Date: Wednesday, February1th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
Three fabulous presenters await you at February’s Nerd Nite!
Our first speaker is Bartje Wakker to share info about a unique biome: temperate rainforests! When you think of a rainforest, you probably think of a hot, humid jungle full of colorful birds, monkeys and tigers or jaguars lurking in the undergrowth – the so called “Lungs of the Earth” – but not all rainforests are so warm or even far from home! Come and learn about one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems on earth – those rainforests that grow in cool, temperate climates and host just as incredible biodiversity and ecological importance as those in the tropics – and even some of the largest and oldest organisms in the world.
Second up to the stage will be Luke Chamberlain with “Why am I so goddamned Fascinated by James Cameron’s Avatar?”. Originally I was going to title this “a defense of Avatar” (the blue people, not the Airbender!) but I don’t know if that’s what it is anymore. I have become fascinated by these movies, but should I defend them? In this presentation I seek to understand and communicate why. I’m not going to try to convince you of the quality of anything, I promise! Art is subjective!
Our final presentation is titled “13 Steps to Raising a Proficient, Math-loving Kid!” by Suzy Scudder. Here’s Suzy’s description: I was a math interventionist for 11 years, and in that capacity I interviewed thousands of early primary (K-2) kids, and noticed some skills they lacked that are easy for parents to teach. The presentation is a distillation of those years of experience as well as intensive training I received in how to teach essential early numeracy skills. I also wrote a picture book on counting, called Count upon your Friends, and will introduce the audience to the book and explain why I wrote it.