2019 has been a big outreach year for me. In February, I taught a class at Sound Waters University, a “one day university for all” held at a high school on Whidbey Island. More than 600 people attend every year to hear talks about Puget Sound’s natural history and environment, and an amazing 65 people registered to come to my class about climate change and plant-insect interactions! I had an incredible time (and successfully used a bunch of active learning techniques I learned at UWBio :)).
This year I was also lucky enough to be selected as a science outreach fellow with the National Center for Science Education, an Oakland-based nonprofit with volunteers all over the country. As an NCSE fellow I am getting trained in best practices in informal science education and assessment and using existing NCSE activities to practice my outreach skills (see the photos below, in which people experiment with different building materials to test which ones help to keep a city cool in rising temperatures). Later this year I will develop a new activity based on my own research (I’m thinking a game involving 3D prints of insects, whee!) that will become part of the NCSE outreach repertoire. This means it will be sent out to volunteers across the U.S. and ultimately reach 10,000-20,000 people…but no pressure.
~ Meera
Posted 31st May 2019 by Kavya Pradhan
