Readership Survey
U of G graduate launches science e-zine for Canadian teenagers
BY ANDREW VOWLES
Amy Cook was only a pre-teen when she asked her parents to buy her a microscope one year.
“I've been interested in science since I was young,” says the U of G graduate, who is completing PhD studies in cancer biology at the University of Western Ontario. “I was always very inquisitive. I think it's very interesting to find out how things you see in daily life actually work and how you can explain something.”
She never got the microscope, but she did hold on to that early love of science. And today Cook shares that interest in turn with teenaged readers of her fledgling web-based science magazine launched early this year.
Along with Mira Ray, a post-doc in the same breast cancer lab in London, she is now running CRAM Science, an e-zine intended to explain science to Canadian teens through an engaging mix of regular articles and other features.
Perceiving a gap in science education for this age group — too old for Owl and Chickadee magazines but not yet ready for Discover or National Geographic — they decided to chance their online venture. After a year of planning, they launched it in January at www.cramscience.ca.
“Nothing out there existed in Canada that targeted all teens in general and in a manner that was relevant to their lives,” says Cook.
She and Ray had originally thought about starting a conventional magazine, but their research convinced them they needed to cater to a web-savvy audience. “Teens are hard to market to, but they are marketable.”
The site includes several regular features written by volunteers and edited by Cook and Ray. “Everyday Science” explains the science behind the news headlines and everything from hair gel and acne medication to plasma TVs and cell phones to Ecstasy and sexually transmitted diseases to CSI and “bling.” News sections include articles about health, sports, arts and entertainment, and products found at home.
The e-zine includes a question-and-answer section called “Ask Dr. CRAM,” in which volunteer writers respond to reader questions (“What causes that sound when I crack my knuckles?” “Is chocolate bad for dogs?” “What stars are in the constellation Hydra?”).
In a section called “The Lab,” readers can find ideas for do-it-yourself activities such as using a digital camera to photograph the night sky or learning how and why uncooked spaghetti breaks the way it does. And “School's Out” features science jobs held by recent graduates, from a pharmacist to a medical physicist.
Cook and Ray rely on about 100 volunteer writers from across the country, including journalism students and science graduate students and professors.
CRAM Science is a non-profit organization. Cook says they've applied for charitable status and hope to attract sponsors such as high-tech organizations to make the site more interactive and to further develop it as a national science resource. They also hope to be able to pay writers and post more articles more frequently.
The organization's board of directors consists of Cook and Ray as well as two professors — one from Western's Richard Ivey School of Business and one from the University of Toronto — and the high school science learning co-ordinator for the London Thames Valley District School Board.
The site was developed by Resolution Interactive Media, a London web design firm. (The site's name is an anagram of the first letters of its founders' names, although they point out that it also evokes the occasional exam preparation method.)
Both Cook and Ray have been involved in science outreach activities, including running the Let's Talk Science program that connects university graduate students with elementary and high school students. They've also volunteered at a London children's museum. And Cook has run science activities with kids on a morning TV show aired in London.
This month, Cook will begin a new job as a program developer at BC Science World in Vancouver. She plans to continue her work with CRAM Science after hours.
She began graduate studies in 2001 thinking she'd become a researcher, but she changed direction after attending a conference held about 18 months ago by Let's Talk Science.
“I was so engaged. This is where I'm supposed to be.”
Earlier at Guelph, she'd been hooked on molecular biology during a lecture on cancer biology given by Dawn Larson in the former Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics.
“I was in microbiology and ended up switching,” says Cook. “Cancer biology was something I wanted to learn more about.”
She adds that she recalls meeting enthusiastic science teachers even earlier while in high school.
“They encouraged me to explore” — something she hopes to inspire today in youthful readers of CRAM Science.
