NOAA Planet Stewards is excited to continue our Book Club during the 2022-2023 school year!

Book: A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its       Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington

        When: November 15 at 7:00 PM ET 

Find all upcoming meeting dates and book selections for this year in the Book Club Section of our Upcoming Events Page, along with new information on how to log in now that we're holding them in Google Meet - another flavor of Zoom. Don't forget, you can find over 50 fiction, non-fiction, and Young Adult selections from past Book Clubs - with discussion questions, on our Book Club Archive Page.

 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!

The National Earth Science Educators Association’s latest edition of The Earth Scientist is out! This issue features six articles written by NOAA Planet Stewards Educators about the projects they carried out within their schools and communities including:

Restoring prairie grasslands in Ohio, and watershed ecosystems in Illinois,

Sequestering carbon by planting Ponderosa Pine forests in Arizona, and large-scale school gardens in New York.

Participating in Marine debris removal, awareness and prevention in Alaska and California.

All the educator’s projects are aligned to the NGSS and their articles have links to activities and lessons they carried out. We hope you’ll enjoy this issue and be inspired to take action in your communities.

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

The NOAA Voices Oral History Archive is a collection of more than 2300 oral histories. In this episode, explore how this valuable resource helps us better understand the impact of weather events, coastal changes, and climate change. Listen to the podcast.

Deadline for spring semester: January 6, 2023

To help teachers seeking Earth science professional development, the American Meteorological Society is waiving all course fees for the first 35 participants that are successfully matched to a mentor team for each of the three online Spring 2023 DataStreme courses in weather, ocean, and climate science.

Participants earn three accredited graduate credits per course. Don’t wait! - DataStreme Courses are going on hiatus during the 2023-2024 academic year, but will return in Fall 2024.

Nearly 23,000 teachers have completed a DataStreme course, helping them leverage real time data in their classrooms, advance their careers, inspire their students, and become science leaders in their schools and communities. 

Fill out the DataStreme Interest Form now to get matched with a mentor for this spring semester.

Completion of any two courses offered by AMS Education fulfills the requirements to become a Certified AMS Teacher! Learn more about this exciting microcredential

Farm fields in coastal areas of the Delmarva Peninsula are being increasingly inundated with saltwater due to climate change-induced sea level rise. This leads to lower crop yields and reduced crop-income for farmers. Scientists at the University of Delaware are using innovative techniques to better understand the impact of salt water intrusion on agriculture. This webinar will cover how researchers are using images from satellites, drones and airplanes to detect salt patches on the farm fields of Delmarva. It will include an introduction to the problem, how satellite data can help track salt water intrusion, and how you can access this data in your classroom.

Register here.

November 8, 2022 | 6:00 pm ET
“Beyond Doom & Gloom: How to Teach Climate Change Towards Empowerment”

Hear from youth about how they are handling climate change doom and gloom and its challenge to their mental health. you'll will walk away with a variety of strategies and activities to integrate the challenging topic into your curriculum as you engage with today’s youth.
Register and learn more details.

Travel virtually to Antarctica with your students through live sessions from the McMurdo research station in the heart of Antarctica facilitated by Dr. Xinzhao Chu and her graduate students. Students will learn about topics related to polar science including the upper atmosphere, space weather, seasons in Antarctica, and what it's like to live at the McMurdo station. Students can also 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.

• November 8 - Seasons in the Arctic
• November 15 - Introduction too Space Weather with Arunima Prakash

Register for one or all the webinars.

As countries around the world transition their power grids from fossil fuels to renewable energy, a major challenge being faced is the effect daily weather has on wind and solar energy production. This month meet Branko Kosovic, a National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) weather systems scientist in the NCAR Research Applications Lab, and discover how his team works together to help the transition to renewable energy by developing and sharing better weather forecasts and technology. 

Questions can be submitted in advance if you have students who cannot attend the session live; the recording will be available shortly after. More details and Zoom registration can be found on the Meet the Experts page.

Join The Paleontological Research Institution for Science in the Pub, their bimonthly (second and fourth Thursday of each month) presentation and discussion series. 

Adam Smith, an applied climatologist at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information in the Climate Science and Services Division, will host the event. He is the lead scientist for the U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters program,  which includes socioeconomic exposure and vulnerability data.

Sessions are generally live streamed on PRI’s YouTube Channel and shared in the Science in the Virtual Pub Facebook Group, but participation in the discussion requires joining Zoom to participate.

REGISTER FOR EVENTS HERE

Nainoa is a native Hawaiian navigator and president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He is known around the world as a leader in the traditional Polynesian art of non-instrumented navigation and for his canoe voyages throughout the global ocean guided only by stars, waves, winds, and marine life,  and has received numerous awards. 

On his many long voyages, Nainoa came to appreciate the Hawaiian concept of "Mālama" - care-taking - from a planetary perspective. He will share that perspective while inspiring and educating us all to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world with a melding of science and indigenous wisdom.

Register for this virtual lecture today!

Join Explorer Classroom — live interactive sessions that connect young people with National Geographic Explorers — to hear behind-the-scenes stories and interact with cutting-edge scientists, researchers, and powerful storytellers from around the globe. All events are free, open to the public, and include an interactive guide for students and educators to help everyone get the most out of the experience.

Thursday, November 17, 2022 | 7:00–8:30 pm ET

Join Rico Newman, Elder of the Choptico Band of Piscataway Conoy, as he acknowledges and thanks the land for its blessings and then teaches about what a land acknowledgment is, who “should” do it, why and how to do it, what it means to do a land acknowledgment well, and what not to do. This talk is geared at a non-Native audience but those with experience and expertise are welcome to contribute their own perspectives as well. Register today!

Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 12:00 pm ET

Discovery of Sound in the Sea (DOSITS) Team presents a webinar in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the DOSITS project. Presenters will discuss the current state of underwater acoustics, knowledge and future research on the characterization of the underwater acoustic environment, and the acoustics of marine mammals, fishes and invertebrates.

The webinar will be hosted via Zoom and simultaneously streamed on YouTube. Questions during the webinar will be welcomed. A recording will be available to watch on the DOSITS website after the live event.

Registration is required.

Thursday, December 8, 2022 | Half-Day Virtual Event

STEMIE Fest is a gathering of families, early childhood and early childhood special education professionals, faculty, and others, to engage in innovative and inclusive STEM learning experiences for all young children. This year’s event will be a half-day virtual event followed by a series of targeted professional development opportunities in 2023.  

Registration is now open!

You can help others understand climate change and inspire people to take action through art. Youth ages 13-17 are invited to submit artwork related to the topic of climate, people, and nature. Winning artists will be featured in the chapters of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which is seen by hundreds of thousands of people across the country and around the world. Learn more!

Participants will be asked to create a one-minute video outlining an innovative solution to a current environmental issue that they’re passionate about. Winning videos will be selected by a panel of judges to receive cash prizes, as well as an invitation to the iconic National Geographic Explorers Festival in Washington, D.C.

Students ages 13-18 and educators looking for ways to engage young people around environmental action are encouraged to sign up. Participation is free!

NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) is offering a Weather 101 series! These are free interactive online classes to help everyone learn about meteorology, forecasting and all about NWS in general. New for this fall is Global Circulations (including El Nino and La Nina).  For more information on topics, dates/times and registration visit NWS' Weather Forecast Office in Nashville, TN Weather 101 landing page.

The Trash Shouldn't Splash Toolkit, created by Falmouth Water Stewards/Skip the Straw and Sea Education Association with funding provided by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, provides strategies, best practices, and examples of successful, student-driven campaigns to reduce single-use plastics in communities, and includes worthwhile and time-saving information for use.

X-STEM All Access is a free virtual conference series by the USA Science & Engineering Festival designed to get middle and high schoolers excited about STEM. Each 30-minute episode features a STEM role model telling their story through an upbeat Q&A session with a fellow STEM professional. Check out the NGSS and CASEL aligned lesson plans paired with previous X-STEM All Access episodes. Register for upcoming webinars on November 9 and December 14.

Who wouldn’t want to be a part of the “World’s Largest Lesson?” This resource provides educators with tools and resources for introducing the UN Sustainable Development Goals to students of all ages. Find it here: The World’s Largest Lesson

Climate Action Superheroes! is great for younger students looking for a role in the fight against climate change. Transform your students into climate action superheroes as they explore the ways their interests and motivations can guide them to make more sustainable decisions.

Application Deadline: December 17, 2022

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 see examples of the work of past Fellows. 

The National Science Foundation administers Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), were 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.