As Science Friday’s education director, Ariel Zych finds ways to empower parents and educators and everyday people to excite young learners with science, engineering, and math. She can be regularly found making messes with new experiments, planning teacher trainings, drawing diagrams, curating collections of SciFri media for libraries, or grumbling at the latest education op-ed piece.
Before joining Science Friday in 2013, Ariel was a high school biology, marine science, and environmental science teacher in Washington D.C. In addition to being a classroom teacher, Ariel has created and facilitated informal and formal science programs around the country and has developed curricular materials and experiences for camps, cruises, campuses, zoos, museums, scouts, parents, teachers, and schools.
While completing her master’s degree in entomology at the University of Florida, Ariel once discovered the mechanism of acoustic communication in scentless plant bugs, which was super interesting to her, but not to many other people. Several other memorable scientific pursuits include studying snail gonads, collecting ticks, caring for colonies of social spiders as an undergrad at Cornell, tagging dragonflies, sailing aboard the E/V Nautilus and, more recently, traveling to Antarctica to cover long-term research on the frozen continent.
Ariel constantly misses her home town of Portland, Oregon, and loves traveling the world, eating fun food, family time, and spending time outside.
Model The Texture-Changing Structures of Cuttlefish Skin: Papillae
Recreating this impressive feat of camouflage takes only a balloon and a bit of duct tape.
Drawing Congressional Districts Is Like Sudoku
It’s just simple math, on a map, and on steroids.
10:12
Help Us Weigh Galaxies!
Participate in a citizen science project and help astronomers identify gravitational lenses.
Cómo Capturar Un Aroma
Separa y captura moléculas de aroma mediante vaporización por calor.
Interpret The Impacts Of Rising Ocean Temperatures On Ecosystems
Where do fish go when the water gets warm? It depends on the species.
Make A Memory Wire Circuit
Use nitinol or “memory” wire as a model muscle in this paper circuit activity.
Ethics, STEM, And The Modern Dr. Frankenstein
Tackle the centuries-old novel with some modern approaches for kids of all ages.
SciFri Science Club: #NeatRock Challenge
For this Science Club, we’re challenging you to go out, find a neat rock, and try to learn a little something about it.
2017 Science Friday Educator Collaborative
The 2017 cohort are redesigning boots, fossilizing chicken bones, and more for the classroom.
Eclipse Party Activities
These hands-on activities will spice up any eclipse party and teach you a little something about our sun, moon, and earth in the process.