Dear Staff,
Another year is nearly at an end, but there are still some “opportunities” awaiting you… But first a little joke:
Another Frog Joke:
A frog goes into a bank and hops up to the loan officer. The frog says "Hi, what's your name?" The loan officer says "My name is John Paddywack. Can I help you?" The frog says "Yeah, I'd like to borrow some money." The loan officer finds this a little odd, but gets out a form. He says, "Okay, what's your name?" The frog says "Kermit Jagger."
The loan officer says "Really? Any relation to Mick Jagger?" The frog says "Yeah, he's my dad." The loan officer says, "Okay. Ummm...do you have any collateral?" The frog hands the loan officer a pink ceramic elephant and says "Will this do?" The loan officer says "Hmmm...I'm not sure. Let me go check with the bank manager." The frog says "Oh, tell him I said hi. He knows me." The loan officer goes back to the manager and says "Excuse me, but there's a frog out there named Kermit Jagger who wants to borrow some money. All he has for collateral is this pink elephant thing and I'm not even sure what it is." The manager says: "It's a knick-knack, Paddywack, give the frog a loan, his old man's a Rolling Stone."
Teachers-See the following opportunities:
#4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15
Primary Grades-See the following opportunities:
#3, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14,
Middle School-See the following opportunities:
#1, #2, #3, #5,#6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14,
High School-See the following opportunities:
#3, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14
Opportunity #1
NASA G.I.R.L.S. Mentoring Project
http://women.nasa.gov/nasa-g-i-r-l-s/.
NASA is looking for the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators. Tojump-start the future of potential explorers, Women@NASA has created a mentoring project that offers a one-of-a-kind experience for middle school girls. Participants will get to explore the possibilities of a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The project will feature one-on-one mentoring from women working at NASA. Participants will complete online lessons with their mentors while virtually connected through Skype or Google Chat. Applicants must be U.S. citizens in grades 5-8 or home-school equivalent. The mentoring project will take place over a five-week period during the summer. Applications will be open for submission on May 15 and are due June 15, 2012.
Opportunity #2
John H. Lounsbury Award
amle.org
The John H. Lounsbury Award for Distinguished Service is the highest award given by the National Middle School Association (NMSA). This award is given only when an individual has demonstrated a high level of service, integrity, and leadership in middle level education. Selection procedures include a committee review of received nominations and materials. If a recommendation results from committee deliberations, it is submitted to the Board of Trustees for a final decision.
Viable candidates for this award include those who have made a global impact on middle level education, have a minimum of 10 years of actively demonstrated, distinguished service, have demonstrated scholarship of the highest level in professional writing and research, and have maintained dedicated service to middle level education beyond the local, state, or regional level. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the website listed above and are due on or before June 1, 2012.
Opportunity #3
K-12: Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm
Share your love for water through a creative project - a poem, essay, photo, dance or video - that captures water around us. The Sense of Wonder contest is run by the U.S. EPA, Generations United, the Dance Exchange, Rachel Carson Council, Inc., and the National Center for Creative Aging. To honor the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, this year's contest has been renamed Sense of Water. The submission deadline is June 1, 2012.
Opportunity #4
K-12: Win a STEM Classroom Makeover
http://sciencekit.com/info.asp?ii=890&sid=STEM416&eid=STEM416&lm=skit
How are you preparing your students today for the careers of tomorrow? Share your STEM story for a chance to win a complete STEM classroom makeover: deadline is June 1, 2012.
You could win these hands-on STEM products for your entire classroom (a $2,500 value): Six Motion Probes, a Motion Probe Activity Kit, Two Boreal2 Digital Microscopes, a Motic Digiscope withSoftware, and TeacherGeek STEM Bin: Mechanisms
It’s Easy to Enter! Here’s how:
* Request an Official Entry Form
* Provide your email address and contact information, and accept the Science Kit terms of use.
* Check your email! You will receive your entry form automatically via that email address
* Download the form and complete it with your STEM story.
* Send your completed entry form to us to win!
Opportunity #5
2012 World Environment Day Contest
http://www.projectearth.net/Competition/Details/0b755bf6-7839-488d-a414-562465c18af9
Any student, teacher, class or school (K-12) is welcome to enter Project Earth's World Environment Day Contest. Share your environmental efforts on ProjectEarth.net and submit an environmental project or activity being taken to conserve resources and protect our environment. The submission deadline is June 5, 2012.
Opportunity #6
Summer Science Camps at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska
www.akchallenger.org
Registration is now open for camps for students K through 12thgrade. In addition to space camps, the center is offering CSI, Food Science, and Sports in Motion, just to name a few topics. Full descriptions of the week-long camps are available on the website. Transportation from Anchorage can be arranged. Home school allotments can be used toward camp costs, and highschool students can earn credit.
Opportunity #7
Help with a Survey!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ScienceAndDisabilities
We need your help! We are conducting a research study (eIRB#7242) entitled, “Teaching Science to Students with Disabilities: A Survey of Teacher Preparednessand Attitudes.” This voluntary, anonymous survey will help provide insights into K-12 science teachers' preparation, needs, and views regarding teaching students with disabilities. By conducting this study, we hope to better understand how well-prepared science teachers are in assisting students with disabilities and to determine strategies that may support teachers in engaging and educating these students. The online survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions regarding this research, please contact Sami Kahn at: <span style="color: rgb(32, 65, 154);">samikahn@mail.usf.edu</span>
Opportunity #8
How Things Fly Website
howthingsfly.si.edu
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s interactive website presents hands-on experiences exploring the science of flight. The lessons are supplemented with images, short videos, quiz questions, experiments, and activities. Geared primarily for middle level students but engaging for aviation enthusiasts of all ages, the site enables visitors to design a paper airplane, explore the inner workings of engines, and receive answers to flight-related questions. Social media fans can even launch a virtual paperairplane into Facebook or Twitter and watch how far it travels.
Opportunity #9
SunWise Program
www.epa.gov/sunwise
EPA’s SunWise program is a national environmental and health education program that teaches children and their caregivers how to be safe in sun. SunWise distributes a free toolkit with over 50 cross-curricular, standards-based activities for K-8 children. The UV-sensitive Frisbee in the kit is a great tool for inquiry-based activities as well as physical fitness. Surveys have found that students with a SunWise education have 11% fewer sunburns -- the number one preventable risk factor for skin cancer -- and increased knowledge about sun safety when compared to children without a SunWise education. Over 30,000 schools and 5,500 community partners have joined the program since its launch in May 2000.
Don’t Fry Day Pledge and Resources:
The Friday before Memorial Day is the 4th annual Don’t Fry Day! The National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention encourages everyone to protect their skin and eyes while enjoying the outdoors, on Don’t Fry Day and every day. We invite you to encourage educators to take the DFDPledge to teach about sun safety: www.epa.gov/sunwise/dfdpledge.html. Educators will receive a DFD poster and sun safety stickers as well as be entered into a drawing for a SunWise Classroom Prize Pack -- a classroom set of UV-sensitive beads and other sun safety resources.
Sun Safety Certification: This interactive training provides outdoor educators with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed
to instill life-long sun-safe behaviors in children, and includes a certificate of completion (www.epa.gov/sunwise/tutorial.html).
New Media Tools: Download a free sun safety widget or mobile app at www.epa.gov/sunwise/uviresources.html.
State-Specific Skin Cancer Fact Sheets: www.epa.gov/sunwise/statefacts.html
Opportunity #10
KidsGardening Information
Kidsgardening.org
KidsGardening.org provides lessons, activities, hand-outs and articles from PK–12th grade that apply across the curriculum. Educators can register school and community gardens, communicate with other programs, and engage in meaningful discussions about garden activities. Complete with how-to guides, garden stories, grants and resources, this free resource helps educators of all ages engage children in hands-on learning opportunities.
Opportunity #11
Journey Into Galaxies
http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/wise_image_service.html
NASA scientists have unveiled a first-of-its-kind atlas of the stars that catalogs more than half a billion celestial objects—including stars, galaxies, planets, asteroids and hundreds of objects that had never been detected before. The project, made possible by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, processed more than 15 TB of data to narrow the material down to 18,000 images in a catalog.
Opportunity #12
New NASA Educational iPhone Game
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comet-quest/id504786625?mt=8&ls=1
A new NASA iPhone game from The Space Place! Learn about comets and the Rosetta mission while playing “Comet Quest.” It’s like the real Rosetta mission, but with you in control of the spacecraft. You can find our new game at the Apple app store.
Opportunity #13
Engineer the Past
http://www.software-kids.com/te_catapult.html
On the Time Engineers website, students come across a Time Engineers binder that contains confidential information on a time-travel machine that the United States government built to travel back in time to obtain and document the history of engineering. The document contains threechapters, each with their own space–time coordinate for time travel. The chapters contain mission briefings, engineering tasks and mission commanderassistance. The final document contains a map showing the location of the time machine and start-up procedure. With the documents in hand, students are ready to begin their journey back in time. The catapult simulation covers algebra, physical science, technology and history.
Opportunity #14
Take Science and Math Learning to the Next Level with Free iPad Apps
http://www.exploriments.com/ipad/index.html
Exploriments are simulation-based interactive learning units for enhancing conceptual understanding in science and math in an experiential manner. Designed to beequally effective as learning as well as teaching aids, Exploriments provide a highly interactive, exploratory and engaging experience.
Try the free Exploriments iPad apps for Motion, Fluids, Electrostatics, Electricity and Force.
Opportunity #15
A Teacher in Space?
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/expeditions/index.html
Did you know Astronaut Joe Acaba was a classroom teacher before he joined NASA?
Follow Joe's upcoming mission to the ISS on NASA's newest education website. "Teach Station” is a place for educators and students to follow the ISS and to access educational resources, crew updates, opportunities to connectwith expedition crewmembers, up-to-the-minute education news and other NASAinformation.
(Edited by John Concilus - original submission Sunday, May 6 2012, 09:10 PM)
