Prepared with a BSN from the State University of New York at Binghamton and years of critical care nursing experience, Mary Passalacqua began a 12-year stint as a homeschooling mom. And then the real education began! In weekly “science club” meetings with groups of lively minds from aged 5 to 14 Mary learned the joy of exploring science experientially, happily following the interests of the kids through topics ranging from “how do birds fly?”, “how does a light bulb work?”, “how do babies grow?” and “can we really make our own plastic?” to the search for life on Mars, patterns in nature and genetics. At the end of it all Mary is convinced that real learning happens only when context is provided and connections are made; it is not unusual to find history, art, literature and even music woven into the science work.
Mary Passalacqua
