Check this out!

I just visited the Smithsonian LVM Interactive Archive this morning and found a wonderful, nifty educational tool: the ¡Chequea esto! series, a compilation of animated shorts that focus on issues being discussed by Latino youth. I opened the link of the latest clip and was immediately met by Ana and Teresa, two animated youth standing in a backdrop of green trees and purple-trimmed windows. Teresa proceeds to ask Ana what she is watching on her smart device. Ana says she is watching a video of a scientist. Turns out the scientist is Liz Cottrell, a curator at the National Museum of Natural History. My 8-year-old daughter, who was standing three feet away, was immediately drawn to the voices and dropping what she was doing, sat next to me to watch Cottrell discuss her scientific career. In less than five minutes, Cottrell introduced my daughter to the wonderful world of scientific skills, study, and exploration. At the end of the short my daughter asked me if she could be a scientist too. My answer: Why yes! I think I'm going to love these ¡Chequea esto! clips. I'm looking forward to the next one.

To view the ¡Chequea  esto! clips click here.

-- M. Miranda Maloney, contributor to Smithsonian LVM