Thank you to all who attended STEM Trek this past Saturday and for those who shared the information with others! YOU are secret sauce to making events great!
Join us for a free in-person Rx for Science Literacy workshop
on June 24 in Winston-Salem
Dear K-12 Educators,
NCABR is partnering with the Wake Forest School of Medicine to present Why Vaccines Matter: From Laboratory to Clinic to Community, a free one-day in-person workshop on Friday, June 24, from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
This workshop will be offered in person only and will feature the newly updated and expanded Rx for Science Literacy curriculum manual. A copy of the manual, along with breakfast, lunch and refreshments, will be provided to attendees at no cost thanks to generous sponsorship from the Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Because a limited number of seats is available, we encourage you to register as soon as possible. Registration is completely free.
Why Vaccines Matter:
From Laboratory to Clinic to Community
Friday, June 24, 2022 Wake Forest School of Medicine Winston-Salem, N.C.
This program will highlight the New Technologies in Vaccines chapter from the newly updated and expanded Rx for Science Literacy curriculum manual. This program also will feature talks from Wake Forest School of Medicine researchers about why vaccines matter, about current COVID-19 and influenza vaccine research, and about the role of animals in biomedical research and more.
About the Curriculum: With generous support from the Biogen Foundation, NCABR and a team of science writers, biomedical researchers and curriculum developers comprehensively updated and expanded the Rx for Science Literacy curriculum manual in 2020. The newly updated curriculum includes a comprehensive update of all content, statistics and charts and includes a variety of new activities, resources, interviews with real world scientists and a new section on CRISPR and CRISPR technology. The manual includes chapters on nanobiotechnology, regenerative medicine and vaccines and is accompanied by a curriculum crosswalk that shows connections to North Carolina science standards and Next Generation Science Standards. It also includes a reading guide aligned to the Common Core standards.
About the Workshop Series: The Rx for Science Literacy workshop series provides K-12 educators a unique opportunity to tour research facilities, hear from scientists about their latest research advances and take home a free curriculum and other bioscience education materials.
Incentives for attending an Rx for Science Literacy workshop include:
10 total program hours provided for certified educators to be used towards CEU credits (4 hours of additional work are optional in addition to the 6-hour virtual workshop)
A free updated Rx for Science Literacy curriculum manual
Middle and high school students in the 18 western NC counties* encompassed by the Dogwood Health Trust will be offered an additional program opportunity – a free week of Summer Accelerator courses! This residential summer program will be held on the NCSSM-Morganton campus during the week of July 17-21. Rising 7-9th graders can choose to explore robotics or forensics, and rising 10-12th grade students can choose to explore diseases affecting the circulatory and respiratory systems and their relationship to exercise, or they can design, build, and test their own electric speedboat!
*The student must live in one of these 18 counties: Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, and Yancey.
2022 NC Space Symposium is taking place April 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. on Zoom, and I invite you and your students to participate! The theme of the 2022 NC Space Symposium is “Where the Artemis Generation gathers together to build for the future,” and will feature presentations from space industry professionals (NCSG alumni working at Virgin Orbit, Smithsonian/Harvard Institute of Astrophysics and NASA Goddard), student lightning talks, and a career panel (for professionals to discuss their educational pathway to a STEM career). Career panelists include representatives from Space Tango, NASA Ames, NASA Glenn, US Space Force, Sierra Space, and the NC Museums of Natural Sciences Astrophysics Lab. Guests will have a chance to ask their questions during Q&A at the end of each session, so don’t miss this opportunity to network across a wide variety of STEM fields.
Beyond the virtual sessions, over 60 students are preparing pre-recorded lightning talks and posters that we will share on our symposium’s web page and post on YouTube.
The NC Space Symposium is free to attend. Registration is now open and will close April 8 or until full – so register today! Visit the
Looking for new ways to use digital museum resources for student learning? The Smithsonian Education team is here to support you with new live, interactive webinars!
Don’t miss this month’s Cultivating Learning: Exploring Identity through Playful Art Making. In this interactive session with guest educators from the Hirshhorn Museum, you will learn techniques to use close looking, conversation, storytelling, and playful art-making with contemporary art to help students better understand their own identities.
Not able to attend a live session? No problem! All the webinars will be archived and made available at the same link. You’ll also find the archives, and our schedule of upcoming sessions, in our Help Center.
We look forward to learning together with you!
Best,
The Smithsonian Learning Lab Team
Cultivating Learning: Exploring Identity through Playful Art Making Professional Development
In the Cultivating Learning series, join educators as they model teaching techniques for using digital museum resources to support student learning in diverse learning environments.
Join Hirshhorn Museum educators for an active exploration of how contemporary art can help students better understand their own identities. We’ll model teaching strategies for close looking, conversation, storytelling, and playful art-making with We Speak: The Art of Becoming, a series of free online education resources featuring the art and stories of women and femme artists, with a special focus on the life and work of Senga Nengudi, a soft sculpture and performance artist. Participants will leave with ready-to-use lesson plans and resources, designed for classroom and at-home use, that will inspire future generations of artists, makers, and creative problem solvers.
Getting Started: Digital Museum Resources and the Smithsonian Learning Lab Professional Development
Explore the basics of using the Smithsonian Learning Lab to support learning with digital museum resources. We’ll introduce how the site works, share examples of engaging interactive learning experiences (“collections”), and demonstrate how to search for digital museum resources and collections. This session is designed for educators and others who are new to the Learning Lab.
In the second half, we’ll answer any burning questions you have for the Learning Lab team! Need help finding a resource or using one of the Lab’s tools and features? Want feedback on your Learning Lab collection? Just want to say “hello”? Take a minute to tune in to our live Q&A!
Thursday, April 14
4–5 PM, ET Facilitator: Tess Porter, Digital Content Producer Join the Webinar Here
Creating Collections: Digital Museum Resources and the Smithsonian Learning Lab Professional Development
Learn how to create and personalize collections of digital museum resources on the Smithsonian Learning Lab to support your teaching. We’ll demonstrate how to start your first collection, add interactivity to engage learners, and upload resources from external websites and your computer to supplement what you’ve found from the Smithsonian. This session is designed for educators and others who are already familiar with the basics of the Learning Lab.
In the second half, we’ll answer any burning questions you have for the Learning Lab team! Need help finding a resource or using one of the Lab’s tools and features? Want feedback on your Learning Lab collection? Just want to say “hello”? Take a minute to tune in to our live Q&A!
Monday, April 25
4–5 PM, ET Facilitator: Philippa Rappoport, Manager of Community Engagement Join the Webinar Here
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The project, Chicken Nuggets on Mars, is a USDA-NIFA funded project. The PI, Dr. Matt Koci, is a professor in the Prestage Poultry Science Department at NC State. The project is focused on an innovative PBL hook that will challenge teachers, and ultimately students, to consider the possibility of raising animal protein sources on Mars to support eventual human settlement. NASA, and the broader scientific community, is exploring what this could look like [1,2] and what a great way to engage students – they love the topic! Teachers are equipped through the program to build and facilitate PBL units that challenge students to think through engineering, math, astronomy, logistics, agriculture, ecosystems, social sciences, etc. The project, which is only working with a small cohort at a time for a really personalized experience, served four teachers in 2019 (2 Duplin, 1 Rockingham, 1 Surry). They went to DC to visit NASA, the USDA, met with representatives on Capitol Hill; spent some time with their local farm bureaus; spent several days in labs at NC State; and four days focused on PBL PD in Asheville where they visited the horticultural research station, commanded a scaled version of the Mars Rover at the science museum, and participated in a private group planet gazing session led by the Astronomy Club of Asheville in their state of the art observatory that sits on a hill above the city (one of the coolest things I’ve done in a while). This is all covered by the grant and provides great networking opportunities. COVID sidelined the project for a couple years, but, this year, the project team is recruiting a new cohort. The application (which is fairly short and provided below) is open until April 15 and the project team received permission from the USDA to expand recruitment to pre-service teachers (with a focus on those who will be entering the classroom this coming fall). They’re looking for candidates who are willing to commit to attending all the events (rough timeframes are provided; since the cohort is so small, once selected, participants will inform the actual dates); have experience or a strong desire to develop and disseminate comprehensive PBL resources; and just all around go-getters who will take full advantage of what this opportunity has to offer. Speaking of go-getters, one of the previous cohort members just received the NC Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year award because of her work on this project.
In addition to having all the PD events covered, participants will also receive a stipend up to $5,500. The application and more info on the opportunity can be found via the link below. Wanted to make sure you’re aware in case you know of anyone who may be interested. If so, they’ll need to go ahead and get their application in soon. It really is a unique, one-of-a-kind opportunity.
More Info: This will be a live tour of the Sun through my solar telescope. The exact equipment used will depend on viewing conditions at the time. We will look closely at any and all features on the Sun that day. The stream begins at 6:30 P.M. and the ISS will pass in front of the Sun at exactly 6:45 P.M. Although specifically for the Astronomy 111 students, anyone interested in a special view of the Sun or seeing the ISS is welcome to join!
Weekly Updates for New Learning Opportunities for Educators & Youth
STEM West (www.stemwest.org) is a STEM education non-profit located in Hickory, NC that serves 6 counties and 8 LEAs across the Western North Carolina Region. STEM West’s mission is to advocate and support the alignment of educational and occupational objectives through the regional workforce and community partnerships. STEM West’s passion for its students, workforce, and community helps it promote equitable STEM access for ALL.
