bacteria can grow this big...

Just kidding! Dr. Hoff was showing us how small bacteria are, though. More like this...

Or even smaller! Here's a photo of our audience - we had a good mix of kids and adults. Look at all those eager young minds soaking up the science!

After we discussed Dr. Hoff's research we took a break for a hands-on activity. It seems some molecules have an affinity for water and an aversion to oil. This is part of the mechanism that makes the molecular eye unfold when exposed to light.

All in all, it was another successful session. Dr. Hoff joined Lisa, Evalyn and I for dinner afterward, and he and I yammered endlessly about the goals of the science café and different approaches to science education in general.

Everyone I've talked to seems very excited about what I'm trying to do, though it's a bit crazy on the surface - having scientists explain their research to children in a way that doesn't water down the science but still engages the kids! It's certainly a challenge, and I'll keep refining the format until it works the way I'm seeing it in my head.

I know we're already doing something right, based on the evaluation cards folks turned in - everyone said they would definitely come again, even if they didn't quite understand all the science. That rocks!

I hope we'll see you at the next one, November 4th, with Dr. Elshahed, "The Microbe Hunter!"

"The Molecular Eye" this Tuesday!

Our second "Born to Do Science" Café is coming up this Tuesday October 7th at 6:30 PM at the coffee shop in hastings here in Stillwater, OK. Please come if you can, and remind all your friends, especially those with kids in second grade and up.

I had a nice long lunch with my guest scientist, Dr. Hoff (above) in preparation for Tuesday's cafe. I learned a lot about the "Molecular Eye." This is going to be a very cool session, involving microbial behavior, protein folding, and possibly even the physics of light. If we can get kids to understand it on some level (and I think we will) I'll be very proud, and so will they!

Congratulations to my Guest Scientist for November, Dr. Elshahed, on his $800,000.00 Grant!! Mark your calendars for November 4 - maybe he'll tell us how he plans to spend all that money!

See you soon!

First Café Explosive Success!

Well, I can hardly believe it, but the first café is over and done with! Our guest scientist, Volcanologist Dr. Jeffrey Byrnes, was fantastic! We had a big group - all the chairs were filled. A lot of kids were there, and they asked great questions. Everybody seemed to have a great time. I debuted a song called "Volcanic Rock." The whole event was just very very cool all around.

Here are some photos, and below that I'll share some of the feedback we got from the audience.

Dr. Jeff tells us about volcanoes on other planets.

The kids examine some of the volcanic rock specimens Dr. Jeff brought with him.



We collected feedback cards; all of them were positive. Here's what a few folks had to say:

"Thank you so much for doing this."

"Keep with it, get the word out - it's awesome"

"This is the best science thing I've ever been to."

"I loved it."

"Where can we send a thank you to the organizer and the scientist? Thanks for an awesome program!"

"I think these are a great idea!"

"Thank you for everything"

"Thank you for providing this opportunity."

I say: Thanks for coming, and you're welcome! See you all next time!

Feeling the Buzz!

The Stillwater News Press published a great story on the science café today! You can read it online.

I've been feeing the buzz! Yesterday I went over to tell one of my mom's neighbors about the café and she had already learned of it from two different sources, one of which I had no idea had picked up on the story. It seems to have "legs" of it's own, which is very exciting!

If you know of a group that caters to kids and/or science please be sure to pass word along! Contact me if I can help in any way.

Only two days left before the big premier! It's getting exciting!

Press Release and Flyer

A press release and flyer are now available to help publicize the Fall 2008 season of the "Born to Do Science" café!

If you're planning to attend, don't come alone - please download these items by clicking below, print them, and share them.

Thanks!

Press Release

Flyer