What I'm doing now

So I am currently getting my Master's in Science Education at SUNY Buffalo State College here in Buffalo (duh). The first semester is down, and next up I have my student teaching placements and writing my Master's thesis (on top of planning a wedding... it's going to be a busy few months).

The program I'm in at Buff State is pretty awesome. It's for people who studied a science as an undergrad (or beyond, in my case) and then decided they want to teach. So my class consists of me (the marine biologist), a chemist, a physicist, a geologist, a meteorologist, and so on. We all have the science requirements needed to teach in our content areas, but not the teaching and education background, so that's what this year-long program is for.

It's very fun: lots of nerdy science things, and people like me who are excited to get kids excited about science.

Speaking of getting excited about science, here's a cool picture of sea star tube feet taken at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco:

Class assignment

I'm currently taking a class on teaching science with technology, and we have to create a blog. Conveniently, I get to just use this previously-created one! Thanks, Professor Brian!

How big are things?

I have just started classes at Buffalo State College here in Buffalo (obviously) to be a science teacher! It's a short program designed for people who already have a strong science background and who want to complete an M.S. in Education. Meaning, I'm going to teach science soon! I'm very excited about this new undertaking. One of my soapboxes concerns how students do not have an accurate understanding of what science really is, what it means to do science, and what scientists actually look like (we are not all the absent-minded professor in the white lab coat). So spending some time teaching will hopefully help turn that around a bit. 

Anyways, in one of my classes a fellow student shared this gem.

It's some more science-is-awesome stuff. And also visualizations-of-science-being-awesome-are-awesome.

Thanks for stopping by!

Waves

Every so often I'm reminded of how cool the non-marine parts of science are. I forget that sometimes, being so wrapped up in marine ecology. So here's a lovely little video, courtesy of Colossal (which I LOVE for my daily awesome art fix), brilliantly visualizing different frequencies. Enjoy!

And a link to the original article here.

A very good place to start.

The purpose of this is to talk about science.

Science is important. And it's important to me to be able to communicate all of the amazing, creative, mind-blowing, but also subtle, delicate, and interesting-even-if-you-didn't-know-it facets of science and why we should care about them. 

One of my humpback whales in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

I have always been kind of anti-blog because they seem very self-serving and self-absorbed, but my goals here are to practice writing about science, share information, and hopefully stir up some interest in this traditionally geeks-only realm.

From the Zapatillas Cays, a marine park in Panama that I visited during my Master's program.

I am also, as of recently, a gluten-free girl and will likely throw in a few snippets here and there about life on the g-free track (for support and solidarity with those of you out there who are also dealing with gluten-related health issues). 

The Buffalo bit in the title refers to my hometown, which is fabulous.

Thanks for stopping by!