NITARP for 2022 is now available! It's available at our website: (Link)

NITARP, the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, gets teachers involved in authentic astronomical research. We partner small groups of educators with a mentor professional astronomer for an original research project. The educators incorporate the experience into their classrooms and share their experience with other teachers. The program runs January through January. Applications for the 2022 class of educators are available now and due on Monday, September 13, 2021. The program is funded completely via NASA ADAP, and is contingent on the availability of funding.

Some things that make our program different from many (if not most) other astronomy programs for educators: (1) Each team does original research using real astronomical data, not canned labs or reproductions of previously done research; (2) Each team writes up the results of their research and presents it in a science poster session at an American Astronomical Society meeting (the AAS is the professional organization for astronomers in the US). The posters are distributed throughout the meeting, in amongst other researchers' work; the participants are not "given a free pass" because they are educators and students. Each team also presents the educational results of their experience in the program. (3) The program runs over 13 months, not just a few days or weeks. (4) Teachers are encouraged to involve their students from the beginning of the program.

Most of our educators are high school classroom educators, but 8th grade, community college, and informal educators have participated as well. The kinds of educators we are looking for are those who already know the basics of astronomy, and are interested in learning exactly how astronomy research is conducted. All educators must be US-based.

This program involves three trips — to an American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in January 2022, to Pasadena, CA in summer 2022, and to the AAS meeting in January 2023. The January 2021 meeting is in Salt Lake City, UT; the January 2022 meeting is in Seattle, WA.

While most of the work on these teams is done remotely using video conferencing and other online collaboration tools, the structure of the program heavily relies on three different face-to-face visits, necessarily requiring interstate travel and meeting in groups. If the January 2022 AAS meeting is held online because of the pandemic, we may not be able to have a NITARP class of 2022. We will monitor the situation closely and inform applicants of progress as decision points come up.

The application itself consists of short answers to a few questions. We release the questions in May so that you have time both to hear about the program and to get started writing; the website to which you need to upload your PDF answers will be available no later than early August. Please let us know if you wish to be explicitly notified via email when the site is open for submissions.

For more information, please see website ( Link ), or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at our central email, nitarp@ipac.caltech.edu.

Direct link to the PDF application instructions is here: (Link)

EdReports is a non-profit organization with a mission to empower educators with independent, credible, evidence-rich information about instructional materials to ensure students have what they need to be college and career-ready. They are accepting applications for reviewers for inaugural high school science review beginning in early April 2022.

Who is EdReports looking for? EdReports is a by educator, for educator organization. Currently, classroom educators, district specialists, state specialists, non-formal educators, retired educators, and those pursuing advanced science education degrees participate in reviews. The profile of a science reviewer includes expertise in the Next Generation Science Standards and a commitment to quality instructional materials.

What can I expect if selected to be a reviewer? EdReports plans to review five biology NGSS programs in the inaugural review. If selected, you will sit on a team of five reviewers who will be examining one set of materials with the support of EdReports’ science team. Reviewers can expect the following:

• New teams will begin with an in-depth training in April

• Each reviewer spends about 5-10 hours per week throughout the process, including attending a one-hour virtual call with their team

• A second event may be scheduled approximately halfway through the review to continue calibration and to provide cross-review team support for the inaugural high school reviews

• Reviews are expected to be completed late 2022

• Reviewers receive a host of benefits including more than 25 hours of professional development, a stipend per series reviewed ranging from $1,750 - $2,500 depending on the role you play on a review team, opportunities to learn with national experts in the field, and much more.

How do I apply? Visit EdReports’ website to learn more about becoming a reviewer and complete an application or apply now [HERE]. Once you apply, an application task will be sent requesting demonstration of your NGSS knowledge. Following receipt of the application task, EdReports will schedule a 30-minute interview to learn more about you and share more about the upcoming review.

Celebrate trees by joining the GLOBE citizen science community in the 2021 Community Trees Challenge, where Science is Better Together!

Who can participate: Everyone! (students and teachers at all grade levels, informal educators, and the public in GLOBE countries.) While getting out and taking observations might not be possible for everyone, this challenge provides multiple ways to participate and learn all about trees.

How to participate: During the 2021 Community Trees Challenge, the GLOBE Program is asking citizen scientists to observe, learn, engage, and create as they track their progress on the Trees Challenge Activity Tracker. You can choose the best journey for your interests, or try to complete all the activities. Work together as a family, as a group of friends, or independently.

By completing these activities, you will improve your science observation skills, enrich your understanding of trees as part of our landscape, learn why NASA studies trees, be a part of a NASA-sponsored citizen science project, as well as join a citizen science community. Your observations of tree height contribute to a global database that is free and open so that anyone – scientists, students, communities, and citizen scientists – can conduct research.

The Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) is the most prestigious youth award in the world for a water-related science project. The prize taps into the unlimited potential of today’s high school students as they seek to address our water challenges. The competition is open to any high school student in grades 9-12 who are 15 years of age by August 1st of the competition year. All research papers must be uploaded online no later than April 15th of each year to compete in their state’s competition. All state winners will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the SJWP National Competition. The national winner will receive $10,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to Stockholm, Sweden to participate in the SJWP International Competition

The U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition, which is celebrating its 25th year in 2022, is made possible through a collaborative effort between the Water Environment Federation and its local Member Associations (MAs) across the country. Each state competition is sponsored by an MA and has a designated state organizer. Each state identifies and sends a winner (or winning team) to the U.S. national competition which is currently held the second week of June at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Do you have a high school student that would like to participate in this competition and have a chance to win a trip to North Carolina next summer? Please have them contact Becky Lewis for paper ideas and more information. For more information about the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, go the website: http://www.wef.org/SJWP/ or contact Becky Lewis – 316-303-8702 or rlewis@wichita.gov.

The Fermilab Education and Public Engagement Office is planning a multi-day virtual event for our annual Open House, starting on Wednesday, February 9, and concluding on Sunday, February 13. Each day will include virtual tours, online classroom presentations, interactive activities done at home, talks, and live-streamed demo shows. With the virtual format, we will engage audiences with the excitement of Fermilab science locally, nationally, and internationally.

The Fermilab Office of Education and Public Engagement is looking for up to 12 teams of no more than four high school students each to create a virtual, interactive activity that demonstrates a physics principle or concept for younger children.

Teams that are selected will record their activity to be featured throughout each day of the event, in order to share their activities with the thousands of people from across the world that will attend our virtual Family Open House.

We will fill up to 12 spots with activities that meet the following criteria:

1. Appropriate for an age group from preschool to middle school.

2. Interactive for the children made with simple materials the students can find at home requiring adult supervision. If the video is done in more of a demonstration format clear instructions to not try this at home.

3. All appropriate safety precautions were identified and explained in the application.

4. Write up of activity with appropriate explanations and identified safety hazards to be shared with families during the event submitted at the time of application.

Submit your activity idea by completing the linked application by December 13. We'll notify you by December 17 if your activity has been accepted.