Science Community Opportunities
November 29, 2021
Greetings: We respectfully request that you do not send emails directly to the listserv. Please email your opportunities to Kira at kira.sommer@schools.utah.gov, or send them to the specialists. All announcements received before Wednesday at 12pm (noon) will be added to the following week’s email. Thank you.
General Opportunities (K-12):
Utah Learn@Home Student Science Experiences - Created by Utah teachers for at-home science engagement aligned to SEEd Standards
Utah Updated K-12 OER Science Textbooks - Aligned to new SEEd Standard
- Principles for Remote Teaching and Learning Course Open! - This course may be completed for 1 USBE credit and/or can be explored as a resource to support the efforts to plan for the upcoming school year. Educators may register for “Principles for Remote Learning” now.
- Engage your students with Community Science and the City Nature Challenge! Every year, the City Nature Challenge draws together thousands of Community Scientists for a 3-day bioblitz. It is a great opportunity to teach students of all ages observation skills, cross-cutting concepts and science practices. Learn to leverage this event to get your students outside and help them acquire important science competencies with this 10-minute video (https://youtu.be/PjgFQv7wKM0). Learn more about enhancing learning with community science platforms in this 60-minute webinar recording.
- Bring the wonder of all five venues at Thanksgiving Point right to your classroom with our new virtual field trips! Each venue offers a unique learning experience for grades K-12.All virtual field trips last 45 minutes within a 1 hour and 15-minute time slot.
- Explore our farm, where you will explore the features of live animals, what they need to survive, and how they compare to their parents.
- Take your class on an engineering adventure! Our educators will introduce a scientific concept and real-world problem to your students and walk them through engineering design process as they test and refine, build a prototype, and apply what they have learned to the everyday problems that engineers solve
- Dive into the history of ancient life with Thanksgiving Point educators as your guide! Discover what it takes to be a paleontologist, explore how erosion changes the earth’s surface, learn how fossils can be used to make inferences about their environment, and much more!
- Learn about habitats, life cycles, adaptions, ecosystems, a butterfly release and much more.
- Share the joy of spring with your students on a virtual tour of our Tulip Festival! This tour will introduce your class to the seasonal changes happening in the Ashton Gardens and connect weather and climate patterns to the life cycles and adaptions of plants.
More information at https://thanksgivingpoint.org/education/school-programs/virtual-field-trips/
- The Smithsonian Science Education Center, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)—a partnership of 140 national academies of science, engineering and medicine— has developed “Vaccines! How can we use science to help our community make decisions about vaccines?,” a community response guide designed for young people between the ages of 8 and 17 as part of Smithsonian Science for Global Goals.
Connect Students with the work of Nobel Prize-Winning Scientists.
Young people everywhere now have access to a free collection of scientific articles written by winners of science’s most coveted honor, the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Collection, published by Frontiers, aims to improve young people’s access to learning material about science’s role in addressing today’s global challenges. The collection will connect young minds with some of today’s most distinguished scientists through engaging learning material steeped in some of the most groundbreaking research from over the last twenty years. Written for young people aged eight to 15, the collection has been published in the journal Frontiers for Young Minds. With the help of a science mentor, each article in the Nobel Collection has been reviewed by kids themselves to ensure it is understandable, fun, and engaging before publication.
Solving Air Quality Issues: Be Part of the Solution. Join us for a one day PD on air quality. Lessons for 5th - 9th grade, SEEd based and taught in 3D pedagogy. Each teacher will receive $150 of equipment, $100 toward substitute cost, 7 Relicensure points and Lunch. Two days to choose from, Feb 16 or March 23rd of 2022. Register by clicking here.
Energy in the Classroom PD. Hosted in Logan. One day for elementary teachers March 15 and one day for Secondary Teachers March 16. Each teacher will receive $180 of equipment, $110 toward substitute cost, 7 Relicensure points and Lunch. Click here to register.
Energy in the Classroom PD. Hosted in Cedar City. One day for elementary teachers March 15 and one day for Secondary Teachers March 16. Each teacher will receive $220 of equipment, $110 toward substitute cost, 7 Relicensure points and Lunch. Click here to register.
UtSTA is offering online endorsement courses that start January 27th of 2022. Sign up now to reserve your place as you complete your endorsement. Registration is only $500 for members. This is reimbursable through your LEA!!! Register at utsta.org.
The Museum on the Move team from the Natural History Museum of Utah is announcing On Demand classes that are now accessible anytime using Nearpod. In these interactive classes, your students will explore pictures and 3D models of artifacts and specimens from NHMU's collections while learning more about science and engineering. The content is aligned to Utah's 4th grade SEEd standards (great for year-end review!). Visit the On-Demand Museum On the Move Classes webpage to check out the three classes currently available. Access is as simple as submitting a quick Google Form. Enjoy! Questions? Email: mjoaquim@nhmu.utah.edu
Secondary (7-12) Opportunities:
WSU is looking for low-income, high-academic, high school seniors interested in STEM degrees to apply to the WEST Scholarship program. Students can earn $5k/year in scholarships for 4 years, belong to a cohort, have a faculty advisor and be provided research opportunities.
More information can be found here.
A team at the Huntsman Cancer Institute is providing a skin cancer prevention program (SHINE) as a part of a research study in Utah high schools. Information is below. Please contact the team if you’re interested in hearing more.
- The SHINE program is for high school students (9th-10th grade).
- Huntsman Cancer Institute team members will provide 2 presentations to your class in the spring of 2022 and ask students to complete questionnaires on their sun protection and tanning behaviors several times, starting fall 2021.
- SHINE fulfills the core health science standards related to skin cancer education (UEN Introduction to Health Science – Strand 2, Standards 7 and 9. https://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=510001)
- Please contact the SHINE coordinator, Nic Siniscalchi at 801-213-6131 or nic.siniscalchi@hci.utah.edu for more information or to discuss having SHINE come to your class.
We would like to invite you and your students to our 7th annual SLC Brain Bee, a chapter of the National Brain Bee, at the University of Utah this academic year on February 26th 2022. This is a fun, competitive event where students (aged 13-19) investigate neuroscience topics through brain awareness modules, complete a multiple choice quiz and a practical (real brains) neuroanatomy fill in the blank quiz, as well as interacting with graduate students and faculty at the University of Utah with a free lunch provided! The Brain Bee is completely free to any and all students who wish to participate. The winner is awarded the opportunity to compete in the National Brain Bee as well as an internship in a University of Utah neuroscience lab. If interested, we could arrange an online video presentation/classroom visit to any of your classes to further discuss what the Brain Bee entails, and the fantastic opportunities it provides. We can also supply you with flyers or presentation materials to distribute. Please let us know!
The Center for Excellence in Education's mission is to nurture high school students towards careers in STEM.
Vermont Science Teaching Association Virtual Conference – Jan. 17-21
The Vermont Science Teaching is inviting ALL teachers from all states to join them and participate in their Virtual Conference on January 17-21, 2022. They have invited some amazing Science Education leaders to present as well as sessions that include their local teachers and presenters. The conference is free and you only need to fill out a form to sign up. Some of the big names they’ve announced so far are:
- Okhee Lee from New York University (January 17th)
- Peter McLaren a National 3D Science Professional Learning Leader (January 19th)
- Bryan Brown from Stanford University (January 21st)
To sign up for free and to learn more, go to Vermont Science Teaching Association Website at https://sites.google.com/site/vtscienceteachersassociation/
Melissa Mendenhall
Elementary Science/STEM Specialist
Utah State Board of Education
melissa.mendenhall@schools.utah.gov
Ricky Scott
Secondary Science Education Specialist
Utah State Board of Education