Behind the Science: an Interview With a Public Experience Design Lead

What do you do at The Lawrence?

My first two years I worked as a curriculum developer and as that project came to a close, I started working on the public science center side of things. Now I work on the teams that design and develop the exhibits and experiences that you interact with when you visit The Lawrence. 

What is your favorite exhibit at The Lawrence and why?

My favorite exhibit is the flow tunnel. It is a small exhibit that makes it possible to see the patterns that water makes when it flows around different objects. It’s a pretty clever design; when you move the shapes, you can see the eddies and other swirls that are created as a result of water moving past the shapes. I like how mesmerizing it is, and yet how simple it is. 

Describe your path to science/education

As a kid, my family and I went to a lot of museums, science centers, nature centers, and gardens, and I got a lot of my love of science and the natural world from these experiences. I also had a couple of really great science teachers, so shout out to all of the science teachers out there! 

I graduated with a BA with a joint degree in Neuroscience and Marine Biology from UCLA. I thought I was going to use marine animal models to study the nervous system and work on a cure for Alzhiemers, which my grandmother had. But in preparation for a marine-focused field semester, I took a SCUBA diving course. I loved it, and so I started spending more time there helping out. The feeling I got when I helped people do something they didn’t believe they could do was incredible, and so when I graduated, I chose to look for a job at a school rather than a job at a lab. 

After earning my MA in Science Education from UC Berkeley, I taught middle school science for 3 years in San Francisco, but I was destined to be one of the many early career teachers who didn’t make it past their third year. When I happened upon a teaching job at a small aquarium, my eyes were opened to the field of informal education; I didn’t realize that you could have a career as an educator in the same kinds of institutions my family enjoyed visiting when I was a kid. I have been in informal education ever since. 

What is something new you’ve learned at The Lawrence?

One of my favorite things about working in science education is that I’m always learning something new as a part of the development process. One of the projects I worked on recently was the new music-focused exhibition, Making Music: Math and Science Out Loud. One of my aha moments working on this exhibition was when I heard someone describe science as a way we understood sound, and math as a way to understand music. 

What was your first aha moment at The Lawrence?

I’ve been coming to The Lawrence since I was a kid. I don’t know if this counts as an aha moment, but I do remember being really into the wind organ we used to have on the hill out before Forces that Shape the Bay was an exhibit. In fact, on my first day here as an employee, I went looking for it and was devastated to learn that it had been removed years ago! I remember loving the sounds they made from the wind, and being awed by how tall they seemed to me. 

If you could be any animal, real or imaginary, which would you be and why?

That’s a fun question. I would want to be an animal that inhabits a space different from my own land-based vantage point, like either a bird that can fly great distances, or an animal that lives in the water. Maybe I’d be an elephant seal because they can haul out on land, but they can also dive down into the depths of the ocean for long periods of time. 

What age group do you love to teach or work with, and why?

So I’m going to cheat and say that I love a few different ages for different reasons. 

I love watching very young kids see something surprising, be amazed or tickled by it, and then try to recreate it or do it again. So much of our interest in science starts there. 

I love working with kids around the third grade age range because they’re starting to put their language, math, and reasoning skills together. They’re starting to make sense of the things they’re learning, and have the ability to share it with you. 

I love talking with middle school aged young people because they are grappling with right and wrong and how to treat people and each other—big heady stuff—but in the end they’re still goofy kids that still like to play, so it’s a fun combination of conversations you can have with them. 

And more and more I like talking with adults while they’re visiting here with their families because I get to learn so much about what brought them to The Lawrence, and what dreams they have for their kids and for themselves.