When: October 11 at 7:00 PM ET 

Book: Escape Greenland by Ellen Prager

           -- a young adult fiction book 

 
Join with link: meet.google.com/pcu-wjwx-kmh.  

           (Wait briefly to be let in by the facilitator.)

Our September Book Club Meeting discussion on My Octopus Teacher was terrific!  You can see all the meeting dates and selections for the 2022-2023 academic year in the Book Club Section of our Upcoming Events Page. There's also new information on how to log into these events via Google Meet - another flavor of Zoom. 

For our October meeting Join with link: meet.google.com/pcu-wjwx-kmh, or you can just join by phone at: +1 612-361-0505, then enter the following PIN: 576 707 897#. 

In addition to finding all our Book Club selections and meeting dates for the 2022-2023 academic year on our website, We have over 50 fiction, non-fiction, and young adult selections from past Book Club events - with discussion questions, in our archives. Whether you’re looking to catch up on some knowledge, enjoy a quick fun read, or find a book to use with your students, there’s something for everyone at the NOAA Planet Stewards Book Club!

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

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 full lineup of the Film Festival follows: 

• NOAA Central Region - August 3, 2022
• NOAA Great Lakes Region - August 10, 2022
• NOAA Gulf of Mexico Region - August 17, 2022
• NOAA North Atlantic Region - August 24, 2022
• NOAA West Region - August 31, 2022
• NOAA Pacific Islands Region - September 7, 2022
• NOAA Southeast and Caribbean Region - September 14, 2022
• NOAA Alaska Region - September 21, 2022

Join The National Academies for a conversation about how to adapt the U.S. electric grid to meet the needs of a decarbonized and electrified country.

Are you interested in working with The GLOBE Program, but not sure where to start? NASA has worked with experienced GLOBE teachers to put together one-week “Pacing Guides.” Each guide provides a five-day sequence of activities that address a guiding question. They are aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and incorporate information on how to engage in science observations with GLOBE. Each Pacing Guide also includes an activity from My NASA Data using real satellite data. On this webinar, you will learn more about the “Cloud Types Featuring NASA GLOBE CLOUD GAZE” Pacing Guide, which targets students in grades 3-8, and the “Clouds and Energy Budget” Pacing Guide, which targets students in grades 6-12. Register for the webinar.

Join My NASA Data and NASA STEM EPDC for an in depth demonstration of the Ocean Circulation Patterns Story Map. Written using the 5E instructional format it integrates a range of visualizations (i.e., images, charts, and graphs). Students can explore ocean circulation patterns as they relate to the world's ocean garbage patches using NASA ocean currents data, and investigate how debris, especially plastics, travel from land to garbage patches. Students can also analyze regional plastic production and waste management data to describe how humans have contributed to ocean plastic pollution. Register for the webinar.

In this recording of the the August 2022 Climate Teacher Ed Collaborative webinar, Jason Foster and Ayesha T. Qazi-Lampert discuss the power of teaching about the environment and climate using community-centered racial justice pedagogy. Drawing from their experiences working in the Chicago Public School System, Jason and Ayesha encourage educators to forge connections with each other and with community members. Watch this webinar recording for resources to connect your students with environmental issues happening in their neighborhoods.

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. 

Travel virtually to Antarctica with your students through four live sessions from the McMurdo research station in the heart of Antarctica facilitated by researcher Dr. Xinzhao Chu and her graduate students. Students will learn about polar science topics including the upper atmosphere, space weather, seasons in Antarctica, and what it's like to live at the McMurdo station. Students will also be able to chat live with scientists at the end of the world. These events are open to the public and will be most interesting for middle school ages and up. Register on the event pages for the link! Co-hosted by CIRES Education & Outreach and Exploring by the Seat of your Pants.

• October 11 - Introduction to Space Weather
• October 18 - A Day in the Life at McMurdo
• November 8 - Seasons in the Arctic
• November 15 - Introduction too Space Weather with Arunima Prakash

Register for one or all four webinars.

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.

NOAA and the Department of the Interior have just launched a new website: Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) to help communities across the nation understand the real-time climate-related hazards in their area, analyze projected long-term exposure to those hazards, and identify federal funds to support climate resilience projects for their communities. Check out the user guide for more information.

How do scientists mimic the physics of a hurricane on the surface of a bubble? What other types of crazy research are bubbles used for? Learn how to create colorful vortices on a bubble in your kitchen!

Fish Force Game: Ruff Ruffman Show

Young learners will use scientific inquiry to predict and investigate forces and motion with Ruff Ruffman! What will it take to help rescue Ruff Ruffman’s plushie from the penguins’ rink? Check out the game.

This new professional learning resource will help you brainstorm different classes of compelling science and engineering phenomena that can be used to promote goals for equity. The resource offers four categories of meaningful phenomena:

1. Everyday phenomena that all students will be familiar with
2. Contemporary scientific phenomena related to current science investigations
3. Societally relevant phenomena related to science-technology intersections & social justice
4. Culturally relevant phenomena 

This fall, follow along with National Geographic Society/Ocean Exploration Trust expedition teams as they study the biodiversity, marine environment, and maritime heritage of Hawaiʻi from the Exploration Vessel Nautilus. Your learners can participate by learning about the teams’ projects, exploring our educational resources, and tuning in for live events.

Each week, a different team of Explorers aboard the Nautilus will stream live free, interactive sessions focused on marine mammal communication and soundscapes, resident shark populations, microplastic pollution, and maritime heritage. Mark your calendars and register online.

VIEW THE ENTIRE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORE'S SCHEDULE

Check out the new video from NASA's  Surprisingly STEM series: Soft Robots. Soft robotics is an exciting sub-category of robotics that mimics the mechanics of nature – using soft materials moved by pressure systems. Soft robotics engineer Jim Neilan and mechanical engineering intern Anthony Dempsey explain the benefits of soft robotics and some of the skills that make for a good soft robotics engineer. Bring the excitement of robotics into your classroom with NASA's ‘Design a Robotic Insect’ classroom activity.

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN! Are you an educator, or know one, who’d like to spend 11 months working at a federal agency or Congress? The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship is accepting applications for the 2023-2024 year. Teachers will apply their extensive knowledge and classroom experiences to national education program and/or education policy efforts during this Fellowship. There are many sponsoring federal agencies, so check out the full list here and see examples of the work of past Fellows. 

The National Science Foundation 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. 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.