The UCMP has long been dedicated to providing a diversity of innovative and engaging resources for STEM education, bridging the gap between ground-breaking scientific research and both formal and informal science education. Outreach Programming UCMP has a rich history of offering high quality educational web resources since the early days of the web. In 1995 we launched the UCMP home page, one of the first online resources in paleontology! In 2004 we launched the Understanding Evolution … [Read more...] about Support science and the UCMP during #Cal Big Give!
How Fish Sense The World: Insight Into The Lateral Line System
How do we perceive the world around us? In order to understand what surrounds us, we utilize all our senses to make informed decisions. Similarly, this can be applied to the fossil record, as studying the sensory biology of extinct animals can provide insight into the environment they were living in. My research is centered around exploring the diversity of the cephalic lateral line system across phylogeny and different environments. The cephalic lateral line system allows fish and aquatic … [Read more...] about How Fish Sense The World: Insight Into The Lateral Line System
The UCMP Annual Short Course is back!
The Making of Habitable Planets and the Origin of Life Save the Date! Saturday, March 1, 2025, 9am - 4pm The UC Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) Short Course is back after a long hiatus! From the Big Bang to the formation of the stars, planets and elements, questions about the formation of our solar system, the shaping of planet Earth, and the origin of life remain. Please join us to hear leading UC Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists speak on the origin of … [Read more...] about The UCMP Annual Short Course is back!
The UCMP’s Escape Room teaches fundamentals of evolution
The UCMP's Education and Outreach team just launched their most recent project: VENOMventure | aVENENOtura. In collaboration with the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum in Lawrence, VENOMVenture premiered over the last two weeks at the Berkeley Public Library. Read more about the launch and the rave reviews on the UC Berkeley news site. … [Read more...] about The UCMP’s Escape Room teaches fundamentals of evolution
Cross-Cultural Connections in Paleontology
THUNK. CA-CHUNK. THUD-THUD-THUD. Our Toyota sedan was not built for the desert. We had blown a tire, out on the remote highway from the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar to the small city of Dalanzadgad, a six hour drive from north to south through the Gobi Desert. The three of us were a team of Filipino, American, and Mongolian educators and paleontologists, heading to the Gobi to lead the summer teacher education program and student summer camp in paleontology. The pitted and … [Read more...] about Cross-Cultural Connections in Paleontology
Science at sea with STEMSEAS
Director of Education and Outreach Lisa White spent part of the 2023 winter break sailing on the R/V Armstrong with scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and educators from the STEMSEAS (STEM Student Experiences Aboard Ships) program. Sailing from Woods Hole, MA to Pensacola, FL from January 3-11, 2023, the cruise was designed to build partnerships and opportunities between STEMSEAS and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Lisa’s background and … [Read more...] about Science at sea with STEMSEAS
Introducing: Where the Wild Things Were
It is clear, therefore, that we are now in an altogether exceptional period of the earth's history. We live in a zoologically impoverished world, from which all the hugest, and fiercest, and strangest forms have recently disappeared [...] - Alfred Russell Wallace, 1876, p. 150 The UCMP launched a pilot version of a new education and outreach resource for connecting Ice Age animal losses to today through interactive maps. This resource — Where the Wild Things Were — highlights the geographic … [Read more...] about Introducing: Where the Wild Things Were