Some projects I’ve developed and produced
Planetarium Pilots: A drop in Planetarium experience
In this project that I developed and led through its launch, museum visitors can take a self-guided tour of the universe in a groundbreaking new planetarium experience, first in its class globally. Children and adults can drop in to control the dome and choose which planets, moons, and more to explore. Learn all about space from recorded astronomers as you fly around the universe!
I oversaw all hardware, software, UI design elements, asset creation and educational assessments. At the Lawrence Hall of Science, supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
MEET THE ARTISTS: A Video installation at the Lawrence Hall of Science
Bay Area musicians René Peña-Govea, Tommy Shepherd, Lou Lou Rosenthal and Edward Shocker talk about what music means to them in these video installations. Hear how they use math and science to understand their musical world.
Three pilot episodes focused on data literacy are currently live.
Tuff Pupil: A STEM series about global issues that impact kids
Tuff Pupil is a STEM-focused animated series I developed, wrote and produced on behalf of UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. It features original music by the Grammy-award winning Alphabet Rockers.
Funded by an NSF grant, this program helps educators and parents of 6-9 year olds build early understanding of data literacy and cybersecurity concepts. We have launched four episodes to date and are currently raising funds to expand the series to a 25 episodes and write supporting curriculum.
Shaboom! A preschool series about social/emotional learning.
Shaboom! combines the very best elements of children’s television with wisdom from Jewish traditions to teach everyday values through magic, comedy and silly songs. The show features “magical sparks” Gabi & Rafael who work to fix the world by helping out a regular family that makes a lot of meshuga (silly) mistakes. Kids aged 4-7 learn about everyday values like gratitude, saying I’m sorry, and helping others, plus Hebrew vocabulary words!
I was the Series Creator and ran this show for 3 years from concept to launch, raising money, hiring and supervising the creative team and forming distribution partnerships. More importantly, I was the Lead Educator, developing its curriculum and theory of change, and managing an evaluation process to test its impact via observational, quantitative and play testing methods.
Shoulda Done Better: A short holiday special for K-5 kids
This sweet storysong about forgiveness is a beloved favorite for banjo-playing storyteller Bill Gordh of New York City. He tells this story each year to the children of Central Synagogue on the High Holidays, and they weren’t going to let Covid-19 keep him away. I produced this sweet animation (on a shoestring) and we hope it brings Bill to new audiences everywhere.
Plotz Landing: A storytelling series for kids 3-7
Plotz Landing is a spin-off from Shaboom! that puts folk tales from the Jewish canon forward while experimenting with format for digital delivery.
Shaboom! is an incredibly succesful early childhood initiative and we developed it to “look like” standard animated children’s entertainment, in an 11 minute format. Plotz Landing allowed us to experiment with format by creating shorter episodes and bringing our beloved main characters into new worlds for each episode.
Executive Produced: raised $75,000 for the series
Producer: hired and supervised entire creative team including visual, music and writing. Led marketing efforts, including launch PR, events and social media. Kept entire project to schedule and budget.
Lead Educator: Built advisory circle of educators to inform curriculum. Developed theory of change and knowledge/behavioral/attitudinal outcomes for each episode. Conducted evaluation to test outcomes via observational, quantitative and play testing methods.