The Lawrence Hall of Science
The public science center of the University of California, Berkeley.
Wednesday - Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed December 24 & 25 Open New Year’s Day View Additional Hours >
We’ll bring our science programs to you.
We partner with school districts to support science learning. We offer district-wide elementary, middle, and high school programs, either virtually or in-person.
We collaborate with a range of partners to innovate in science education. Together, we go further.
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Physics can tell us a lot about how the world around us works, and more specifically how our own bodies and senses perceive the world around us. So, might physics be used to build empathy? In this program, teen scientists explore the human senses, and through hands-on investigations, discover how our own eyes and ears work and how someone else’s might be different.
Participants will apply their learnings to gain insight into how other peoples’ reality can be very genuinely different from the reality that we each experience as individuals. Through this broadened understanding of people’s varied realities, we can start to build a more scientific model of what it truly means to recognize someone else’s feelings and perspectives. Using what they’ve learned, program participants work with a team to design, build, test, and iterate an interactive museum exhibit to help the public explore these ideas as well.
All teens sign in with instructors
Welcome activities and icebreakers
Opening Circle- group check-in and framing the day
Explore STEM concepts and hands-on investigations in your track
Social breaktime with teens from other tracks (BYO snacks & water bottle)
Continued investigations and explorations in your track
Closing Circle- reflection prompts and preview of what’s ahead
Meet and talk to current college students or professionals from a range of STEM career fields
All teens sign out with instructors
Rafael Castro was born and raised in Oakland, CA. He attended UC Berkeley where he worked on various research projects focusing on dark matter, volcanoes, and climate change. He completed a B.A. in Atmospheric Science and an M.A. in Earth and Planetary Science. While at Cal, he also completed a minor in math and science education through the CalTeach program, where he did student teaching at various middle and high schools in the Bay Area to get his teaching credentials.
This sparked his interest in education, but he decided to work in scientific research and industry first. For a few years, Rafael was launching weather balloons for NOAA and the National Weather Service to help us get our daily forecasts. After that, he worked at Silvestrum doing climate consulting for various companies across California such as PG&E. Eventually he decided he wanted to put his teaching credentials to use and transitioned into teaching when the principal of Latitude High School told him about all the cool things they were doing at the school. Rafael believes strongly in inquiry- and project-based learning as being the best way to learn science. He is currently a Teaching Fellow at the Exploratorium and works with them closely to create fun and engaging hands-on activities and phenomena for students to explore in his Physics class at Latitude. His students also build Tiny Homes that get donated to a local tiny home village (YSA) which is focused on housing homeless youth. When Rafael isn’t in the classroom, he plays for the local pro ultimate frisbee team, the Oakland Spiders, and coaches after school programs with Ultimate Impact, a local non-profit organization that’s focused on bringing ultimate to underprivileged communities. He also loves backpacking and camping in his free time.