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.
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SciFri Science Club Wants YOU…To Spread The Word About The Solar Eclipse
The latest SciFri Science Club has a challenge for you: Tell us what’s happening with the solar eclipse, how to view it, and why we shouldn’t miss it.
Sci Fri Science Club: Eclipse Challenge
Help get the word out about the American eclipse on August 21st, 2017!
Make 3D Paint With Starch
Experiment with solubility as you create homemade 3D paint with starch.
Sci Fri Science Club: Freeze Challenge
We challenge you to create something totally new, and totally frozen.
Make Supercool Fruit Pops
Make supercooled water and use it to coat fruit pops in instant ice crystals
How To Capture A Scent
Separate and capture scent molecules by their heat of vaporization.
How Big Was This Squid?
Learn how to determine the size of a Humboldt squid using a beak left behind in a whale’s stomach in this data-rich math activity.
Make A Secret Marshmallow Message
Use chemistry to write a secret message on marshmallows that can only be revealed by toasting them!
Life Under a Rock: Bacteria in Extreme Environments
Explore the dry, dim world of hypolithic or “under rock” cyanobacteria and measure and compare colony growth in deserts around the world.
What Do Cochlear Implants And Hearing Aids Sound Like?
Learn how hearing aids work, then conduct your own test to determine whether hearing aids can improve speech recognition for cochlear implant users.