Classroom Resources From the BBC

BBC Learning Hub offers free videos, lessons, and activities for U.S. educators and families. The website features videos grouped by topic, such as space or science and technology. These clips come from BBC programs like Planet Earth and Bluey and are curated to engage students. BBC Learning Hub’s reading lessons contain passages on science. Multiple versions of the articles cover three different reading levels: elementary, middle, and high school. 

BBC Learning Hub’s classroom resources are grouped by grade level. Resources range from collected articles on wild animals that are suitable for lower elementary students to a complete high school lesson plan on reducing human impact on oceans that aligns with language arts standards.

Ocean Voyager Cam

Explore the ocean’s great depths, virtually. Dive into vast, open waters of the Georgia Aquarium’s Ocean Voyager exhibit to learn about whale sharks, manta rays, and more than 90 other species that live in this 6.3-million-gallon ocean habitat. Students and teachers of all ages from elementary to adult can view the exhibit’s webcam feed daily or browse the exhibit’s image gallery for fast facts and photographs describing the numerous fish, sharks and rays, and reptiles that live there.

Phenomenal Genome Resources

The Phenomenal Genome resource collection highlights a new approach in teaching genetics. Instead of focusing on simple inheritance, the new approach incorporates a more complex spectrum of factors, including multi-gene traits and the role of the environment. Developed by educators at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the resources for middle to college levels reflect current educational research, which shows how focusing on single-gene traits without addressing environmental influences can lead to student misconceptions about human variation that promote genetic determinism—the view that genes alone dictate who we are. 

The collection addresses themes such as observing variations within traits, understanding the molecular underpinnings of variation, and connecting genes and the environment and features hands-on classroom activities (e.g., Who’s Like You?, Color Me Human), videos and discussion questions (e.g., What Do Our Ancestries Really Mean?), and online interactives (e.g., What Are the Chances?). By presenting a more accurate picture of genetics, and by emphasizing the role of social, cultural, and economic factors in shaping human diversity, educators can build narratives that counter deterministic thinking. 

CCS High School Chemical Safety Grant
 
The American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Chemical Safety’s (CCS) grant promotes chemical safety excellence in secondary education in one of these areas:

•    Integrating chemical safety into curriculum (e.g., incorporating risk management, RAMP [Recognize hazards, Assess risks, Minimize risks, and Prepare for emergencies] into lab activities, teaching risk assessment to students and creating a culture of safety in the classroom);
•    Advocating for safe chemical practices (e.g., developing and implementing peer professional development for teachers and administration, obtaining Chemical Hygiene Officer training); or
•    Improving chemical safety infrastructure (e.g., improvements in chemical storage, inventory management, ordering, or waste disposal).

Science teachers can request up to $3,000 to fund actions or opportunities that will improve chemical safety in their teaching environment. Applicants must be middle or high school science educators who use and/or manage chemicals and teach in a U.S. or U.S. territory school. Individuals or educator teams (up to four people) can apply. (Deadline: August 15) Grants may be used for

• Attending an approved (NSTA, ACS,  American Association of Chemistry Teachers) safety workshop;
• Personal Protective Equipment or informational materials for the laboratory;
• Safety-oriented professional learning;
• Chemical Hygiene Officer (CHO) training;
• Inventory and ordering management program;
• Compensation for safety consultants; or
• Substitute teacher pay.

Computational Astronomy Workshop for Middle and High School Educators

Inspire your students to learn and understand the mathematics they need to pursue more coursework in science and engineering. The online course GES 692: Computational Astronomy, A Universe of Calculations will be offered via Zoom on six Saturdays: September 13 and 27, October 11 and 25, and November 8 and 22. Participants will learn about math applications used in astronomy and space exploration, with the goal of being able to use the knowledge in their own classrooms. The topics to be covered include measuring the speed of light, counting galaxies, eclipse cycle, mathematics of rainbows, dimensional analysis, Cepheid variable stars, Keppler’s laws, space weather, ozone hole over Antarctica, and more. Lesson plans for the middle and high school classroom will be developed for courses such as math and physical science.

Participants should have K–12 teaching experience in math or science and familiarity with Algebra, Trigonometry, and Windows Excel spreadsheets. Teachers can earn one graduate credit, with 20 hours participation during the workshop.

Coleopterists Society’s Youth Incentive Award Program

The Coleopterists Society, an international organization of professionals and hobbyists interested in the study of beetles, recognizes students in grades 7–12 who are studying beetles. The society provides up to $2,000 annually for the Youth Incentive Award Program. Both the Junior and Senior awards are monetary grants of $1,000. In addition, awardees will each receive a one-year subscription to the society’s journal, The Coleopterists Bulletin. 

The award aims to provide encouragement and assistance to young beetle enthusiasts; promote the study of beetles, the most diverse group of insects, as a rewarding lifelong avocation or career; provide opportunities for young people to develop important life skills such as leadership, cooperation, communication, planning and conducting a scientific study, grant writing and managing funds; and provide some financial support to enrich activities or projects. Up to two winners will be selected annually: one each in junior (grades 7–9) and senior (grades 10–12) categories.  The selection committee invites proposals for topics such as field collecting trips to conduct beetle species inventories or diversity studies, attending workshops or visiting entomology or natural history museums for special training and projects on beetles, studying aspects of beetle biology, and more.  

Each applicant is strongly encouraged to find an adult advisor (teacher, youth group leader, parent, and others) to provide guidance in proposal development, but the proposal must be written by the applicant. The Coleopterists Society would also be happy to help students connect with professional coleopterists. Applications are due by November 1.