Education

13
Oct

“I’m working with our app, Leafsnap,” the scientist said.

I hesitated before joining her. Visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for a before-hours event, I had wandered into the room hoping the butterfly pavilion would be open early. (It wasn’t.) Instead, I found a lone scientist working with her iPhone and a few plants.

“Leafsnap is a free app based on facial recognition software,” she elaborated, gesturing to her phone. “You take a picture of a leaf, and it tells you what kind of plant it is.”

I stopped. It did what?

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08
Jul

Halfway through the 2013-2014 school year, two third-grade students approached Atalaya Elementary School principal Diane Katenmeyer-Delgado and asked if they could start a science club. Principal Katenmeyer-Delgado, supported the idea but told the two girls that they needed a teacher to oversee the program. After only a few weeks, the girls had succeeded ... they convinced sixth-grade teacher Ms. Michels to take the lead.

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