“The stars are there for everyone to see, and anyone can study their mysteries.”
Ask anyone in the United States to picture a space scientist, do an internet image search for ‘scientist,’ ‘astronomer,’ or ‘physicist,’ or open up a children’s book about different careers and you will overwhelming get pictures of white men in white lab coats holding flasks of colored liquids. Putting aside the colorful liquids and lab coats, why are they mostly white men?
The truth is, if the average American has ever encountered an actual space scientist they probably were a white man. About 80% of space scientists in the United States are men, and 80% are white.
Full Spectrum is a documentary film project telling the stories of research scientists and engineers who identify with groups underrepresented in the space sciences in the United States (African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, Women, LGBTIQ people, and persons with disabilities).
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Tags:
diversity
multiculturalism
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In-Focus

This March, Multiverse's
Bay Area Teen Science (B.A.T.S.) initiative is hosting two major events. First, all Bay Area high school students are invited to the
FREE B.A.T.S. Teen Career Conference on Saturday, March 18th at the
San Francisco Zoo & Gardens. Visit the
Teen Career Conference web page for full details and to register. The second event is for education professionals who provide STEM learning and career building opportunities for San Francisco Bay Area teenagers through afterschool and other "out-of-school time" programs, and for those who want to better connect with this community. This first ever B.A.T.S. Professionals Conference is also free to attend and will be held Tuesday, March 28th at UC Berkeley. Visit the
Professionals Conference web page for additional details and to register.
But what is B.A.T.S. and how did it all get started? The B.A.T.S. initiative began back in early 2011 when Multiverse sought other teen programs to partner with for a nighttime science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) themed event run by teenagers for teenagers.
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Tags:
Bay Area
career
educator
science
teen
teens
zoo
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In-Focus
We are coming to South and North Carolina to talk about the August 21st, 2017 total solar eclipse!
ROADTRIP - Follow Multiverse on our second “leg” through South and North Carolina as we travel the end of the path of totality over the US February 21-24, 2017 to raise awareness in local communities about many eclipse opportunities and educational resources, including our Eclipse Megamovie project. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook. You can also follow Dr. Laura Peticolas and Darlene Yan on their personal Twitter accounts. Their opinions are their own and do not reflect the views of Multiverse or University of California, Berkeley.
ECLIPSE MEGAMOVIE PROJECT - Through its Making & Science initiative, Google will be working with Multiverse on the Eclipse Megamovie project, as well as working with educators and nonprofits around the country.
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In-Focus

For the first time in over a century, a total solar eclipse will be visible over the entire United States, August 21, 2017.
To help you prepare for the many thousands of additional visitors expected at public sites, please join any or all of our Eclipse 2017 webinars, developed and presented by
Earth to Sky and
NASA Heliophysics Educator Consortium.
About the Webinars
Through interactive sessions, the
Earth to Sky Interpreting the Eclipse webinar series will provide opportunities for interpreters and other informal educators to learn from NASA experts about the science and mechanics of a total solar eclipse.
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eclipse
interpreter
park
webinar
webinars
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In-Focus
Where will you be on August 21st, 2017?
Photo Credit: Mark Bender
This month marks the pre-anniversary of the amazing total solar eclipse that will cross the continental U.S. from coast-to-coast next summer on August 21, 2017.
What is Multiverse doing about it?
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Tags:
awareness
community
eclipse
film
megamovie
roadtrip
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In-Focus
We are very proud to announce our sponsorship by Google’s Making & Science Initiative! They are a new division within Google that is partnering with Makers Faire, Exploratorium, and other great science educators to make things happen.
You can check Multiverse (us!) out on their new website.
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In-Focus
Support “Full Spectrum,” a film project to create a new social image of who scientists are and who can be scientists.
Support this great documentary film project by our very own Bryan Mendez! There are only 6 days left in Seed & Spark’s Untold Story Crowdfunding Rally and we need as many followers and pledges to come on board as possible in these final days! We need $9k to be pledged in order to get ANY money at all to kick start this project, and we need at least 500 followers to make it to the next round of competition – only the top 10 films with the highest followers advance to the next round with possibility of matching funds from Project Greenlight.
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In-Focus
A video about Martian atmosphere loss has won a people's choice competition held by Science magazine. The video, "Martian Atmosphere Loss Explained by NASA," was part of the prestigious magazine's Data Stories competition. These videos could be in the fields of planetary science, oceanography, meteorology, neuroscience, criminology, and many others. The video was enthusiastically supported by our MAVEN Educator Ambassadors (MEAs)! The MEAs are a group of master teachers of grades 6-12, members of a community of practice we've built around the science of the MAVEN mission.
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Tags:
Martian atmosphere loss
MAVEN
science education
Categories:
In-Focus
[This is one of a series of blog posts about our six-year involvement leading the NASA Heliophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum.]
Since January 2012, a group of science educators, NASA mission scientists and education specialists have met monthly online to discuss current heliophysics research and share educational resources and best practices to incorporate into their classrooms.
Originally, this group began as a group of twelve middle and high-school science educators recruited to participate as Lead Teachers to establish a Heliophysics Community of Practice (HCoP). These teachers were previous participants in existing NASA SMD E/PO Heliophysics teacher professional development programs, such as the Heliophysics Educator Ambassadors (HEA), the Geomagnetic Event Observation Network by Students (GEONS), THEMIS professional development programs and Van Allen Probes workshops.
Several participants had kept in touch with each other informally, continuing the supportive relationships they had formed during their educator programs. Using multi-mission funding and efforts, NASA E/PO educator coordinators were able to establish a more formal opportunity for these educators to meaningfully engage with others and support them in continuing to teach heliophysics in their existing classrooms.
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Tags:
best practices
community of practice
educators
heliophysics
NASA
science teachers
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In-Focus
Helio Forum
[This is one of a series of blog posts about our six-year involvement leading the NASA Heliophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum. ]
After you’ve done your fantastic work educating students and teachers, after you’ve inspired the public about the exciting science that NASA is doing, it’s time to tell people what you have accomplished. The NASA Science Mission Directorate science education and public outreach forums have been there to help projects tell their stories of success. There are many ways that education and public outreach (E/PO) project managers have been requested and required to report on their activities to NASA. Here are some example and how the forums helped.
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Categories:
In-Focus
Helio Forum