NETWORK NEWS
Reconnect and re-engage with the NISE Network, Tuesday, June 8th, Online Workshop
Join us to reconnect and re-engage with your NISE Network friends and colleagues. We will have a brief overview of the Network and update on projects, including an all-new funded opportunity to participate in an Earth & Space project-based professional learning community focused on making Earth & Space science more inclusive and relevant. Register and learn more about this online workshop here.
Funded project-based professional learning opportunity
The National Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Network) is pleased to offer a funded opportunity to participate in a project-based professional learning community focused on making Earth & Space science relevant and inclusive for your community. In collaboration with NASA, the NISE Network is making this new professional development opportunity available to 100 eligible NISE Network partner organizations within the United States to support their efforts in making Earth & Space science relevant and inclusive and to promote a more equitable STEM future for their communities. This funded opportunity is open to museum professionals who are currently employed by an eligible organization. Eligible organizations are existing NISE Network partners who have previously received at least one Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit (2017-2020). Learn more: https://www.nisenet.org/earthspaceprojects2021
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Moon Adventure Game is a collaborative hands-on experience where players work together to solve a series of challenges grounded in real science about living and doing research on the Moon. Hear from a number of partners who are using the game to engage their audiences in a variety of ways. We'll also discuss ways that presenters are able to use this hands-on experience safely during the restrictions presented to museum programming during COVID-19. Learn more and sign up.
Some of those living in the eastern part of the United States will be able to catch a partial solar eclipse early in the morning on Thursday, June 10. For a compilation of solar eclipse-related resources, visit nisenet.org/solareclipse.
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 Tuesdays at 2-3pm Eastern / 11am-12pm Pacific. View upcoming online workshops at nisenet.org/events.
June 8th, 2021
2-3pm ET | 11am-12pm PT
Reconnect and re-engage with the NISE Network - an overview of projects and time to reconnect
Join us for this opportunity to reconnect and re-engage with your NISE Network friends and colleagues. We will have a brief overview of the Network and an update on projects, including an all-new funded opportunity to participate in a project-based professional learning community focused on making Earth & Space science more inclusive and relevant.
Learn more and register.
June 29th, 2021
2-3pm ET | 11am-12pm PT
From small steps to giant leaps - experiences adapting the Moon Adventure game for use in camps, young audiences, and for all humankind!
Join the discussion with a number of partners who are using the Moon Adventure Game to engage their audiences in a variety of ways. We'll also discuss ways to use the game safely during COVID-19 restrictions. Learn more and register.
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
NISE Network online workshops
View the recordings and resources from recent NISE Net online workshops:
- Engaging audiences in the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Learn about the resources that you can use to engage the public in celebration of the launch and of a new opportunity to apply for NASA support for community events. (5/4/2021)
- More about engaging audiences in the James Webb Space Telescope: nisenet.org/webb
New sustainability professional development resources
The NISE Network has created a variety of professional development resources for museums and similar organizations. View these training tools which aim to help prepare educators to plan and implement sustainability projects and facilitate sustainability activities on our website.
May lunar eclipse recordings
Did you miss last month's lunar eclipse? Not to worry! See a great video of the May 26th lunar eclipse from the Starry Knights in Waimea, Hawaii! Also, it's not too early to prepare for the lunar eclipse in November. Visit our lunar eclipse resource page for additional information and resources.
PARTNER HIGHLIGHTS
From green cocktails to community sustainability in Gaithersburg, MD
As a small community museum, the Gaithersburg Community Museum plays multiple roles within their city. From highlighting their town history and providing STEM programming to developing fun and practical conversation around sustainability. Read more on how this partner, and NISE Network Sustainability Fellow, reimagined how to encourage discussions around sustainability within their community.
NASA's Downlink program connects curiosity of Texas students with experience of astronauts in orbit
Students in Brownsville, Texas, had an amazing opportunity to directly interact with astronauts on the International Space Station as part of NASA's Downlink program. The program gives inquiring minds an opportunity to directly ask questions to astronauts aboard the ISS. Read more on the event and how the Downlink program impacted the local Brownsville community.
Being one of the first partners to start using their copy of the Moon Adventure Game, the Bootheel Youth Museum has done a lot of work determining the best way for the museum to use the resource with its visitors. Read more on how the museum has adapted the Moon Adventure Game to best fit their facility and audiences.
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
NASA notice of funding opportunity reminder!
NASA Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) is now accepting proposals for two opportunities, including the new Community Anchor Awards for TEAM II (CAAT) to support institutions in establishing themselves as a local NASA STEM informal education community resource. Selected parties will offer NASA education directly aligned with space explorations, aeronautics, space science, Earth science, or microgravity. Eligible proposers include U.S. non-profit science museums, planetariums, youth-serving organizations, and libraries. Proposals are due June 17 and 19, 2021. Full information here.
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
Earth and Space News
Mars: NASA's Perseverance rover's first 100 days in pictures. Since touching down on February 10th, the rover has captured amazing images from the Jezero Crater. Here is a selection of pictures from the mission so far.
Venus: NASA announces two new missions. NASA has announced that it is sending two new missions to Venus in order to examine the planet's atmosphere and geological features. The missions are due to launch between 2028 and 2030, the last US probe to visit the planet was in 1990.
NASA to launch baby squid to the International Space Station. With the hopes of helping scientists understand the effects of spaceflight, more than 100 baby squid and 5,000 microscopic animals are set to be launched to the ISS.
Chemistry News
New natural blue food coloring from red cabbage. A natural bright blue food coloring has been discovered by researchers at the University of California, Davis. This could be an alternative to synthetic blue food colorings currently being widely used.
Synthetic Biology News
Blind patients hope landmark gene-editing experiment will restore their vision. The study involves the gene-editing technique called CRISPR and is in its first stage of study to see if vision can be restored to patients who suffer from a rare genetic disease.
- NISE Network resource: Editing our Evolution: Rewriting the Human Genome forum
Sustainability News
Engineered bacteria show promise for sustainable biofuel industry. Acetone is typically produced through non-sustainable methods since 1942, however, a new strain of bacteria engineered by a research team in Japan could change how acetone is produced and broken down.
Nanotechnology News
Super-white paint could cut air conditioning bills by 80 percent. Cities looking to reduce urban heat islands are finding creative ways to cool buildings. New research from Purdue University is contributing to the development of a cooling ultra-white paint which reflects around 98.1 percent of sunlight.
- NISE Network resource: Exploring Products - Sunblock
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 http://www.nisenet.org/seasons/.
- Exploring Properties - Heat Transfer activity
- Exploring Earth: Temperature Mapping activity
- Nano Ice Cream activity
- Invisible Sunblock activity
- Magic Sand/Nanosurfaces activity
- Exploring Products - Kinetic Sand activity
- Exploring Products - Sunblock activity
- Exploring Science Practices: Early Explorations activity
- Pride Month
- LGBTQ+ STEM website
- Out in Science Technology Engineering and Math website
- Out to Innovate website
- NASA's Night Sky Network - Monthly astronomical events
- SciStarter Citizen Science Calendar of events
- 6/5: World Environment Day
- UN World Environment Day website
- UNEP website
- SustainABLE kit and Sustainable Futures resources
- 6/8: World Oceans Day
- World Oceans Day website
- UNESCO World Oceans Day webpage
- Cleaning Oil Spills with Chemistry activity
- Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology program
- Why are Seashells so Strong? program
- Oil Spill Clean Up Simulation activity
- What's Nano About Water? video
- 6/19: Juneteenth
- PBS African American Quotation Posters
- Racial Justice resource compilation
- 6/20-6/26: National Mosquito Control Awareness Week
- American Mosquito Control Association website
- Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week resources
- "Should We Engineer the Mosquito?" forum
- GLOBE Observer: Mosquito Habitat Mapper citizen science app
- 6/23: International Women in Engineering Day
- Women's Engineering Society website
- 6/30: Asteroid Day
- Asteroid Day website
- UN Asteroid Day website
- NASA Space Place website
- Exploring the Solar System: Asteroid Mining activity
- Plastic Free July
- 7/20: Anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon Landing
- 7/22: World Brain Day
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
Visitor Studies Association Conference 2021
July 13-15, 2021
Stay current on VSA 2021 updates
National Children & Youth Garden Symposium (Virtual)
July 7-9, 2021
Learn more
Virtual Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) 2021 Annual Conference
October 5-7, 2021
Stay current on ASTC 2021 updates
National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences
Learn more about upcoming conferences