Casual observations + cell phone (camera +picture messaging) + photo editing software (picnik from flickr) + blog = an extraordinary age of exploration and sharing. This guy lives (at least for now) on my front porch, but now also in your imagination. The first three images are highly processed (but easily, in minutes) using the …

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They’re lovely, but why are these mushrooms growing in a Northern Indiana back yard in late August? Science teachers know where to go to investigate weather-related questions: to the weather underground (wunderground.com). You can see at a glance that it was a cold and rainy end-of-August for zipcode 46530. (Click on these graphs to get …

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Science considered as an academic subject area doesn’t come across much like an adventure. But the scientists I know, and my own experience, tell me that the reality of science is much different. This film trailer captures something of the spirit of adventure and discovery that characterizes frontier science (even when no polar bears are …

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Joseph Peterka at the sundial outside ND’s Jordan Hall of Science, originally uploaded by NDeRC2–Theresa Behrens. This sundial outside Jordan Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame is a great example of what STEM culture can be. Here Joseph Peterka from Marian High School in Mishawaka explains on a lunch break the …

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This one features video about the LHC and the CMS detector. But visit the site (find the little “b” in the upper left corner to visit the blinkx.com site) if you want to create one of your own.

0804090848.jpg, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. Asst. Dean of Engineering Jay Brockman organized an interesting conference on first year courses in engineering. Held in ND’s Jordan Hall of Science on Aug 2-4, 2009), the event brought together some 50 faculty from all over the US; they were joined through a teleconference with a similar gathering in …

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downsized_0731090954.jpg, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. This summer teachers and students from the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center were joined by a dozen other teachers from the Virtual QuarkNet Center for our annual QuarkNet Week. Each of the more than 50 QuarkNet Centers in the US sponsors such a week; at ND we assembled a rich blend …

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0707091555, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, what’s the value of a good photographer? We had a chance to consider that question this summer with the advent of our new Communications Intern program. Therese Behrens, a member of Trinity School at Greenlawn‘s class of 2010, had camera and did travel …

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1203081658.jpg, originally uploaded by NDeRC2. Astroimaging is amazing. It is a wonderful gateway to astronomy, to the electromagnetic spectrum, to light and energy…it’s a science teacher’s goldmine. Students at many levels can produce original, at least beautiful and sometimes insightful and informative displays by combining images taken at different wavelengths. The image above combines four …

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