Exciting news to add: I’ll be doing a soft launch of SciCheer’s sister site: ScienceForCitizens.net . It’s something my partner, Michael Gold, and I have been working on for a long time. Thanks to the generous support of Science House and help from our own Dr. John Ohab, the site is finally crystalizing! Known as “THE source for people who want to do science,” the site will serve as a Craigslist meets Match.com in the realm of citizen science. Interested in learning about or participating in research projects? We’ve got something for you (no degree? no worries! ). Looking to find volunteers for your project? Just add it to our (soon-to-be extensive) database of projects.
That’s right! These four Eagles cheerleaders are big fans of science (one’s even a math geek). This past week, I interviewed these brainy cheerleaders and we talked about what sparked their love of science…and much more. Stay tuned for that video! (Thanks to the Eagles for making this possible.)
Come meet the Science Cheerleader team, see professional cheerleaders-turned-scientists and engineers as they dance and cheer on science, and get your hands dirty doing science with ScienceForCitizens.net activities!
What if the media covered baseball like it covers science?
Larry Husten, founder of CardioBrief.org , poses this question and presents some interesting scenarios following this line of thought. For example, the World Series would receive one article in each major paper– after the series ended–set in no context at all (a la the Nobel Prize).
You’ll see this sweet intro where he has this to say about Science Cheerleader’s Brain Makeover effort to increase adult science literacy and bring science to the public:
“Beneath the highly attractive surface here there’s something important going on. I don’t know if the Science Cheerleader can single-handedly reverse the course of scientific illiteracy, but she deserves all the cheers we can give her for at least giving it the old college try. (Thanks to USA Today reporter Rita Rubin for tweeting about this.)”
Yale’s official mascot (known as Handsome Dan XV11, or Sherman, if you live with him) was in Philly for the Yale v Penn game so I thought I’d help give him a science makeover with the help of Discover Magazine. He’s definitely an Ivy Leaguer. (Thanks, Keli, Churchill and Dana for your participation!)
Part of the Brain Makeover, adult science literacy effort. People must fancy learning about the predictability of the universe (ok, Deidre’s easy on the eyes…there’s that, too). Check it out.
Now THIS radio interview was fun. And, more importantly, the fact we’ve hit FOX national news, the Toronto Star , news media in Switzerland, Argentina and the U.K., and this hard rock station (WXRX) in the mid west, tells us we are accomplishing what we set out to do. Reach “real” people (outside the traditional science community) and turn them onto science!
The interview touches on the crisis of adult science literacy, efforts to push Congress and scientists to establish real dialogue with citizens, and plans to create a “Craigslist meets Match.com” for people who want to DO science (aka Citizen Scientists).
This week, BBC News released findings from a poll indicating that 80% of British parents have been stumped by a science question posed by their children and 20% of those parents admitted to feeling silly when they were not able to produce an answer. Also, more than half of the 1,002 parents surveyed felt their children knew more about science than they did!
So, what’s the big deal if some adults just don’t know science? Among other reasons, understanding some basic science principles allows citizens to participate in democracy more fully. I could cite many political issues that are worth the effort it takes to research and understand the basic scientific principles involved in each of them. (”Effort” is very loosely defined here to include something as simple as watching these 76ers cheerleader videos and reading Professor Trefil’s related short blog posts on 18 big science ideas “every adult needs to know to be a science literate”.) I’ve preached about this here on ScienceCheerleader.com but, until now–as a newlywed–never considered the possibility that knowing random scientific facts about the world around us will come in handy when David and I decide to have children. Because of our professions (we’re both researchers) we will be prepared to answer our child’s questions, such as: Why’s the sky blue? What makes a rainbow? These were two of the top three most challenging questions in the BBC News poll.
I find this study both surprising and alarming because there are little resources to combat this problem. Children will eventually get their questions answered by their teachers in school…but how will the parents brush up? Short of going back to school, there are very few resources available for parents to learn more about the every day scientific wonders that surround us all…until now. (more…)
Thrilled to see the entire adult science literacy quiz from our Brain Makeover printed in today’s Toronto Star (Canada’s largest daily newspaper). The accompanying article on the Science Cheerleader ain’t to shabby either!
If you’re looking for the Brain Makeover project–including the videos with the 76ers girls, Professor Trefil’s explanations and the science literacy quiz–click here. Or, simply click on the link titled “Brain Makeover” which you’ll find on the right navigation bar here on the homepage.
We’ve got some more interesting collaborations in the works so be sure to subscribe to our posts for updates. (See right navigation to subscribe to emails or RSS feeds.)
Thanks for your interest in science and technology.
