NOAA Planet Stewards, Elkhorn Slough and South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRS) are hosting a simultaneous three-day workshop for educators who work with middle or high school level students.

To register at the physical location you will be attending the workshop and receive more detailed information, visit these links:

• South Slough NERRS Workshop Registration Link
• Elkhorn Slough NERRS Workshop Registration Link

Reserve your place today! Spaces are limited!

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
• Date and time if applicable
• One paragraph description
• Clear thumbnail image
• Link for more information

On this episode of Dive in With NOAA Fisheries, we talk with Dr. Caroline Good, a large whale ecologist and the lead on right whale vessel strike related issues. We discuss a newly proposed rule that aims to reduce vessel strikes and add protections to endangered North Atlantic right whales. Listen to the podcast.

In this image, Right whale #3853 is swimming north offshore of South Carolina on Jan. 20, 2011 with a series of fresh propeller wounds running across its back.  It is unknown whether the whale survived its wounds or not.
Credit: EcoHealth Alliance (NOAA permit #594-1759).

The NOAA Summer Film Festival is a virtual journey that explores how NOAA’s mission is carried out across the United States and its Territories. Short films provide a snapshot of NOAA’s work throughout the Nation, showing how NOAA data, products, and services are tailored to diverse regional needs.

Starting on August 3, a video was released each Wednesday and will continue through the end of September on the NOAA Regional Collaboration Network webpage. The remaining lineup includes:

• NOAA North Atlantic Region - August 24
• NOAA West Region - August 31
• NOAA Pacific Islands Region - September 7
• NOAA Southeast and Caribbean Region - September 14 
• NOAA Alaska Region - September 21

NEW! From Boston's The Museum of Science (MOS) and EiE® , register for Climate Justice: For People and the Planet, a live, expert-led webinar where students can explore the needs and hurdles to solving the climate crisis. Panelists will engage with attendees and explore how their unique experiences bring value and strength to the future of climate solutions. Register today!

All-new videos, activities, discussion prompts, and more centered around Climate Change, are now available in individual's Learn.EiE playlist!

If you’re new to the Learn.EiE platform, sign up for free, and get started today.

1. Go to Learn.EiE.org
2. Sign up to create a free account or login
3. Explore free content including videos activities and more!

Welcome to Science Connections The Podcast! Join host Eric Cross as he sits down with educators, scientists, and knowledge experts on ways to best support students in science classrooms. Hear how to inspire kids across the country to love learning science, and how you can bring that magic into your classroom for your students.

Sign up here!

The NSF-funded STEM Teacher Leader Network is looking to showcase unique stories that illustrate the deep impact that STEM teacher leaders have had in the classroom and beyond. The STEM Teacher Leader Network welcomes applications about how you or your colleagues have made a difference as STEM teacher leaders and applications that describe how your school, district, or administrators have successfully empowered teacher leaders. Share your idea in this short application. Selected applicants will receive a $200 stipend and coaching to turn their story into a featured 3-min video and then turn it into a short video to be featured in a Video Showcase on STEMtlnet.org November 17-15, 2022.

Read Across America (RAA) is the nation’s largest celebration of reading for students. Now, you have the chance to bring the joy of RAA to an entire school when you enter the 2022 RAA Sweepstakes! This year's RAA calendar was created with this belief in mind: No matter who they are or where they live - kids need to read books that represent them. They deserve access to stories as diverse and complex as the society we live in. Winning the sweepstakes will bring these books into your school, but also open new worlds and experiences to students in every single classroom in the public school of your choice.

On the Farm STEM is a free program designed to equip educators with lessons, activities, online learning tools, and professional development to teach science through the lens of agriculture. This upcoming webinar will introduce one phenomenon for each grade band (elementary, middle school, and high school) that can drive student sensemaking. Register for the webinar.

The STEM Teaching Tools team at University of Washington Seattle manages the Climate Teacher Education Collaborative, which creates resources builds capacity to teach about community climate justice projects and civic response to the climate crisis in teacher education programs. The Climate Teacher Education Collaborative is hosting monthly webinars for preservice and in-service educators. Watch their six newest videos on YouTube, and register here for their next webinar!

The Earth Scientist from the National Earth Science Teachers Association

The latest issue of the Earth Scientist is out just in time for the start of the school year. Check out ideas for your classroom about connecting indigenous stories and oral histories with current tsunami science, using drones to engage students in modern Earth science topographic maps and profiles, and using block coding to model GPS motion, land deformation, and earthquake risk. You will find a wealth of great resources, links to lesson plans, and other great ideas for teaching Earth Science. Enjoy these amazing ideas to kick off your school year!.

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

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! Learn more here

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

Sustainable practices promote Earth’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? 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 in this. How can 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.

National Environmental Education Foundation’s annual Climate Superstars Challenge registration is live! Register now and get ready to join the challenge starting on October 1.

Climate Superstars is an online environmental challenge that gets kids excited about the environment and how they can take an active role in caring for its future. Middle school classrooms and after-school programs (Grades 6-8) complete short tasks geared towards environmental literacy and energy efficiency. Classes that complete at least 7 tasks in the month of October (1-31) will be entered into a drawing to win one of six $5,000 e-vouchers for Samsung products like tablets, laptops, and interactive displays to modernize their classrooms. 

The original Sea-Level Rise in the Classroom project was developed through the collaboration of researchers and educators from the northern Gulf of Mexico to provide high-school level sea-level rise resilience curriculum. Now, the curriculum has been expanded to include the entire Gulf of Mexico and updated with the newest Sea-Level Rise projections. Enjoy tons of accessory materials including standards alignments for national and state-specific standards, field trip recommendations, slideshows to accompany each lesson, supply lists and more!

The entire curriculum is available now to download here.

Email Ali Rellinger at A.Rellinger@placeslr.org for any questions or assistance needed.

Recent events show the importance for communities, especially those disproportionately affected by climate change, to be prepared for high intensity storms and more variable temperatures. Students will learn about past examples of community resilience and how to plan for future severe weather events and the damage that follows. These links teach about resilience in the classroom!

Flooding Resources:

• Activity: Major Storms and Community Resilience
• Video: The Rebuilders-Rebuild by Design
• Article: Equity in Resilience - Planning for Hurricanes

Similarly, the classroom curriculum section (organized by grade bands) offers video-based lessons featuring scientists and exploring the role of soil and water in the garden and how food is produced and transported (grades K–5); sustainable forestry and wildfire science (grades 6–8); and water security issues, climate science, STEM careers, and resource management. Find it all here.

This Stanford University–led report explores questions of information literacy for science educators, including: Why do students need to develop the ability to evaluate scientific expertise and information? Why is it an urgent priority for scientists and science educators to develop students’ competency to evaluate information?

Targeted for high school to college educators, this 51-page report presents information on topics like misrepresenting data, what to consider when interpreting the sampling methods of a study, and how to deal with scientific uncertainty. In addition, the report features sample exercises for teachers to test students’ data literacy skills and discusses implications for education policy and potential recommendations for improvement.

The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is seeking proposals under the Great Lakes B-WET program. Great Lakes B-WET is a competitive grant program that supports existing, high quality environmental education programs, fosters the growth of new, innovative programs, and encourages capacity building and partnership development for environmental and place-based education programs throughout the entire Great Lakes watershed (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin). Successful projects provide Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) for students and related professional development for teachers, while advancing regional Great Lakes watershed education priorities. The Great Lakes B-WET program is funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Take a look at the applicant resources.

Contact the Great Lakes B-WET program coordinator for questions: sarah.a.waters@noaa.gov or phone at (989) 312-3520.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) administers Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), created by Congress in 1983, on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The awards are the nation’s highest honors for teachers of STEM, including Computer Science. This year's (2022-2023) awards will honor science, technology, engineering, or mathematics teachers working in grades 7-12.

Applications and/or nominations are now open. Recipients of the award receive the following:

• A certificate signed by the President of the United States.
• A paid trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities.
• A $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.
• An opportunity to build lasting partnerships with colleagues across the nation.

Nominations close on January 9, 2023. Applications must be completed by February 6, 2023.