PD Session:

Clean Up Chemical Cabinets- MS & HS
August 3rd at 4pm (Registration Link)

Field Trip Funding- Ethanol Plants

Did you know there are 11 ethanol plants that do field trips in the state? Did you know there is funding available? Kansas Corn Commission and Renew Kansas are working together to provide educators with resources to teach students about ethanol and corn. Renew Kansas represents the state’s ethanol plants, who provide funding for ethanol lab supplies and offer to give plant tours. Any teacher or school interested in taking a group of students on a ethanol plant tour are encouraged to request funds to support your trip. Students must be middle school or older for these tours. Please allow us two weeks for approval of funding.

Request Additional Information here: (Link)

NEW STEM Teaching tools - Star Rubric Recognition

Is your district pursuing Star Recognition? Educators can find important ways to support students’ science learning in home and neighborhood contexts. This is an opportunity to expand ideas of where and how science is done and what knowledge relates to science. When educators design science learning in collaboration with community members, families, and students, they can give young people more expansive perspectives on who does science, how and where they do it, and how science relates to their lives and the flourishing of their communities. In these ways, education can be more accountable to community histories, interests, and expertise.

Connecting science instruction to neighborhood life through collaborative design with community (Link)

Chemistry Storylines RELEASE Dates and Professional Development

The University of Colorado, Boulder has recently announced the release date of their storylines for High School Chemistry. They are also offering several high quality professional developments for high school teachers this summer. Keep your eye out for more information on their units and find information about their professional development offerings here: (Link). Please let me know if you have questions regarding this opportunity and I am happy to support you.

Learn more about this opportunity here: (Link)

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

https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2furldefense.us%2fv3%2f__http%3a%2f%2fnitarp.ipac.caltech.edu%2f__%3b%21%21PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7%21eAU8HhoKXclsw4BXayX2D93ibEpJ6cFyFuRqtzBbwfHWiFZcnwv1OHWnuhp-ecieIeoqmnH-%24&c=E,1,Ny-K6VQz4G4-T2uup2wSdrrqrQQojSbo4G_nHfQCWx3Pw4eOx9seHdS-xSbBtLMlOYLBV-bKl0GceXklUVELb6nESFHZvSfGrsaeFTJYOyvZHsjRtkSZ&typo=1

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 our website ( https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2furldefense.us%2fv3%2f__http%3a%2f%2fnitarp.ipac.caltech.edu__%3b%21%21PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7%21eAU8HhoKXclsw4BXayX2D93ibEpJ6cFyFuRqtzBbwfHWiFZcnwv1OHWnuhp-ecieISJpFawA%24&c=E,1,rgEsbZvTrGeonOdjmwMQHQkyhrd-8M2IZQD2fxv9jBQWbQjQRiji32XVDOe3JExq2l64-IsUs7EUXwm_3KGju05Hxcpk6HfDnlifSTYKPg,,&typo=1 ), or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at our central email, nitarp@ipac.caltech.edu.

thanks,

Luisa

Direct link to the PDF application instructions is here:

https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2furldefense.us%2fv3%2f__https%3a%2f%2fnitarp.ipac.caltech.edu%2fckeditor_assets%2fattachments%2f187%2f2022appl_v1.pdf%3f1620922546__%3b%21%21PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7%21eAU8HhoKXclsw4BXayX2D93ibEpJ6cFyFuRqtzBbwfHWiFZcnwv1OHWnuhp-ecieISxI4rCk%24&c=E,1,M3K5pTcA3dI-d2jD4fArKp1tPzcjD-z7OvC6nUtiy50rnoMzG5yE0P9kVOjs74aXIzhPqLWa_UotPVhJGu_-9WauMYDHaKR-CU6yzUgCxrGBuuE,&typo=1

This page:

https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2furldefense.us%2fv3%2f__http%3a%2f%2fnitarp.ipac.caltech.edu%2fresource_category%2f7-For-applicants__%3b%21%21PvBDto6Hs4WbVuu7%21eAU8HhoKXclsw4BXayX2D93ibEpJ6cFyFuRqtzBbwfHWiFZcnwv1OHWnuhp-ecieIXUycMMa%24&c=E,1,e0gi3nqCnB_kf1HilG0FcuEny5LCs-Rt9m8ZuqYP56cU8gno8xxw2dyEHHvv2TaInPPNkjFYG9RmSIkE8WLj5ox1mi9CXaogirk3nAs0ppbFE0c,&typo=1

has a generalized collection of resources for applicants, including FAQs and a pointer to the application.

Beauty and Charm is an engaging, exciting, exploratory physical science program in which students learn how scientists and engineers work together to do big science, and the process we use to study things we can't see. Activities are designed to introduce your students to the world of particle physics, and to the concept of science as a process of constant, ongoing learning. All workshop activities are aligned to the NGSS.

You will have the opportunity to meet with and ask questions of lab staff and take virtual tours of the Fermilab site. There is a $50 registration fee, and teachers will receive a kit of materials to assist in completing the investigations in the workshop. Space is limited.

Teachers in Illinois receive professional development hours and graduate credit is offered through the University of St. Francis (a fee for graduate credit is charged by the university). Graduate credit is available to all teachers regardless of location.

More information about the workshop is available at this link.

Registration for our workshops is available at https://ed.fnal.gov/home/teacherworkshops.shtml.

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.

Kansas NSF EPSCoR is going to hold its annual Ecosystems of Kansas Summer Institute this summer for Kansas High School Biology and Environmental Science Teachers June 7-11, 2021 at the University of Kansas Field Station Station (https://biosurvey.ku.edu/field-station).

Teacher participants will earn a stipend of $750 for actively participating in the week’s activities and writing curriculum. In addition, a travel allowance will be provided for those living more than 1 hour away from the field station along with room and board.

While attending the institute, teachers will participate in a variety of activities from carrying out investigations and learning about current university-level research, to exploring diverse outdoor environments. Early in the week participants will be divided into groups based upon their areas of interest to work with University of Kansas researchers. These groups will spend time developing NGSS inquiry-based curriculum for their own high school classrooms. The Institute is directed by Dr. Peggy Schultz, Associate Specialist with the Kansas Biological Survey and the Environmental Studies Program (https://biosurvey.ku.edu/directory/peggy-schultz ). All KU COVID 19 protocols will be followed and masks are required.

For more info: http://s.12ab.pw/l/08e-2

To apply: http://s.12ab.pw/l/c42-1

To help spark teachers’ interest, here is video from the 2018 institute for you to share with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpgw3POGZpQ

The Ecosystems of Kansas Summer Institute is part of the education and outreach initiatives proposed in the Kansas NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1: Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas award #1656006 (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1656006).

The Kansas Association of Education Service Agencies (KAESA) along with the Kansas Department of Education (KSDE) are excited to announce the Kansas Teaching and Leading Project. This project, which includes a comprehensive website with on-demand professional development and supporting resources, as well as live just-in-time webinars will support educators through this school year and beyond.

CLICK HERE to access the website for information in the areas of Understanding the Navigating Change Document, Social and Emotional Learning, Competency-Based and Personalized Learning, Remote and Hybrid Teaching and Learning, Teaching with Instructional Technology, Leadership and Communication, Community and Family Engagement, and Facilities and Operations.

The KU School of Pharmacy just announced approval to host four one-day summer camp sessions this year.

https://pharmacy-summercamp.ku.edu/

The single-day summer camp sessions give high school students and incoming college freshmen a chance to see what the pharmacy profession is all about. Participants will spend the day on-campus, experiencing in-person, hands-on activities related to the current pharmacy curriculum.

Camp participants will be the given the opportunity to:

· Learn about various pharmacy practice settings including community pharmacy and institutional hospital practice sites

· Visit campus research laboratories and interact with basic science faculty

· Utilize the pharmacy school facilities including lecture classrooms and pharmacy practice skills laboratory spaces

· Participate in the hands-on, non-sterile compounding of medications

· Discuss current pharmacy practice methods with real life practitioners during a virtual tour of local pharmacies

Participants will be guided through the activities by current pharmacy students and school of pharmacy faculty.

Join us in exploring the pharmacy profession by clicking the link above and starting the registration process.

Spend your summer exploring at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, near Great Bend, KS. The center is open from 9-5 Monday through Saturday and 1-5 on Sunday afternoons. Each day visitors can enjoy our interactive exhibit hall, classroom of live animals, video about Cheyenne Bottoms, and get information about bird activity in the marsh. Special programming is offered throughout the summer. Check our website, https://wetlandscenter.fhsu.edu, for events and more information. A highlight will be the launch of a children's book: Ava, A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet. The 32 page, fully illustrated story, follows the migration of a shorebird as it travels to Cheyenne Bottoms, the largest marsh in the interior of the United States. The book is full of science information and terminology, supplemental lesson plans will also be available on the education page of our website. Each K-6 classroom in Barton County will receive a copy and each school and community library within 70 miles of the center will receive a copy.

For incoming 9th and 10th graders, KWEC is hosting one of the FHSU KAMS Camps, Echo Tech: Birds and Bytes, the week of June 21. Visit https://www.fhsu.edu/kams/summer-camps/index for more information. Day camps for 1st-6th grade will be held in July. A STEM Drop-in date will also be scheduled. Our annual end of summer party is a chance to learn about space and watch the Perseid Meteor Shower on August 13.

Teachers should also check out a professional development opportunity hosted by KWEC and the Kansas Association of Conservation and Environmental Education. Teaching and Learning Outdoors is a hybrid workshop with the in-person portion scheduled for June 8. Participants will receive four environmental education curriculum guides full of lessons and activities.

The NASA GSFC Office of STEM Engagement at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is currently recruiting high school STEM Teachers to apply for the NASA Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI).

Application Period: Applications are considered upon receipt and the application period closes on July 16, 2021. Multiple positions are available

Program Description: The NASA Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) is a yearlong STEM engagement opportunity for NYC metropolitan area STEM educators, who will become associate researchers at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and STEM education experts who will integrate NASA education resources and content into their classroom while improving STEM education within their community. During the fall and spring term of CCRI the research team will consist of NASA Principal Investigators who will lead graduate student research assistants and high school STEM teachers to become immersed in a NASA science research area of study related to climate change. During the spring semester, the graduate student research assistant and high school STEM educator will continue to perform NASA research. Additionally, the high school STEM educator will develop an Applied Research STEM Curriculum Portfolio, which will integrate components of their research into a comprehensive unit plan that utilizes NASA education resources while aligning instruction of NASA Science and STEM curriculum to the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. The teacher will then implement the STEM curriculum into their classrooms and provide community outreach STEM engagement events related to their NASA research study. The fall and spring term will not conflict with the educators’ primary schedule, roles or responsibilities at their school site. During the summer session, the primary research team will add an undergraduate intern and high school intern to the CCRI research team. The STEM educator will lead and work collaboratively on a full-time basis to complete the research project, create a PowerPoint presentation and a scientific poster that will be presented at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and other symposiums.

Program Dates:

Fall: 10/11/21 - 12/17/21: (5 hours per week for 10 weeks)

Spring: 02/07/22 – 04/15/22: (5 hours per week for 10 weeks)

Summer: 07/05/22 - 08/12/22: (40 hours per week for 6 weeks)

For more information about the program and for details instructions on how to apply, please visit the NASA Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) website (Link).

If you have any question, please contact Matthew Pearce at matthew.d.pearce@nasa.gov

NASA Informal STEM Funding Opportunity

The NASA Office of STEM Engagement invites proposals from museums, science centers, planetariums, NASA Visitor Centers, youth-serving organizations, libraries, and other eligible nonprofit institutions via the 2021 NASA Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Proposals for Community Anchor Awards ranging from $20K to $25K for 1-2 years are due June 17, 2021 and proposals for Standard Awards ranging from $500K to $800K for 2-4 years are due July 19, 2021.

Racial Equity in STEM Education

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) seeks to support bold, ground-breaking, and potentially transformative projects addressing systemic racism in STEM. Contexts may include, but are not limited to: preK-12, two- and four-year undergraduate, and graduate institutions; municipal organizations; STEM workplaces; and informal STEM contexts, such as museums, community organizations, and media. Full proposals are due July 13 and October 12, 2021 and March 22, 2022.

Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program

NSF issued a request for applications (RFA) to recruit, prepare and retain highly effective K-12 STEM teachers and teacher leaders in high -need school districts. There are five tracks that include stipends, scholarships, fellowships, research, and capacity building. Eligible entities include Institutions of Higher Education, including Community Colleges and non-profit organizations offering teacher preparation or residency programs. Full proposals are due August 31, 2021.

Department of Navy STEM Education & Workforce Program

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is interested in proposals to cultivate a diverse, world-class STEM workforce to maintain the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ technological superiority. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) explicitly encourages programs that improve the capacity of education systems and communities to create impactful STEM educational experiences for students of all ages and the naval related workforce. Applications are due October 8, 2021.