Guest Post on Raising Nerd: Top 5 Movie Examples of Female Scientists Who Will Inspire Your Nerds to Greatness 


Nerds unite! At least that’s what the bloggers at Raising Nerd and I did over the past two weeks, exchanging posts on each other’s blogs. In case you missed it, Scott Beller wrote on here about how to get your kids thinking about Santa using terrible movies and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Two weeks ago, I wrote for Raising Nerd about five movies featuring awesome female scientists, from the women of Ghostbusters to Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park. 

Here’s a preview of my post:

From dinosaur bones to aliens, some of the best Nerd inspiration comes from the movies. Unfortunately, female scientists and mathematicians notoriously have been under-represented on the big screen. But with an all-female Nerd team leading the Ghostbusters reboot and the story of forgotten NASA heroines finally being told in Hidden Figures starting December 25, it seems like things just might be changing for the better in Hollywood.
For more, check out the post on Raising Nerd! 

Guest Post: Extending Santa’s Magic by Appealing to the STEM/STEAM Side of Kids’ Curious Minds

We have our very first guest post here at We’ll Eat You Up, We Love You So! It’s courtesy of Scott Beller, who is the “Chief Word Nerd” at the blog Raising Nerd. As a completely unabashed nerd myself, I was proud to write a guest post for him last week on inspirational female scientists in movies. He’s returning the favor this week, with a blog post that ties together three of my favorite things: Mystery Science Theater 3000, science and Santa.

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My daughter giggled as she watched the gigantic blue and yellow egg hatch. The glowing blue larva emerged, surrounded by hundreds of worshipping natives on Infant Island. It was coaxed into action by two miniature, telepathic fairies in distress.

My daughter’s eyes widened.

“Is this real?” she asked, giggling some more.

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Science Adventures: Feathers

Photo: Black feather on multi-colored gravel. Text: "Science Adventures: Feathers; We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So"

This post explores the biology and ecology of feathers. It’s part of a series I’m doing on using everyday situations to help young kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth. 

The opportunity:
With birds winging their way south for the winter, it’s the perfect time to investigate their most unique trait: feathers. Find a feather on the ground to examine it!

The scientific context:
While feathers are unique to birds these days, they’ve been around for far longer. Unlike when I was a kid, scientists now think that many dinosaurs had feathers as well. Although they didn’t fly, dinosaurs’ feathers probably served many of the same purposes bird feathers do today.

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Science Adventures: How Animals Create and Use Seashells

Text: "Science Adventures: How Animals Create and Use Seashells" Photo of half of a ribbed, white seashell on white sand in Cape Cod.

This post explores the biology and ecology of seashells at the beach, including the animals who use them and how they create them. It’s part of a series I’m doing on using everyday situations to help young kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth. 

The opportunity
As the summer wraps up, many families head out to the beach. While you’re there, use the opportunity to learn about seashells and the creatures that once lived in them.

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Science Adventures: PokemonGo and Field Biologists Catching Wildlife

Science Adventures PokemonGo and Field Biology

This is a series I’m doing using everyday situations to help kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth.

The opportunity
PokemonGo, which is massively popular, is based on the idea of capturing wild animals and fighting each other for “research.” As a trained ecologist, I call shenanigans on the scientific validity of this method. But this fun game can help spark conversations about how real wildlife biologists study animals, including trapping them.

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Science Adventures: Wild Baby Animals

Text: "Science Adventures: Wild Baby Animals; We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So." Photo of three baby bunnies huddled under a bright pink playground slide.

This is a new series I’ll be doing using everyday situations to help kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth.

The opportunity
Baby bunnies are nesting under the slide at my son’s preschool.

The scientific context
Finding baby animals in the wild provides a great opportunity to teach kids about animal behavior and life cycles. Babies are adorable and wild animals are inheritantly engaging.

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