Welcome to winter, we that you are finding ways to nourish your body and mind as we reach peak darkness! We at OSPI so admire all of the hard work that you do for your students. Science teaching has never been more important as we face a changing climate and increasing reliance on science and technology to function in our world. We hope you find something you can connect with as you read on. OSPI's 3rd Annual Climate Education Summit is set for this April in Vancouver, plus we have lots of opportunities for your students in this edition. As always, feel free to reach out to your OSPI Science Team if you have any needs or questions!
Note: Resources are provided for informational purposes and not as recommendations from OSPI. Resources referenced here may be for educators or parents/families and may not be intended for use in the classroom. We recommend reviewing all educational materials for alignment with district policy and state law before using them with students. Articles and other resources are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints or policies of OSPI.
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Applications for OSPI's 3rd Annual Climate Education Summit Are Open!
Washington's 3rd Climate Education Summit is happening on April 25-26th in Vancouver, WA! Friday the 25th is an optional day consisting of outdoor learning field experiences and a climate speaker. Saturday the 26th will have our keynote speaker on salmon recovery, lunch, a non-profit climate learning exhibit hall, and multiple climate learning sessions for you to choose from! Be on the lookout for opportunities to be a presenter, we would love to hear about any climate work you are already doing in your classroom.
- Priority Deadline: February 3, 2025.
- Application Due March 21st, 2025.
- Applicants will be notified of their status on a rolling basis as of February 4, 2025.
Registration and Travel Cost Information:
- The conference is grant-supported, so there is no registration fee.
- Clock hours for Washington educators will be free of charge.
- Travel, lodging, and substitute costs cannot be covered.
- Please see this support document to reference when discussing attendance with your district.
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Join the Washington Climate Educator Book Club!
Bring your friends, or make new ones. And remember that ALL teachers are climate teachers. :)
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Teams of 2-8 educators (any content area, any grade level)
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Free books (option shown below) will be sent via USPS mail
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Free 15 Total Clock Hours: Equity (9 hrs) and STEM Clock Hours (6 hrs) for participants
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3 self-scheduled small group book study meetings (pre-, during-, and post-assignments for hours)
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3 whole group sessions (1 Asynchronous Video, 2/25: Climate in WA, 5/6: Team Share)
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End of Course: All hours/assignments are due in Canvas 5/16/25
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Email Lori.Henrickson@k12.wa.us with questions
Effect Change ⇒ Get a Sticker!
We have a special opportunity for you to take action this month. To celebrate Washington being the first state to have funded climate science education (going strong since 2018), we not only have a wealth of free resources but also a robust offering of professional learning to incorporate climate into your classroom. The first 200 Washington educators who commit to climate professional learning and incorporating one climate resource this school year will be mailed a Climate Educator sticker (shown at right.) First round of stickers will be sent out starting next week!
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Help OSPI Revise the Science Standards Clarification Statements
We are looking for K-12 teachers who have the ability to use systems-thinking and equity lenses to support the review and revision of the clarification statements that are part of the Next Generation Science Standards. Those wishing to participate should be knowledgeable of the science standards that they teach and have classroom experience in teaching the NGSS. You do NOT need to know about all K-12 standards or be an NGSS expert. Those able to collaborate and wordsmith would be ideal participants.
Those who participate can earn 1.5 equity clock hours. Depending upon need and interest, more sessions may be added in the future.
Register:
The Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST) is the highest honor for teachers of science and math in both Washington state and the nation. The award is based on video and written evidence of exemplary teaching in math, science, STEM, and computer science classrooms. Up to three finalists in the science and math categories will be recognized at the state level and one finalist from each category will be selected as the national awardee.
This cycle is seeking teachings of math, science, STEM, and computer science who primarily teach 7th - 12th grade. State finalists receive state recognition and a free trip to the next state math or science education conference. National awardees are recognized in Washington D.C. by the White House and receive $10,000.
OSPI will host informational webinars and supportive office hours later in the fall and winter. Please register for the webinars at the links below. The first 20 minutes will go over the PAEMST application process and the remaining 40 minutes will be for questions and application support.
Register for a Washington State PAEMST Webinar:
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Apply for the US-ED Green Ribbon Schools Award!
Be highlighted by the US Department of Education as a national model for sustainability and environmental education. Learn how your PK12 school or district can apply for the 2025 US-ED Green Ribbon Schools Program. Honorees get cash prizes and may attend the US Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Awards in Washington, DC.
Public and private schools and districts, along with early learning centers, are invited to apply. Rural schools and districts, nature-based pre-schools, and schools or districts serving above state average student populations of migrant and multilingual students or students with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Washington's applications will be released in mid-November 2024.
OSPI partners with honorees to celebrate successes at the state level, as well. To learn more, email Elizabeth Schmitz or drop in for Office Hours, 3:30–5 PM.
Cash awards are provided by the program's state sponsor, the Washington State Principals Education Foundation. Awards may be used to support Honoree travel to the US Department of Education Awards Event in Washington, DC, or to support further green school efforts. $10,000 is divided equally among the number of confirmed honorees, which can range from 1 honoree to 5.
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In-Person Professional Learning Opportunities
2/8 - Hope & Resilience: Watersheds & Salmon
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Location: Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, Bellingham, WA - Time - 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Cost: FREE, $100 Participation Stipend & Lunch Included! - Clock Hours: 3STEM - Grade Levels: 3-12
- These field-based workshops will focus on equitable solutions currently being implemented for the health of Whatcom County watersheds. The Teaching for the Climate Collaborative will guide participants through classroom-ready STEM activities that connect students to the outdoors and illustrate how climate change is affecting different stakeholders and ecosystems. Tribal partners will share their expertise and a variety of take-home resources will set teachers up to integrate workshop learning with the Since Time Immemorial Curriculum.
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Register Here
3/8- Localizing Your Science Unit
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Location: Brightwater Education Center in Woodinvilla, WA- Time - 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. - Cost: FREE - Clock Hours: 6.5 STEM + 1 Equity - Grade Levels: K-12
- Are you looking for an opportunity to map out specific ideas for connecting your science unit to your region, community, and students? Would you want to gather in-person with your peers to brainstorm ideas together? Do you need STEM and Equity Clock Hours? Join us for a FREE Saturday session (including lunch and travel) on March 8th at the Brightwater Education Center in Woodinville.
- Staff from IslandWood, NWESD and OESD will facilitate a series of short introductions to opportunities, followed by ample time to brainstorm and develop ideas for localizing your unit to YOUR community. You will have an opportunity to expand on ideas for unit specific related phenomena, adapt unit transfer tasks and develop ideas for connections to local community assets. Leave with a plan for ideas to try out when you teach the unit with your students.
- This workshop is a follow up to our online “Introduction to Localizing OpenSciEd for Secondary Teachers” or “Introduction to Localizing National Science Units” workshops. If you have not attended one of our Introduction to Localizing workshops you will need to watch a recording before the Saturday session and can earn an additional 1.5 clock hours for doing so.
- Register here: https://www.pdenroller.org/oesd114/catalog/179298
Applications for Summer 2025 Teacher Programs at Fred Hutch Cancer Center Open December 2nd
Interested in a paid summer program at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle? Our programs are designed for secondary science and STEM teachers. Now is a good time to explore our programs to learn more! Check out the Science Education Partnership (SEP), our three-week summer professional development program. Consider applying to our two summer research experience programs: the Hutch Fellowship for Excellence in STEM Teaching (HTF) or Partners in Science 2.0 @ Fred Hutch (PS2@FH), both which engage teachers in two summers of mentored biomedical research with additional activities and projects. Applications for all three programs open on December 2nd, 2024. The priority application deadline for all three programs will be March 16th, 2025. The Recommendation & Support Form for each program has a priority deadline of March 30th, 2025. Questions? Email sep@fredhutch.org.
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Virtual Professional Learning Opportunities
1/3 - 5/30 - Localizing your 4th Grade Amplify Science “Earth’s Features” Unit
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Format: Asynchronous - Cost: FREE - Clock Hours: 5 STEM + 2.5 Equity - Grade Levels: 4
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Do you teach 4th Grade Amplify Science? Have you been wondering how you could make Amplify more relevant, meaningful and culturally responsive for YOUR students? Are you interested in STEM and Equity clock hours? IslandWood is offering a free asynchronous online course for localizing the Earth’s Features unit. You can progress through it at your own pace between January 3 - May 30, 2025 as you implement the unit with your students. Those who complete the course will earn 7.5 Clock Hours (5 STEM and 2.5 Equity Clock hours).
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Register here.
1/1-1/31 Sign up now for IslandWood’s Community-Centered Climate Action Course for 3rd-5th Grade Teachers
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Format: Synchronous - Dates: 1/8, 1/11 or 1/1, 1/22, & 1/29 - Cost: FREE - Clock Hours: 8 STEM & 2 Equity - Grade Levels: 3-5
- Option to attend one day in person!
- Did you know idling cars during school pickup impacts air quality and the environment? Have you ever wondered about the role of trees in relation to air quality? Join IslandWood staff in exploring a curriculum that supports students in figuring out what is impacting their community’s air quality and then doing something about it! This free course provides 8 STEM and 2 Equity clock hours for attending four sessions in January. Learn more and watch a video with student’s sharing about their “No Idling” project on IslandWood’s website.
- Learn More and Register Here
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1/7 - OpenSciEd Middle School and High School Community of Practice Registration is Open!
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Format: Synchronous - Dates: 1/7, 2/11, 3/4 - Times: 4:00 - 5:30 pm Cost: FREE - Clock Hours: 4.5 - Grade Levels: 6-12
- The OpenSciEd Community of Practice is a collaboration and professional learning space for middle school and high school teachers (as well as TOSA's supporting OSE science teaching, administrators who wish to engage in deep learning with teacher implementers/early adopters, and OSE facilitators) across Washington State working to implement OpenSciEd instructional materials and deepen their practice around these high-quality instructional materials in a collaborative environment.
- The OpenSciEd curriculum is an Open Educational Resource (OER) that fosters deep, engaging science learning and is the only curriculum designed for the NGSS that has had every unit rated as quality. More information is available at www.openscied.org.
- This virtual learning community will share best practices, learn together, trouble-shoot issues with implementation, and share resources. The community will meet from 4:00-5:30 pm for three sessions.
- Register for Cycle 2: January 7 - March 24, 2025
2/25 - Introduction to Localizing for OpenSciEd Secondary Teachers
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Format: Synchronous - Date: 2/25 - Times: 4:00 - 5:30 pm Cost: FREE - Clock Hours: 1.5 STEM + .5 Equity - Grade Levels: K-12
- Are you teaching or supporting OpenSciEd Middle School or High School units this year? Have you been identifying local “related phenomena” with your students but wondering what else you could be doing to connect the unit to our region and your student’s communities? Would you like some help in thinking about how to make the units meaningful and relevant to your students?
- IslandWood, Olympic ESD, and Northwest ESD have been working with teachers, developers and school district partners on an approach to localizing national science units and we’d love to share it with you!
- Those who attend will have first priority to register for our free day-long in-person session where we will support you in applying the approach to an OpenSciEd unit of your choice.
- Register here : https://www.pdenroller.org/oesd114/catalog/179294
2/27 - Introduction to Localizing Your Science Unit
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Format: Synchronous - Date: 2/27 - Times: 4:00 - 5:30 pm Cost: FREE - Clock Hours: 1.5 STEM + .5 Equity - Grade Levels: K-12
- Are you teaching or supporting science units this year using a national curriculum? Have you been identifying local “related phenomena” with your students but wondering what else you could be doing to connect the unit to our region and your student’s communities? Would you like some help in thinking about how to make the units meaningful and relevant to your students?IslandWood, Olympic ESD, and Northwest ESD have been working with teachers, developers and school district partners on an approach to localizing national science units and we’d love to share it with you!
- Those who attend will have first priority to register for our free day-long in-person session where we will support you in applying the approach to a unit of your choice.
- Register here: https://www.pdenroller.org/oesd114/catalog/179296
Other Opportunities
Teacher Innovator Institute: Empowering innovative educators through authentic STEAM
- Spend two weeks in Washington, DC, working with education and STEAM experts to explore the connections between informal STEAM education and authentic learning.
- Learn more here.
HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHERS - PARTICIPATE IN AN IUPAC SURVEY
A project funded by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), is conducting a brief, online, anonymous survey of high school chemistry teachers. The survey has been conducted in over sixty countries and in over forty languages. The survey asks what practical activities high school chemistry teachers use in the classroom and why. The survey also seeks to gather evidence of teachers conducting practical activities related to green and sustainable chemistry. If you might be interested, click on this link to access the survey. More details can be found on the project website.
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SUBMIT YOUR AP CHEMISTRY TEACHING RESOURCES for $200
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AP chemistry teaching resources are an important member benefit of AACT. Currently we are looking for new and unique ideas related to select AP Topics and Learning Objectives to help grow the AP section of the AACT classroom resource library. During the months of November and December, we invite teachers to submit an original AP chemistry teaching resource idea related to the following topics:
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2.4: Structure of Metals and Alloys
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3.5: Kinetic Molecular Theory
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3.6: Deviation from Ideal Gas Law
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3.8: Representations of Solutions
Upon completion of the submission process, you will earn a $200 gift card! Learn more »
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2025 EngineerGirl Writing Contest from the National Academy of Engineering
The 2025 EngineerGirl Writing Contest opened in September. The theme this year is “Innovating Smarter” and we’re asking students to write a piece describing a common object they would make “smart” and tell us what it would do, how it would help people, and what could go wrong. The contest is open to all students, of any gender, in grades 3-12 and the deadline is February 1, 2025. The prize for first place in each of three grade categories is $1,000. There is also a note for educators and tips for using the contest in a classroom on the EngineerGirl website.
Washington Tracking Network Youth Science Contest for High Schoolers
The Department of Health’s Washington Tracking Network (WTN) is launching the 4th year of the Washington Tracking Network Youth Science Contest. The WTN Youth Science Contest is an opportunity for high school students in Washington State to develop their science and communication skills by working with health and environmental data from their own communities.The contest was designed, with student input, to engage students across a broad range of areas of interest: health, equity, social and environmental justice, data science, etc.
Participants can choose from three tracks:
- Health Science
- Science Communication
- Program and Policy Design
Registration is open from February 1st to March 1st, and the official contest period is from February 15th through April 15th. Winners will be announced in late May.
Radon poster contest for 9–14 year-olds
In partnership with the NW Radon Coalition, the Washington State Department of Health is sponsoring a contest for students to create informative posters about radon. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can buildup in our homes. The contest aims to raise awareness about radon and how to protect your household.
The contest period runs through January and February, 2025. Submission forms, lesson plans, rules, and previous winning entries can be found here.
Winning posters will be featured on the DOH website and social media and entrants will receive prizes!
Pacific Northwest Student Space Design Competition
1/25 - 1/26 Raisbeck Aviation High School Tukwila, WA
This design competition is a high-intensity industry-simulation event, in which students adopt professional roles, are given industry specific challenges, and deliver real-world solutions.
More information here.
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