The Legacy Continues
The legacy of Biology in a Box lives on after Susan Reichert’s retirement with new Director Elizabeth Derryberry and former Associate Director Kashina Hickson who are taking Biology in a Box in many new exciting directions.
For example, activity bags were built as a collaboration between Biology in a Box, McClung Museum, the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) for Darwin Day 2021. Previously, in-person activities were organized for a family fair on Darwin Day. The challenge in 2020 was to create an activity for kids that could be done at home. McClung Museum organized the concept and layouts while EEB and EPS faculty created the content.
Derryberry, Hickson, and EEB graduate students Ruth Simberloff and Amy Luo created bird activities. The bag includes an introduction to bird song, vocabulary words, a checklist for sighting local birds that includes photos and QR codes for their songs, and a separate card that kids can turn into a bird mask.
More than 120 Darwin Day activity bags were distributed through the local Boys & Girls club, which included students enrolled from Inskip Recreation Center, Norwood Elementary, and Deane Hill Center. Similar activity bags will be distributed through two local schools as an ongoing collaboration between McClung Museum and Biology in a Box.
The Biology in a Box program is also developing new educational materials through a number of faculty grant broader impacts, including collaborations with EEB Assistant Professor Kimberly Sheldon and EEB Professor Nina Fefferman. Stay tuned for more new developments, including a new library lender program for boxes and a graduate student advisory board.
Read more about our Biology in a Box outreach program.
Photo credits: Leslie Chang-Jantz