At a time when science and science education are central to major political and social debates, providing the general public with tools to think broadly and critically about scientific research and the role science plays in society is essential, and also one of the most rewarding things we do! 

Programs at the California Academy of Sciences

NightLife. The museum is open “after hours” on Thursday nights for guests 21+ to explore the museum, enjoy cocktails, and learn about science related to the weekly theme. Bell Lab members can interact one-on-one with the public through “pop-up” exhibits and activities that communicate their research goals and results.

Youth Engagement. The Careers in Science program is a multi-year, year-round, paid internship for youth underrepresented in the sciences that live in San Francisco. Interns gain a variety of work experiences through hands on projects across the museum, including research alongside Academy scientists. The Bell Lab has mentored several CiS project groups with projects spanning the conservation genetics of Caribbean amphibians and reptiles to leveraging iNaturalist data to document rare coloration phenotypes in wild populations.

Publications for General Audiences

Frog Vision eBook. As part of our NSF-NERC research grant, the Frog Vision Team published a free interactive eBook that provides an introduction to optics and vision biology, and includes results from our research on the diversity and evolution of frog visual systems. The book can be downloaded here and is only fully interactive on apple platforms (iPhone, iPad, Mac computers) but we are more than happy to share original illustrations and animations for teaching purposes!

Resources for Educators

Amphibian Disease Lesson Plan and Game. As part of our NSF research grant on amphibian-chytrid dynamics in tropical communities, we worked closely with the Academy’s Education Department and Visualization Studio to develop three short videos, a lesson plan, and educational game featuring the global amphibian pandemic. Throughout the activity, students learn about amphibian diversity and disease-driven declines, implement basic epidemiological models, model disease spread in frog populations, and try out different strategies for stopping the disease. All resources are freely available here.

Banner photo: Students in São Tomé learning about their endemic avifauna and testing out their new binoculars (photo by Andrew Stanbridge).