NOAA Planet Stewards, The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and the Hawai’i Science Teaching Association are hosting a three-day workshop for 6-9th grade educators to learn about climate change, how it's impacting Hawai‘i, and how to engage students to take action through place-based activities grounded in Hawaiian perspectives.

Spaces for this event are limited! Travel scholarships are available for teachers on Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. All educators are welcome to apply to attend. 

You can find more detailed information and register to attend the workshop here. 

Questions? Contact: science.is.cool@noaa.gov

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If you're looking for educational resources or ideas to plug into your academic planning, check out archived issues of The Watch! Our team has reviewed all content for use by formal and informal educators working to increase their own ocean, climate, and environmental awareness as well as their students and audiences.

If you have an item you'd like to share with our education community, email us at: oceanserviceseducation@noaa.gov. Be sure to include:

• Event/Item announcement title
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NOAA is kicking off the tenth year of our celebration of the ocean! Throughout June, NOAA Ocean Service will be sharing videos, imagery, facts, and articles about our ocean and coasts.

For a unique perspective check out this story about the "Spilhaus projection" – a new map projection that went viral in fall 2018 and provides us with new ways to think of the Earth.

Q&A: NOAA Intern Interviews Marine Debris Sea Grant Fellow Tanya Torres on Preventing and Cleaning Up Trash in Our Waterways

In this Q&A series, NOAA intern Abisola Ajai interviews three scientists in NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) and talks with OR&R Marine Debris Program California Sea Grant Extension Fellow Tanya Torres. Read the full interview where they talk about beach cleanups, marine debris prevention, and more.

NWS Seasonal Safety Campaign

Are you ready for summer fun?  Check out the latest weather safety graphics, videos, social media posts and more. In addition, please note the Spanish-language safety materials containing infographics and social media plans.

Our ocean is filled with volcanic features that profoundly influence tectonics, ecosystems, and ocean currents. NOAA OER seeks to characterize these features and their influences on our planet’s ocean, nature,, and human lives. Join OER and NSTA for this Science Update webinar to explore seamounts of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins, share what has been discovered and provide education resources to guide student understanding.  Register here for this and other upcoming web seminars from NSTA.

Educators Wade-In! Check out the National Estuarine Research Reserve Estuary Education website for upcoming Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) workshop opportunities from June-July across the country.  If you’ve never seen a TOTE, watch the 5 minute video on the website to learn more.

Millions of people in the U.S. lack access to clean and safe drinking water, particularly in low-income rural areas and in communities of color. Our changing climate creates additional threats. Join this conversation about how policies and infrastructure could help address disparities in access to water and build resilience to the increasing impacts from climate change.

The conversation will be webcast on the Climate Conversations: Water Justice webpage; register for the webinar. Available to view on the page after the event.

Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level, cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to national policy action on climate change.

CLEAN is leading a cohort of educators to the Summer Institute for Climate Change Education, hosted by Climate Generation in partnership with NOAA Climate Office.  This three-day experience is full of powerful and engaging keynote speakers, meaningful discussion about climate change, and collaborative conversations between a national network of climate change education leaders. Leave feeling reinvigorated for the new school year and prepared to educate your students to be global citizens.

The Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Education Committee will hold an in-person workshop with local educators, combined with an online workshop via Zoom. ESIP members will share a resource and lead teachers through an activity using Earth science data. Tools and resources include the NOAA Climate Explorer, UNAVCO Velocity Viewer, NOAA CIMSS satellite data activities, NASA SEDAC Hazards Mapper and HazPop App, En-ROADS Climate Decision Model, and the Concord Consortium Flood Risk and Impact module. Participants will also be directed to the Out 2 Lunch archive of Earth science webinar demos of data tools and resources.

In-person attendees will receive $200 to defray fuel and hotel costs; some meals will be provided. They’ll also be eligible to apply and compete for a FUNding Friday project of up to $3,000. Both in-person and online participants may apply for implementation grants the following school year. Register for free.

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Also from ESIP: Out 2 Lunch Webinars Data Tools Demos

Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) presents a collection of webinars on Earth science data tools for K–12 teachers and others. These 15-minute programs feature a 10-minute demonstration of an Earth science data tool or resource, followed by five minutes of Q & A about the resource. The webinars are recorded so teachers can watch them on demand. 

This free interactive online workshop allows teachers to engage with the MOSAiC Expedition–inspired A Changing Arctic Ecosystem storyline curriculum connected to NGSS life science standards. Participants will hear from MOSAiC scientists and the curriculum developers about the unit, in which students trace the flow of carbon through the Arctic food web to predict how declining sea ice might impact Arctic organisms. Teachers will engage with ArcGIS Storymaps, hands-on investigations, authentic Arctic datasets, and more. 

Participants are expected to complete about 2 hours of asynchronous work. Teachers will receive a certificate for 10 professional development hours and the option to purchase 1 credit ($80) from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Bee The Change Art Challenge

Deadline: July 4, 2022

How will you be the change for our planet? The 2022 Bee The Change Art Challenge is sponsored by S.C.R.A.P. Gallery and the Cathedral City Environmental Conservation Division in honor of World Bee Day and the queen of pollinators. Work will become part of the Bee The Change environmental art traveling exhibit for the new year.

For more information: info@scrapgallery.org

1. "Striving for Sustainability Globally" Video Contest for all ages. 

Learn more about the Striving for Sustainability Globally video contest. The American Geosciences Institute invites individuals and teams to submit a brief, original video exploring the many ways people are using the Earth sciences to make decisions that maintain and strengthen the planet’s ability to support thriving life!

2. "Sustainability in Action" Photography Contest for all ages.

Sustainable practices promote the planet’s capacity to support life throughout the biosphere, which involves interactions with other Earth systems such as the geosphere, the hydrosphere, and the atmosphere. How does geoscience knowledge help support sustainability where you live? With your camera, capture an image of the ways geoscience informs local efforts to build a sustainable world. Learn more about the contest.

3. "Our Sustainable World" Visual Arts Contest for Grades K-5 

A “sustainable” planet is one that supports living things — and that means taking care of all the things that life depends on, including land, water, air, and other living things. What does a sustainable world look like to you? What is necessary to have or change? What is not necessary? What is necessary to change? Use your artistic ability to produce an original work of art that shows how land, water, air, and living things interact in a sustainable world. Learn more about the contest.

4."Geoscience for Sustainable Development Goals" Essay Contest for Grades 6-9. 

We have all been called upon to help meet 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) articulated by nations around the world. Geoscience — which addresses interactions of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere — can play a critical role. How can the Earth sciences help achieve SDGs in areas such as poverty, nutrition, education, equality, ecosystems, climate change, and/or industrial innovation? Learn more about the contest.

What if you could map all the solar facilities in the world? In this blog from Resource Watch, Kyle Story and Lucas Kruitwagen share what started with asking this question. In their groundbreaking research, they developed a machine learning pipeline to map solar facilities in satellite imagery that could play a key role in the path to decarbonize the energy.

Read the author's story and explore the data on Resource Watch.

Nature-Action Québec happily presents "Climate Change and Me!"  to increase knowledge and encourage young people to learn about climate change phenomena and positively influence their lifestyle to help reduce greenhouse gas production. 

The site offers four bonus scientific experiments in addition to the multiple experiments that are found in the videos that can be redone at home. Students can even test their new knowledge by answering  questions available after each episode!

Learn the stories and the individuals behind BlackBirdersWeek, which began in 2020 and has flourished.  To stay in the loop on Black Birders Week, check out these hashtags:

• #BlackBirdersWeek
• #BlackInNature
• #NatureForAll
• #BlackBirders

For some general resources on what has occurred in past Black Birders Weeks, consider reading: The Impact of Black Birder's Week by Deja Perkins and Lauren Pharr. And be sre to see the full Black Birders Week 22 schedule from the Black AF in STEM Collective that includes upcoming webinars, interviews, videos, and articles such as these:

• [Interview] Tykee James talks about his passion for birding
• [Video] Listen to Christian Cooper elaborate on his passion for birding.
• [Article] Read Carolyn Finney's words on how representation impacts a sense of belonging in nature.

UPCOMING NSF GRANTS INCLUDE:

• Proposals for the Faculty Early Career Development Program are due July 27.
• The upcoming deadline for grant proposals for the Dear Colleague Letter: NSF and William T. Grant Foundation Partnership to Increase the Use, Usefulness, and Impact of Research about Youth is August 3.
•  ITEST grants solicitations due August 12, 2022.
• The Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program proposal Phase II deadline is October 21.
• Proposals for the Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) program are accepted anytime until April 1, 2024.

Through this program, expert K–12 educators from the United States travel to participating countries and territories to carry out short-term assignments abroad. Educators support and work in schools, teacher training colleges, government ministries, or educational non-governmental organizations as identified by U.S. Embassies and Fulbright Commissions. Fields for these assignments include STEM, project-based learning, family and consumer science, assessment, curriculum development, elementary education, education for those with visual impairments, and academic remediation. STEM projects will take place in Peru, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Project dates run from January to August 2023. Learn more and apply.