Hurricanes are powerful storms that can threaten life and property.
Listen to this episode where our podcast hosts discuss the roles of the National Ocean Service in hurricane preparedness, response, and recovery, and how you can prepare for this year’s hurricane season.

The Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center in Naples, FL features aquariums, touch tanks, natural history, environmental and wildlife exhibits, an art gallery, picnic area, guided walking trails, butterfly garden and a scenic overlook bridge. Special events and activities for all ages are held year-round including watercolor and photography classes, gallery nights, presentations about wildlife and conservation, birding field trips, marine science camps and more! The hours are 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday.  Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 4-12 and 3 and under are free.

Rookery Bay Research Reserve also offers guided boat tours or kayak adventures into the tranquil waters of Rookery Bay Reserve. Guests can choose from a variety of tours including shelling trips to deserted white sand islands, sunset tours or bird rookery excursions. Call 239-530-5972 for more information.

Rookery Bay Research Reserve Marine Science Camp

Registration is still OPEN.

A camp for middle or high school students who love coastal waters, marine wildlife and want to experience hands-on marine science with biologists. Join Rookery Bay Research Reserve's flexible and fun marine science camp in June. Select 1, 2 or 3 days of camp and choose from themes like kayaking through mangroves tunnels, searching for coastal critters in the bays and beaches or get hands-on in the labs with microscopes and a real squid dissection. Don't miss this opportunity - that also happens to look great on a college application!

Camp Dates:

Choose just 1 day, 2 days or an entire session week.

• June 4, 5 and 6
• June 11, 12 and 13
• June 18, 19 and 20
• June 25, 26 and 27

9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

$75 per day  Registration is required!

Watercolors & Wildlife: Painting with Jan at Rookery Bay

June 20 – Reflections on Water

$85, (includes all materials)   Registration is required!

Paint the beauty of coastal Naples and the wildlife of estuary waters in this watercolor painting class. Local artist Jan Deswik offers step-by-step instructions and creative support perfect for beginners or anyone inspired by the coastal environment and wants to bring it to life in a one-of a-kind painting. Each class spotlights a natural theme from shells to birdlife to local waterways. Held in classrooms at the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center, all materials are included. Participants will complete a painted piece with matte at each session.

Essentials of Digital Photography Workshop

June 22 – 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

$55    Registration is required!

If you want to get the best pictures possible and a true understanding of your camera’s features, this camera workshop is for you. The class covers the essentials of your digital camera. You will learn how to use your camera's shutter, aperture, ISO control and the drive modes to create images with impact and creativity. Sonny Saunders has over 35 years of experience in photography and instruction and is renowned for his ability to communicate to a wide variety of students. No previous camera or photography experience is necessary, just a desire to learn.

Rookery Bay Eco Kayak & Boat Tours – Get out on the water with us!

Join Rookery Bay Research Reserve for a guided boat tour or kayak adventure into the beautiful waters of Rookery Bay Research Reserve. With our kayak tours, guests paddle through beautiful mangrove tunnels, teeming mudflats and intricate oyster reefs while searching for amazing wildlife like sea stars, large snails, birds, dolphins and manatees! Our boat tours are small 6-passenger boats and offer a comfortable and informative ride. Guests can choose from different tours including a shelling trip to a deserted barrier island or a sunset tour.

Call 239-530-5972 to find out more.

The 25th Annual Roger Revelle Commemorative Lecture will explore the topic of equitable science and solutions in the context of our warming world. An increasing number of communities on the frontlines of climate change have voiced the importance of addressing climate injustices at the city, state, federal, and international levels. Dr. Kim Cobb (Brown University) will highlight the unique position geoscientists are in to advance climate justice through transdisciplinary research agendas, along with the benefits and challenges of conducting such research.

The lecture will be in a hybrid format, you are encouraged to register to attend either in-person or virtually.  

Please see the full calendar with details related to each of the upcoming National Estuarine Research Reserves Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) trainings listed below:

• June 14-17, 2024: 2024 North Carolina Teachers On The Estuary
• June 18, 2024: Chesapeake Bay NERR Virginia TOTE
• June 26-27, 2024: Exploring the ACE Basin 2024 TOTE
• June 25-26, 2024: Erie County TOTE - Old Woman Creek NERR
• July 1, 2024 - May 31, 2025: Aina Education Teacher Professional Development with the Heeia NERR
• July 8-10, 2024: TOTE 2024 Mission-Aransas NERR 
• July 18-18, 2024: Cuyahoga County First Ring Teachers' TOTE
• July 22-25, 2024: Environmental Education Certification TOTE - Old Woman Creek NERR
• July 22-25, 2024: Teachers on the Estuary: Blending Art and Science to Understand Impacts of Climate Change on Salt Marshes - Narragansett Bay NERR
• July 29-August 2, 2024: Teachers on the Estuary: Science and Social Emotional Learning - Chesapeake Bay NERR
• August 7-9, 2024: The Jacques Cousteau Reserve's Teachers on the Estuary Workshop

Join formal and non-formal educators from across the Mid-Atlantic to share ideas, resources, and inspiration for advancing education for climate action. 

The $20 registration fee supports speaker fees, virtual platforms, and scholarships. Full scholarships are available for Mid-Atlantic educators.

Register to attend the Mid-Atlantic Climate Change Education Conference

If needed, please apply for the Mid-Atlantic Climate Change Education Conference scholarship available to Mid-Atlantic educators and students.

This year’s Smithsonian National Education Summit, themed "Together We Thrive: Connecting at the Intersections,” is a free three-day program. The summit will explore relevant themes at the intersections of science, art, culture, and history, including “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally”; “Using Art to Connect Past and Present”; “Inclusive Storytelling”; and “Youth Taking Civic Action.” The summit will draw thousands of educators nationwide, including teachers, curriculum specialists, librarians, state education agencies, administrators, and museum and cultural educators.  

Smithsonian educators from dozens of museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo will lead the sessions. Staff from the Smithsonian Science Education Center will lead the following sessions: Educating for Sustainable Development: Teachers' Perspectives; Stories of Women in STEM; and Think Digitally! Art, Design & Digital Experiences. 

Professional development certificates will be e-mailed to registered attendees following the summit.

In this free Using Data Puzzles to Explore Ecological Tipping Points virtual teacher workshop, you'll hear from curriculum developer Jon Griffith and featured CIRES Scientists as they walk you through the Data Puzzles instructional framework in the context of new and exciting phenomena. Participants will engage with Data Puzzle lesson tasks from both the teacher and student perspective and leave the workshop prepared to facilitate Data Puzzle lessons in their classrooms! We'll also be joined by our good friend, Kristin Hunter-Thomson from Dataspire, who will describe different ways we can help students "muck about" with data to get comfortable with and better understand it.

Bow Seat is thrilled to announce a call for applications for the True Blue Fellowship, previously the Fellowship Grant Program.

The Fellowship offers peer-mentorship, capacity building, and funding of up to $2,500 USD to youth who are developing projects that address ocean, waterways, and/or climate issues through a creative arts lens. One of the biggest changes from the Fellowship Grant Program is that the creative arts must serve as the primary method of awareness and/or action in the project.

World Environment Day encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Make a STEM connection to our home planet with the resources below from NASA.

NASA’s Climate Kids brings climate science to life with games, interactive features, and exciting articles.

Explore key concepts about Earth science, missions, and climate with "NASA's Earth Minute" videos.

Find tips for incorporating hands-on data collection activities into your programs with the GLOBE Observer: Toolkit for Informal Educators.

Peer into NASA's Earth Observatory to find images, stories, and discoveries about the environment and Earth's systems.

Thursday, June 20 marks the first day of summer! Using this interactive lesson on why summer days have more sunlight, your students can develop models of the Earth-Sun system and demonstrate their understanding of how the Sun illuminates the hemispheres differently during summer and winter. The context and data sources provide evidence that explains why summer days have more daylight than winter days.

Black Birders Week is an annual event that celebrates Black birders, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts. It highlighting their contributions to the natural world, and advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the birding community. The theme of Black Birders Week 2024 was "Wings of Justice: Soaring for Change." This theme underscores the BAFiS Collective’s commitment to bird conservation, environmental justice, and community care. Everyone is invited to join in celebrating Black birders, and advocating for more inclusive outdoor spaces."

Black Birders Week 2024 featured a series of virtual and in-person events, including bird walks, educational content, talks, and community panel discussions. Participants had the opportunity to engage with Black leaders and experts in the birding community, learn about local bird conservation efforts, and explore the intersection of birding, Black communities, Black culture, and environmental justice. 

Check out the interviews, discussions, and virtual sessions on the BAFiS Youtube channel. 

In this public speaking lesson developed for grades 3-5,  students act as science communicators to explain patterns in temperature changes over time.

Students are introduced to the STEM career of science communication, and learn key information about the job. Then, they consider the best methods for sharing weather and climate data with a specific audience.

In this activity, students learn about sea ice and land ice. They observe ice melting on a solid surface near a body of water, and ice melting in a body of water. Prior to the activity, students predict what each situation will do to the level of water and then compare their prediction to what they observe. This learning activity takes one 45 minute class period.

Developed for grades 6-12, the Biodiversity! Community Research Guide is a new community research guide from the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project. In the guide, young people explore the question “How can we balance the needs of people with the needs of other living things?” Students conduct field investigations into the biodiversity of their communities, using their senses and other tools to search for plants, animals, fungi, and even bacteria. They also conduct investigations into what the people and other living things in their communities need to survive, and how the intersection of those needs can result in conflict. By examining their own perspectives and the perspectives of subject matter experts featured in the guide, students generate customized solutions for the conflicts in their community and contribute to a more sustainable planet.

Fellowship Opportunities with MARCO and MACAN

Application Deadline: June 30, 2024

Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) Marine Debris Fellowship in Microplastics

In these 12-month MARCO fellowships selected fellows will coordinate with experts in the field to help communicate the latest research and actions related to microplastics and microfibers. The fellowship offers recipients valuable science communications experience, networking opportunities in the microplastics field, mentorship, and a platform to showcase their work at events such as the 2025 MARCO Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Summit. 

Mid-Atlantic Coastal Acidification Network (MACAN) Fellowship

The MACAN fellowship aims to provide an immersive, real world learning opportunity while also helping to build diversity within the field of coastal and ocean acidification (COA). The fellowship is designed to advance COA education in classroom settings in Virginia public schools and eventually other Mid-Atlantic states.

NSHSS Conference Grants

Application deadline: August 15, 2024

STEAM Educator Grants

NSHSS is providing five $1,000 grants to enhance science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM)–related activities, innovation, and classroom excellence for teachers in a STEAM field. Funds may be used for supplies, materials, field trips or other resources to enhance the delivery of their courses. Any registered NSHSS Educator (registration is free of charge) who provides STEAM education to high school students in the United States and internationally may apply. 

Conference Grants

NSHSS is providing five $500 grants for NSHSS Educators to help defray the costs of educational conference registration, travel, and accommodations. Registration as an NSHSS Educator is free on the website.

The American Climate Corps is officially opening its doors and accepting applications! More than 2,000 positions are available across 36 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico for those ready to fight climate change. This is a historic step towards a more sustainable and resilient future that everyone can join.

The National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) is seeking an Executive Director (ED) to lead its vibrant community of Earth and space science educators into the future. The organization is for K-12 educators and is led by K-12 educators. The ideal candidate has a passion for Earth science education and has connections to support our mission “Champion excellence in Earth and Space Science for all in a community of support.” Visit the NESTA webpage to learn more.

For additional details, reach out to Belinda Jacobs at bjrockgirl11@gmail.com or Missy Holzer, PhD at missy.holzer@gmail.com.