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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words · Salinas, CA

Why I love science

A research laboratory seen from outside through a glass window, with a scientist inside preparing samples for analysis. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Science" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.
A research laboratory seen from outside through a glass window, with a scientist inside preparing samples for analysis. U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain
  • I get to ask why, and then find out.
  • I write down what I think will happen. Then I check.
  • Being wrong is not bad here. Being wrong is a clue.

You can love science in Salinas.

What it really is

Science is asking a question in a way that lets the world answer it.

Three things to try today

  1. Ask one question nobody in your house knows the answer to.
  2. Write your guess down before you look it up.
  3. Look it up. See how close you were.
Student intern Maddy Olson works alongside NASA scientists at a bench in the Swamp Works laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Science" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.
Student intern Maddy Olson works alongside NASA scientists at a bench in the Swamp Works laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. NASA · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

The Salinas, CA metro area has about 433,729 residents, ranking 128th in the country. Somewhere in that number is a kid who lights up about science and has never met another one.

Prediction before observation is the whole method. Ask for the guess first, every time.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Salinas, CA →

Love something else too

A wide-angle view of the flight control room of NASA's Mission Control Center, filled with rows of consoles and display screens. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Technology" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love technologyLong rows of black cabinets housing the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Computers" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love computersTwo small AstroPi Raspberry Pi computers with camera modules floating in the Columbus laboratory of the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Coding" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love codingA close-up of one row of the Discover supercomputer, showing about 2,000 processors stacked in cabinets with cabling. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Data" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love dataThe Robonaut 2 humanoid robot, with a gold-visored head and two jointed arms, mounted inside the Destiny laboratory of the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Robotics" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love robotsThe tracked crawler-transporter carries a mobile launcher platform and twin solid rocket boosters along the crawlerway toward Launch Pad 39A. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Engineering" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love engineeringThe International Space Station with its newly attached Destiny laboratory, photographed from space shuttle Atlantis above a cloud-covered Earth. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Space" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love spaceA Hubble Space Telescope view of the faint blue spiral galaxy NGC 3274 surrounded by scattered stars on a black background. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Astronomy" page — read by families in Salinas, CA.Why I love stars

Near Salinas

Why I love science, everywhere in the US · All things to love · STEM jobs you could do · Summer camps in Salinas