December 2024
NETWORK NEWS
End of the Year Best Wishes
As we near the close of 2024, we wanted to say how thankful we are for all the members of the NISE Network community and for your efforts to engage your local communities in STEM topics. We appreciate the work you do, learning from you, and are looking forward to continuing to work together in the New Year!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Online Workshops
The NISE Network hosts free online workshops as professional development opportunities for our partners to share with and learn from each other. Online workshops take place on select Tuesdays at 2pm-3pm Eastern. View upcoming online workshops at nisenet.org/events
• STEM Identity & Career Interest for Students Traditionally Underrepresented in STEM
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
2-3pm Eastern
Join us for our first online workshop of 2025! We will be welcoming back Dr. Susan Sunbury from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian for another discussion around STEM identity and career interest in STEM. The Harvard-Smithsonian team, together with colleagues from Florida International University, have developed a survey to explore factors that affect STEM interest, identity and career interest for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Dr. Sunbury and her colleagues Dr. Tingting Reid and Amdad Ahmed Awsaf will present initial findings from a pilot test of this instrument. Don't miss the opportunity to join in the conversation and learn more about this insightful and inspiring work. This work builds on efforts from a project Dr. Sunbury presented with us previously during our online workshop: STEM Identity, STEM Career Interest, and Participation in Out-of-School Time Activities. You do not need to have participated or watched the recording of the previous workshop to register for the January 14th online workshop.
Learn more and register
• Introduction to STEM Learning Ecosystems - Principles and Practices for Community-wide Partnerships
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
2-3pm Eastern
Join us for an overview of the principles and practices for working in place-based STEM learning ecosystems. These concepts are not exclusive to STEM learning ecosystems, and can be applied to building and sustaining community partnerships to make STEM content more relevant and inclusive. Members of the NISE Network's STEM Learning Ecosystems Project will share background and findings from the project as well as resources you can use in your efforts in your community. Whether you are already involved in a STEM ecosystem, looking for ways to get more involved, or simply want to create stronger partnerships within your community, don't miss this opportunity to learn more about practices and principles for place-based, community-wide partnerships that create locally-relevant opportunities for authentic STEM learning.
Learn more and register
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
Online Workshop Recordings:
• Co-creation & You - Inspiring Partner Stories from Participants of the Co-Created Public Engagement with Science Project (recorded on 12-3-24)
Learn more
• More online workshop recordings
Recent Conferences Presentations Slides
It has been wonderful to be in touch with so many NISE Network partners at conferences this fall. Slides from NISE Network project presentations are now available:
• American Geophysical Union (AGU)
December 9-13, 2024 in Washington, DC
nisenet.org/AGU2024
• Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC)
September 27-October 1, 2024 in Chicago, IL
nisenet.org/astc2024
• American Evaluation Association
October 21-26, 2024 in Portland, OR nisenet.org/AEA2024
• STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice (SLECoP) Convening
October 29-31, 2024 in Chicago, IL
nisenet.org/slecop2024
Looking for an easy way to discover resources on the nisenet.org website?
Check out our “Browse by Themes and Topics,” featuring curated collections of hands-on activities and resources by themes and STEM topics:
nisenet.org/browse-topic
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Collaborative Heat Monitoring Community Science Projects Opportunity (Due: January 17, 2025)
Want to work with your community to collect heat distribution data? You can apply to receive a $10,000 stipend and community science training. The Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring (CCHM) is a national collaboration between science museums and technical experts funded by the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), a federal partnership focused on equitable heat resilience.
Learn more
Citizen Science: Theory and Practice journal
Call for Abstracts (Due: February 28, 2025)
The Citizen Science: Theory and Practice journal has a call for abstracts for a special issue titled “Lessons, Challenges, and Opportunities in Participatory Science from a Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) Perspective.”
Learn more
Interested in one of our exhibitions?
Join the waiting list!
If you are interested in hosting the Nano exhibition or the Sun, Earth, Universe exhibition, please reach out to Christina Leavell, NISE Network Community Manager, to be added to a waiting list.
Contact us
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
ENERGY NEWS
The United States power grid has added huge battery capacity over the past four years to maintain renewable energy when weather conditions interfere with wind and solar.
NISE Network resources:
• Energy resources and battery activities
AI NEWS
Ceremonies took place this month for the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for discoveries that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks. These AI artificial neural networks are inspired by the structure of the brain.
NISE Network resources:
• What Makes Us Human activity
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
A neuroscientist who taught rats to drive tiny cars argues that the rats' positive experiences and anticipation of joy suggests that anticipating fun can enrich human lives too.
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and neuroscience resources
GENETICS NEWS
Ceremonies took place this month for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. The information stored within our chromosomes is often likened to an instruction manual for all cells in our body. Every cell contains the same chromosomes, but different cell types, such as muscle and nerve cells, have very distinct characteristics.
NISE Network resources:
SPACE NEWS
The world's first wooden satellite, built by Japanese researchers, was launched into space as an early test of using timber in lunar and Mars exploration. Named after the Latin word for wood the palm-sized LignoSat is tasked to demonstrate the cosmic potential of the renewable material as humans explore living in space.
NISE Network resources:
• Voyage through the Solar System: Build a Moon Base Camp
• Build a Human Habitat on Mars Exhibit Host Resources
CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS
The recent UN Climate Change Conference COP29 brought together almost every country on Earth. A primary focus of the conference was the critical need for climate finance to support vulnerable nations bearing the brunt of climate change.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
CHEMISTRY NEWS
A ceramicist in Mexico retraced his Maya roots to recreate a long-lost pigment known as Maya blue. The color of the iconic dye is similar to a clear blue sky or the turquoise of the nearby Caribbean Sea.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Chemistry is Colorful activity
STEM THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
Discover activity ideas for incorporating current science, engineering, and technology content into events, special programming, holidays, and seasonal activities by visiting: nisenet.org/seasons
Winter
- Snow and Snowflakes:
December
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- Games Day (December 20)
- Winter Solstice (December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere)
- Solstices and equinoxes provide opportunities for planning quarterly programs related to the Earth, Sun, and Moon (astronomical seasons) or your local environment (meteorological seasons)
- Moon resources
- NASA Space Place seasons resources
January
- National Mentoring Month (January)
- MENTOR National STEM mentoring resources
- NISE Network guide Working with STEM Experts: A Guide for Educators in Museums and Other Informal Learning Settings
- National Girls Collaborative Project role model and mentoring resources
- SciGirls Role Model Strategies
- National Academies Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM
- New Year's Day (January 1)
- An opportunity to imagine the future of science, technology, and society (as well as reflect on past predictions)
- NISE Network activities and programs exploring societal aspects of STEM and futures thinking
- National Bird Day (January 5)
- Some bird feathers (such as peacock feathers) are iridescent due to nano-sized structures within the feathers; learn more about iridescence:
- NISE Network biomimicry resources
- NISE Network butterfly resources
- National Static Electricity Day (January 9)
- Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January)
- MLK Day of Service - make it a day on, not a day off, by creating and find volunteer opportunities through matching programs
- NISE Network Racial Justice Resources
- Radon Awareness Week (last week in January)
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity, May 14-16, 2025, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Learn more - 2025 Science Events Summit, June 8-10, 2025, Philadelphia
Learn more - ASTC Conference, September 6 - October 9, 2025, San Francisco, CA
Learn more REVISE InformalScience.org conference calendar
National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences