Harvard University’s Phillip Sadler noted:"The best teachers can predict the common misconceptions that their students have." Adults and students hold tightly to incorrect ideas that prevent deep understanding of key earth and space concepts, essential for understanding climate science. Knowledge of misconceptions is essential for science teachers in any topic. This presentation explores current research, useful resources and sites, and potential classroom strategies and assessments to increase student understanding of science. Watch the webinar anytime here.

It’s Hurricane Season in the Northern Hemisphere. What are hurricanes? How are they named? And how do they form? With this NOAA Resource Of The Day, you’ll find the answers to these questions and more. Start learning with NOAA's hurricane resource collection

With major support from NOAA, the DataStreme Project offers three semester-long distance learning courses to K-12 teachers in all 50 states and U.S. territories, including:

• DataStreme Atmosphere - focuses on the study of key meteorological concepts and dynamic weather events in near real-time; 
• DataStreme Ocean - addresses the ocean’s physical, chemical, biological, and geological properties and their effects on coastlines, ecosystems, and climate; and 

• DataStreme Earth’s Climate System - explores the scientific principles governing the climate system and the ways humans interact in it.

Apply today for the fall (begins mid-August) or spring semesters via the AMS website here. A limited number of fee waivers for DataStreme are also available.

AMS recently launched a new certification program! Upon successful completion of any two of DataStreme courses, Project Atmosphere, and Project Ocean/Maury, teachers may to apply to become a Certified AMS Teacher. Learn more HERE.

The Science Peer Review Panel is an elite cohort of educators from across the country with expertise in the NGSS and EQuIP Rubric for Science that reviews free and publicly available lessons and units to determine the extent to which they are designed for the NGSS. The Panel is now accepting submissions in middle school science instructional materials designed  High quality materials aligned to NGSS are then posted for science educators across the country here. 

Submit your resources via the website for the next round of reviews beginning in August. Find out more.

The Women's Aquatic Network is presenting, “The Circle of Mentoring: Leveraging Mentoring to Build an Aquatic Career." How to be a good mentor and mentee, how to find mentors, and the importance of mentoring in paying it forward to future generations and creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive field will be its focus. Speakers, agenda, and mentorship training resources will be shared with registrants. Any and all ocean lovers and practitioners are welcome to join.. Register here.

The Climate Toolkit is available on-line through pdxScholar.  Though originally written as a resource for undergraduate climate science courses by Portland State University instructor Frank Granshaw, it has been adapted for use in a variety of academic and non-academic settings. The manual centers on a series of guided inquiry activities that help students and others make use of online climate data viewers, interactive atlases, catalogs, and simulators. It also provides basic information about the international climate process and other on-line resources.   

The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program has released status reports for coral reefs in the Atlantic and Caribbean U.S. states and territories - Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; and Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico. The status reports provide an overall snapshot of coral reef ecosystem conditions based on four indicators: corals and algae, fish, climate, and human connections. They show that coral reefs near human population centers are moderately to critically impacted, which is likely due to water quality issues, impacts from fishing, as well as warming and more acidic water conditions. Access the reports.

Lawrence Hall of Science is hosting a virtual open space conference to help leaders from formal and informal education systems come together to find mutually beneficial solutions to the devastating impacts of COVID-19. Schools can use their outdoor spaces to bring more students safely back to school with some outdoor educators to expand their capacity. More details about this FREE open space conference can be found here. 

Have students access this Interactive map that displays county-by county flooding estimates and compares FEMA with the "independent researcher estimates".  They can look up their own county to see risk of flooding from a major storm. And the article tells about a group of academics and experts based in New York City who compiled the data, creating a website where people can check their own address.

The NSTA Daily Do is an open educational resource (OER) used by educators and families to provide students distance and home science learning. Check out these NSTA Daily Dos.

• High School: Where Do 'New' Diseases Come From?
• Middle Level: What's In An Egg?
• Elementary: How Do We Find Patterns In Weather?
• Families: Why Is Our Fruit Turning Brown?
• Families: Why Did COVID-19 Cause Environmental Changes?

In this month's Next Gen Navigator, four public school teachers—two elementary, one middle, and one high school—share how they have used the Daily Dos during the recent school closures. Don't get the Navigator? Sign up for this monthly e-newsletter.

This science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) - based game challenges players to fix Science Island, an abandoned 100-year-old theme park. Developed by design students and researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, with input from Ugandan middle school students and scientists worldwide, the game explores STEM content through more than 120 learning quests in 10 themes (dinosaurs, medicine, math, physics, inventions, animals, environment, weather, evolution, and space). Find it here.