Emerging Green Technologies, Getting Outdoors around Urban Waters, and Healthier School Food

Emerging Green Technologies, Getting Outdoors around Urban Waters, and

Healthier School Food

 

1,000 to Attend Energy Literacy Webinar: Next Week – Green Technologies with NASA

The Green Strides Webinar Series provides school communities with the tools to reduce their schools’ environmental impact and costs; improve health and wellness; and teach effective environmental literacy, including STEM, green careers, and civic engagement. Find more sessions for educators, facilities managers, and advocates weekly.>>> 

Feb. 6, 2013, 4-5 p.m. An Energy Literacy Citizenry from K through Grey (DOE)

Feb. 13, 2013, 4-5 p.m. Emerging ʺGreenʺ Technologies: OMEGA: Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae (NASA)

Feb. 20, 2013, 4-5 p.m. Climate Time Machine (NASA)

Feb. 27, 2013, 4-5 p.m. Healthy Living – Healthy Students (NWF)

Mar. 6, 2013, 2-3 p.m. Integrated Pest Management in Schools: Protecting Children from Pests and Pesticides (EPA)

Mar. 13, 2013, 4-5 p.m. Food and Fitness (NASA)

Mar. 20, 2013, 4-5 p.m. Radiation Exposure on Earth (NASA)

 

And mark your calendars for special sessions of the Green Strides Webinar Series from the National Environmental Education Foundation and other collaborators in the lead-up to environmental education week (April 14-20). This year’s EE week theme is “Green STEM: Taking Technology Outdoors.” >>>

 

Local School Communities Get Outdoors at Urban Waters Sites

The Urban Waters Federal Partnership, a 13 agency initiative, aims to stimulate local economies, create jobs, improve quality of life, and protect health by revitalizing urban waterways and the communities around them, focusing on under-served urban communities. At Partnership sites across the country, federal, state and local governments, non-profits and schools are working together to safeguard natural resources for generations to come and ensure that students receive effective environmental education.>>>

 

Agriculture Opens Farm to School Grant Competition

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the release of a request for applications (RFA) in the latest round of USDA’s Farm to School grants. These grants help eligible schools improve the health and wellbeing of their students and connect with local agricultural producers. Proposals for any one of three types of grants are due on April 24^th and you can learn more about the process through several webinars for applicants in early March.>>>

 

Next Generation Science Standards Available For Public Comment

The second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards, being developed with input from 26 states, is open for public comment. The revised draft, released Jan.8th continues to focus on what the National Research Council (NRC) calls its "three dimensions" of science proficiency: practices, cross-cutting concepts, and core ideas in various science disciplines.>>>

 

International School Meals Day

The U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture, and international partners, invite schools to join in celebrating the first International School Meals Day on March 8, 2013.  Good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are as important to a child’s overall success as the curriculum that our schools teach each day. International School Meals Day is a way to connect children around the world, to foster healthy eating habits in school and at home, and to share policies, practices, and research.  Ideas for celebrating include:  hosting seminars, workshops or events related to healthy eating; planning an International Menu Day; hosting food tasting sessions;  engaging in cooking with an international theme; and visiting universities or farms. >>>

 

National Institute for Standards and Technology Summer Institute for Middle School Science

The Summer Institute is a two-week workshop for middle school science teachers featuring hands-on activities, lectures, tours, and visits with NIST scientists and engineers in their laboratories. Applications are due March 20, 2013. The aims of the NIST Summer Institute Program are to increase teachers’ understanding of the subjects they teach, provide materials and resources to implement what they have learned, enhance their enthusiasm for science, increase teachers’ understanding of how scientific research is carried out, and provide them with the opportunity to develop an on-going network of scientists and engineers who will be available for consultation even after the NIST Summer Institute Program has ended.>>>

 

New Report Calls for Federal Action to Close Achievement Gap by Addressing School Health

The nation’s children are struggling academically and could become the first generation to live shorter and less healthy lives than their parents. At the same time, our nation faces a growing achievement gap that research increasingly connects to health disparities. Health in Mind, a new report from Healthy Schools Campaign and Trust for America’s Health details solutions that can help close the achievement gap and create a healthy future for all children.>>>

 

Department of Energy hosts Energy All Stars

On January 19, 2013 as part of Inauguration Weekend, the Department of Energy hosted Energy All Stars featuring prominent energy leaders doing TED-style talks outlining what our energy future can and should look like, and steps that can be taken to achieve that vision. Speakers included Secretary of Energy - Steven Chu, former governor of Michigan - Jennifer Granholm, Los Angeles Mayor - Antonio Villaraigosa, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance - Michael Liebreich, President and CEO of CPS Energy - Doyle Beneby, managing principal of the Analysis Group and former Assistant Secretary of Energy - Susan Tierney, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Watch these incredible presentations.>>>

 

CDC’s Analysis of the Best Foods in Schools

CDC’s Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, released Competitive Foods and Beverages in U.S. Schools: A State Policy Analysis, which provides a snapshot of policies for competitive foods in schools in 39 states, as of October 2010, to determine their alignment with the 13 standards recommended in the 2007 Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools: Leading the Way Toward Healthier Youth. The report can be used to help support the implementation of evidence-based recommendations from the 2011 CDC School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. >>>