(SciGirl) I play apps all the time, I never even dreamed I would be able to make one.

How soon do you need the app?

By Friday.

Feel the fear!

I was like this the whole time.

Are you kidding me?

The video works.

I don't know how they're going to fix it.

(Izzie) Major funding for "SciGirls" is provided by the National Science Foundation-- supporting education and research across all fields of science and engineering.

The National Science Foundation-- where discoveries begin!

(woman) Additional funding provided by L'Oreal USA.

For girls in science... you can learn more at ForGirlsInScience.org And by PPG Industries Foundation-- committed to bringing positive impact to our communities.

(girls) S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S (Izzie) We need you (girls) S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S (Izzie) Come on!

When I need help, and I've got a question there's a place I go for inspiration Gotta get to the Web, check the girls' investigation What girls?

(Izzie) SciGirls!

Whoo!

(girls) S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S (Izzie) I need you!

(girls) S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S (Izzie) Come on!

You've gotta log on, post, upload, pitch in!

Yeah!

Wanna get inside a world that's fascinating?

The time is right 'cause SciGirls are waiting, (girls) S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S (Izzie) We need you!

(girls) S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S (Izzie) SciGirls!!

Jake!

Jake!

Where are you?

I'm outside.

I can't seem to keep track of anything!

What are you looking for exactly?

My keys?

Um, they're right there.

Did I leave them in the door again?

I do that sometimes.

No, right there, under that book, "Clean Living for the Mega-Messy."

That's where that book is.

Man, I couldn't find that either!

Yeah, [chuckles] I can tell.

I'm also missing my lucky hairnet, my picture book of the woods after Big Foot passed through, and my BB of ABC gum.

BB what of BC?

Big ball of already been chewed gum.

Aw, my jaw aches just thinking about all those chewing hours going to waste.

[gasps] And Fang, I can't find Fang!

Maybe I can help you get a little more um, organized?

That would be so awesome!

Fang, where are you?

Oh, I think we're going to need the SciGirls too.

Hm, I've never gone into one of these before.

Hey, it's cozy in here, I like it.

SciGirls, here I come.

Okay, gotta find the right clip so Jake can find his gum.

Huh, I wonder if there's an app for that?

Oh, this looks about right.

Watch for the arrows!

They're clues for the "Pick'M, Stick'M" game on the website.

(SciGirl) People don't understand how you can watch TV and listen to your iPod.

I think it's ridiculous.

You listen to your music very, very quietly, while watching TV and eating ice cream.

Hi, I'm Nayelli, I live in San Francisco, and I'm a SciGirl.

What are you playing Tammy?

Temple Run.

Me too, yeah!

My name is Tammy, and I'm 13.

For fun I like to play in parks with my dog and play catch with friends.

You want to see what I'm playing?

My name is Sarah, I'm 14 years old.

Living here it's really hilly.

[SciGirls feign a scream] I play apps all the time.

I never even dreamed that I would be able to make one.

As your village gets bigger, you get more Smurfs.

I'm Makenna and I'm 13 years old, and we are famous for our earthquakes.

Earthquakes are quite scary because the ground shifts and everything moves around and you don't really know what's going on.

(Tammy) It's kind of weird at first 'cause everything around you is shaking and that doesn't really happen on a normal basis.

We just like, crawl under the tables and sometimes you have to hold on to the table leg and like, cover your head.

It's scary but... You can like, see everything shake around you.

The Academy of Sciences is having a new earthquake exhibit.

Here you can see like lots of different things about different types of insects and fish and flowers and plants.

Let's go to the roof, the living roof.

Whoa!

(Sarah) When I heard that the California Academy of Sciences needed some kids to design their mobile media app for their earthquake exhibit, I decided to sign up.

Hey girls!

Hi.

Hi.

Nice to meet you, I'm Puja.

And I'm Elizabeth.

So Puja and Elizabeth gave us an assignment.

I thought we'd share with you a couple of the things that we want the app to include.

(Makenna) "App" is short for application; they're sort of games that you can download onto an iPad, iPhone or any device that you have.

(Sarah) The app had to be about the Loma Prieta earthquake.

We thought it would be great if you could include some personal narratives of people who lived through that experience.

The mobile media app had to include a personal story, some information about the San Andreas Fault, and how the type of soil and architecture makes a difference during the quake.

We'd like the game to take place in the marina districts, so after people come here for the earthquake exhibit, they can go out there and play the game and explore the app.

To make this app, you're going to be using a program called ARIS.

(Tammy) They gave us an iPad and on the iPad there's this program called ARIS.

There is someone that we've worked with before, Kimberly Bryant, who has actually made an app about Golden Gate Park, and we've got that game on this iPad for you, so you should go out and play that before you get started.

How soon do you need the app?

Well, we'd love to hear your ideas by tomorrow afternoon.

And then we'd love to see a final product by Friday.

Ohhh, okay.

Feel the fear.

We're walking to the conservatory to play an ARIS game.

ARIS is a platform for making and playing mobile media apps.

"You are beginning a quest to find a golden key, which is hidden somewhere in the Golden Gate Park.

Good Luck!"

It can be played on iPod, iPad or iPhone.

Almost to the start of the game, it's somewhere around here.

We had a map that we had to follow to get certain things, like a message or key.

So the blue dot is us, and it's taking us to where we need to go.

Yeah, we're almost at the welcome message!

Welcome message, oh we got it!

Pick it up!

"You will be guided on this quest by a famous California woman of science.

Travel north towards the conservatory to meet her and to receive your next clue."

It's kind of like a quest, you know?

You go one place, grab an item, go to another place and grab an item.

But when I say "item" I don't mean like, there's something there for you, like, literally there, it's something made up.

It will detect where you are, so when you get there, you will receive the item.

Oh, oh, we're here.

"Hello, my name is Julia Morgan; I was born in 1872."

The history is basically a clue to each of the different keys that you need to get.

They'll tell you about what happened and then you have to go out and find something that was significant to the person.

"I love flowers, please show me what's in bloom, by uploading a pretty picture to receive a clue for the next step on your journey."

Um, what do we want to name it?

(Tammy) Flower.

What a journey!

It was quite fun.

(woman) Hi girls, how are you today?

(Tammy) Kimberly, who works with computers, came to help us plan our app and like, decide on what kind of things we were going to do for it.

I'm an IT project manager and I work with companies that need an application.

Since Kimberly created the game that we played, I think she'll be able to tell us exactly how and what we're supposed to do.

Tell me a little bit about the overall assignment and the scope of really what you're trying to put together.

The California Academy of Sciences wanted us to design an app where the visitors can, after their earthquake exhibit, they can then go to the marina district and try to live it through an app.

But there's a twist to it-- it has to be completed by Friday.

This Friday?

(SciGirls) Yes.

[laughs] Okay, I think we could do that!

So we're going to come up with a very simple app, then we'll test it out with each other and we'll all make sure that all the kinks are out of it, then we'll come back and look at that feedback, make changes to it, and we'll start the process all over again.

ARIS has a few tools that you'll use to build your game.

All the characters, all the items, all the plaques and objects, you can think of them as puzzle pieces that come together to make the full story that comes into your game.

So it should be in the Marina District.

(Tammy) Yeah, we wanna kind of have them walk around there find out about it.

The process of designing the app is like identifying what you want to do.

The player will be... (SciGirl) a journalist.

planning it... maybe they could collect some pictures or something.

And then making the app, testing it, going out to see what people think about it so you get feedback.

Then if it's like, not where you want it to be, you like work on it again and do the process over and over.

So if the boss is giving you an assignment you can make it that way.

Hi, I'm Nayelli, I'm 12 years old; I like to play softball, I paddle outrigger canoes.

This is my Costco ukulele, my very best friend that I've had for...[sproing!]

[electronic voice laughs] [beep!]

I also play the ukulele.

In 4 hours we are giving Elizabeth and Puja the ideas, and we're definitely nervous because we're not a 100% sure of what we're doing.

(Sarah) We decided to just do it around one block, so that people wouldn't have to walk too far and they could get to know the block a little bit better, all the damage that happened to that one place.

They still start at the school first?

Um-hum, then it just has a little clock like, reading out, everyone went here for shelter.

The first thing, a screen will pop up and say, "You are now an intern for a TV show and you want to become a journalist."

I think the most challenging thing was to like, get all our ideas together, to come together and become like, a real game, that's like, whole, instead of just like little pieces everywhere.

These are acting like, what you're collecting.

You see the house, like this house, we take a picture of how it is now, so they can compare it and see like, how different it is now, like what different things they did to reinforce the structure.

Maybe instead the question is I wonder what happened here and then Jennifer Donahue answers that question.

Like what happened where and then she asked the...

It's just for the person to see the before and after.

Can't the before and after picture be like, on top of each other?

I think the before picture, I think it's good the way it is.

So the boss is like, "Oh my God, good job!"

Then he gives you a promotion.

The end.

Are you guys nervous?

I'm nervous.

Everybody keeps adding things.

Like, what if something goes terribly wrong?

What if a meteor hits the earth right now?

Hi girls.

(SciGirls) Hi.

Ladies.

Good to see you again.

Good to see you too.

I was worried they wouldn't really like our ideas.

We're going to give you a demo walk-through of the game.

Sounds great.

Wow!

Oh my gosh, this looks great!

The name of our app is "Earthquake Time Machine."

You are a TV journalist intern and the boss gives you a mission you have to go on and you need to find all these different things, then come back and give it to him.

A plaque pops up; if the plaque is of the school.

It tells you it was used as a shelter.

The school receptionist, she left you a note saying "I heard you guys need a video," and she's going to tell you go to North Point and Scott.

Michael Woody comes up.

"I heard that you need my video so you can add it to your inventory.

Michael Woody tells you to go to Beach and Scott.

You run into Rebecca Peters, she'll tell you the personal story that she has.

Once the Stewart House will sort of pop up.

And then Jennifer Donahue's picture, she'll pop up and telling you about the slow geology, how it was built, and then after she tells you that, she'll end up asking for a picture of the house now and what it looks like, so you can see the difference.

A thing will pop up saying, "Report back to your boss."

Your boss is like, oh my gosh, good job, then he gives you a promotion and then it's "The End."

I like it!

I think it went pretty well because we only had so little time, so we kinda got through everything and we kinda got the blueprint, of how we're going to make the app.

Well, Elizabeth and Puja put us in touch with Jennifer Donahue, who is a geotechnical engineer.

Hi, are you Jennifer Donahue?

I am.

It's nice to meet you.

We asked Jennifer why the Marina District was hit so hard.

First off, there's 2 different types of soil that are here.

We have some that's very loose, it goes towards the Bay, and a lot that's stronger as we go towards the hills.

Right now we're standing on Beach Street, and this used to be where the beach was in 1852.

Since then, they've pushed all types of sand and other material there so that they can build houses.

When you have a large earthquake and you have an area where you have a loose sand, the sand particles try to rearrange themselves and that can liquefy the soil.

When the soil liquefies, the sand grains are very loose, and then people go and they build their house on it.

And then an earthquake comes along, and this is what happens.

All those sand grains, when they compress down, they push the water out that was between all the sand grains, so that's all the water that you saw coming up, and then during that process of the sand grains moving around, that's when the house settled in.

So that's what soil liquefaction is.

(Nayelli) Well, we videotaped Jennifer because it's a little bit harder to just read the text and understand it.

We thought if we could highlight someone talking to you, to have a visual of it, people would maybe pay more attention, not get as bored.

(Makenna) Tammy and I went to go get information on the house that got destroyed, and Sarah and Nayelli went to go take a picture of the school.

Got it.

We are going to interview Rebecca Peters, 'cause she had the personal story that we needed.

Hi.

Hi, how are you.

Three, two, one.

I was getting ready to leave work at Levi Strauss and Company.

(Nayelli) Rebecca had a really great story to tell us.

You know, it gave you the emotion.

(Rebecca) And she yelled down the hall, "Don't get in the elevator, there's an earthquake."

A couple seconds later the earthquake hit and we could hear the elevator in the shaft hitting the shaft walls bangety-bang, and then dishes in the kitchen were coming off in waves.

We were holding on to the doorframe and waiting for the earthquake to pass, but it seemed like it was minutes.

I know it was only seconds, but it seemed like it went on forever.

Thanks for helping us out.

You're welcome, it was great.

Thank you for coming.

Thanks for your help.

Hi, my name is Tammy, and I'm Makenna.

These are our friends.

That's my dad.

This is my door; it's full of my drawings.

Hey Makenna!

(Makenna) That's my mommy.

Sometimes for fun I hit golf balls.

[swak!

swak!]

This is my doggie; her name is Leila.

Bye!

When we went back to the Academy, the room was very anxious, I guess you could say.

We kinda wanted everyone to know what they were doing.

Do you need any help?

No.

Okay.

(Tammy) I helped with drawing the pictures of the icons, and like the people that we didn't have real pictures of.

I'm drawing the video guy, he has a mustache, and he's a junior.

This, this is a lot harder than I thought.

[electronic chime] That noise is when I'm restarting the game, you need to kinda make it, then check it.

And again there's going to be a noise.

[electronic chime] Check it, then make it again and then check it, [electronic chime] and make it again and check it and make it again until you get it right.

The one day we had to get it done really, we kinda, we didn't have enough time to do it and we weren't as focused as I think we should have been, so we ended up staying a little bit late to finish it.

The team came together by splitting up the jobs and making sure everybody knew what they were doing.

We kinda pulled together and got everything almost completed.

Tomorrow morning, we're going to test out our app to see how it is; see if it works.

Like you guys suggested, I made an app showing where all my stuff is in relation to where you are.

Now, I need you to test-drive it, at least that's what the SciGirls did.

So go on, find something.

Uh, okay, I'll look for Fang.

[electronic tones] Hm, I don't see him.

What!

He was just right there.

Oh yeah, mice move.

Fang, where are you, little buddy?

Okay, so your toothbrush should be... [electronic tones] in...right here, wow, that is... Not where that's supposed to come up.

Uh, try finding my backpack.

Mistake?

Yes.

Oh.

Because I don't keep my backpack in the fridge, that would just be weird.

[chuckles] Or your wallet, right?

Because it says here you do.

Oh no, it is where I keep my wallet.

Oh... SciGirls!

This is a fast look, and the date is October 18th.

When we were playing the app with Kimberly, I was kind of wondering if it would actually work.

In the receptionist note we should be like oh well I know a guy.

We have people stopping halfway on the block and we want them at the corner, change GPS range.

Oh she's upside down.

She's upside down.

Makenna!

Jennifer Donahue is upside down.

Our end messages weren't clear, and didn't pop up.

We're experiencing what we have to fix, we know what we have to fix now so we can make it better.

I think it went... okay.

All 4 of us were on the same program trying to fix the same problems, and we didn't know what to do.

I've already done it and I've saved it as a duplicate, it's not working.

Uh, uh, does it matter which one it is?

Not knowing what was going on with the app was highly bothersome.

The boss's error range is 9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9- 9-9-9-9-9.

I don't think we can move on until we actually take the picture.

Can I borrow someone's computer?

Are you kidding me?

[electronic tones] I'm feeling nervous because we only have like, 30 minutes left and we're not done yet.

(Makenna) Everyone else is making corrections to the game, and I'm testing out to tell them what they need to work on.

Okay, we have the flash ready.

If you go to this character first, then you go to this character, and the boss just stays there.

Once you, but at the end it's going to get all cluttered up like this, or what I feel is cluttered up.

Okay, wait, wait, wait.

Okay Michael Woody popped up.

I got her video.

Once you talk to a player, then you go to the next one, the first player is going to disappear 'cause you don't really need him anymore.

Sarah actually got the icon, the...

They disappear, so you don't go back to 'em.

Jennifer Donahue's picture comes up perfect.

Now everything's working.

Very slowly coming together.

No Sarah.

(Tammy) There were some employees from the Academy with their children, who came to test our app.

How do you like this game?

What problems are you having with this game and?

We want you to be honest about it; we don't want, I mean like, yeah, don't be nice.

So it'll pop up as we get closer.

Yea!

This app is unlike any other app I've ever used.

We thought it would be okay, then it just kind of went downhill.

(Tammy) Uh oh, I'm sorry.

(Makenna) Are we in the ocean?

What?

Let's walk closer to a corner.

I placed the list of items I want you to get in your inventory.

Where's that?

I don't know.

We tried to do too many things to it at once, and things didn't work the right way.

Our next step after the video it's not telling us what to do.

Some things got checked off that weren't really done.

I'll give it in-between.

It's a great app, but it could use some improvements.

(all) Thank you for coming!

(boy) I don't know how they're going to fix it!

(Makenna) If we split up, like you and Tammy, Nayelli and Tammy go down there and play the game and me and Sarah stay here and work on it, and we can try to fix it from here.

Alright, okay, it's sounds like a plan.

It's cold and it's raining and I'm dressed for warm weather!

We're about to try to test out the app and see if it works.

[phone rings] Okay hi.

Okay, so did the Rebecca Peters, did she pop up in the right place?

[electronic tone] A plaque that you guys put, it popped up too.

Yeah!

Awwww!

The Jennifer Donahue video was the one that wouldn't show up.

There's this thing that you have to do, it's called you hit the restart button.

You have to start over?

What?

Okay, wait.

I felt like it was a race against time to get the app done.

Did you also hit "Get Video"?

You have to in order to get the next item.

We put on the instructions you have to hit every button that comes up, that pops up, otherwise you won't be able to go to the next step.

(Makenna) The progress this afternoon actually I'm kinda happy about because we're 98% there with the game.

The video was, I didn't exactly upload it to the right page.

This weather!

So I had to re-upload it.

When you have an earthquake... Oh, the video works.

Oh, I forgot to upload it.

Hi, my name's Sarah, I'm a SciGirl.

This is my doggie Alistair.

I love to listen to music; my record player, which I love.

Just my old family photos.

Most of all I love hanging out with my friends.

I love to play the guitar and I love to draw, bye.

We are about ready to present our mobile media app to Puja and Elizabeth.

(Nayelli) I have no idea what went on inside the office, 'cause I was testing it, so I'm like well, if it crashes, like, words can't even express it.

Tammy.

Thanks.

Hey girls.

Hi.

How are ya' doing?

Good.

Good, did you have a good day?

Yup.

Alright, we're so excited to see the app that you made.

So this is the finished product of "Earthquake Time Machine."

Just dive in?

Yes, hope you enjoy it!

(Nayelli) I was really nervous about presenting to Puja and Elizabeth because I thought the app wasn't going to work.

(Puja) There we go... player.

(Nayelli) It was like one of those expect the worst and hope for the best moments.

(Puja) "You must touch every question there is and collect every video item or you won't be able to proceed with the game."

Uh oh, I don't want that to happen.

Oh, oh my gosh, it's so cool, look at him.

Look at that, alright.

Loading the picture.

[ping!]

Oh, that's a good sound.

I think it's working so far, but I'm kind of nervous about what happens, you know, later on.

(Nayelli) The presentation was so shocking to me.

Oh here, oh my goodness, he's so cute!

"Hi, I'm Michael Woody, I shot some home video of the damage right after the quake yesterday."

(Nayelli) I felt like we were only testing 2 minutes ago, and all of a sudden everything was going our way.

Alright, so we have to head towards Rebecca Peters.

Oh, there it is!

Don't you like how it pops up when you get to the right spot?

(Puja) That's so interesting how they connected the GPS.

(Nayelli) I'm giving a lot of credit to Sarah and Makenna because they're the ones that fixed the app for us.

[electronic tones] (Elizabeth) The girls managed to put everything from geology to the impact on people of earthquakes, which is one of the things that we asked for.

I think we got all of the parts.

I was like this the whole time.

They managed to find an amazing spot in the city, where they could pack all this information in.

And we had a quest because we have a goal.

Here it comes... oh yes, we got a promotion!

"You're a journalist, and you'll start earning a paycheck!"

Nice job, great job ladies.

Oh there's more.

Oh, oh.

Like our app?

Come check out the earthquake exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California-- that's amazing!

Tell us about what are some of the things you learned?

Try and try again, even if you fail a lot.

When she says "a lot," she means a lot!

I'm so proud of us; we did it.

I feel really happy that everything worked, that everything, well, almost everything worked.

Yes.

Got your clues?

Head on over to the Web and play "Pick'M, Stick'M" at pbskidsgo.org.

And this is where your ABC gum is.

You collected everything; you get a Jakeberry.

[spitting] [Izzie, sarcastically] Ah, yea me.

Well, you did it Jake, you made an awesome app to track your life.

I did, but I feel like there's still one more thing to find.

[gasps] Uh, my Smartpad!

I can't find it, can't find it, oh help!

There's only so much science can do.

So how did it go?

[SciGirls exclaim excitedly] I'm so happy for you, seriously, happy for you.

So am I.

[all laugh] Tell me about it.

You know how yesterday we had problems and everything?

With the pop-up issues, today it was 100%, everything worked.

It's not easy to do it and you learned it all by yourselves, so... Congratulations, seriously, seriously.

When I multitask I'm crocheting and I'm watching TV.

We're trying to figure out how kids are multitasking.

We created a survey.

I listen to music while doing schoolwork.

Is the quality of work lessened when you're multitasking?

It's just a wonderful experiment.

Just eating the cream part.

This year they asked us to work on the Welcome Shanty.

I can't fit in the door.

Let's go.

I think it's going to be an interesting space to change.

[whispers] I'm freezing.

(Izzie) Major funding for "SciGirls" is provided by the National Science Foundation-- supporting education and research across all fields of science and engineering.

The National Science Foundation-- where discoveries begin!

(woman) Additional funding provided by L'Oreal USA.

For girls in science... you can learn more at ForGirlsInScience.org And by PPG Industries Foundation-- committed to bringing positive impact to our communities.