November 2024
NETWORK NEWS
Feelings of Gratitude
As we reflect during this season of Thanksgiving, we want to offer our sincere gratitude to all of our partners. The work you do to engage people in STEM builds a better future for everyone. Thank you for being a part of the NISE Network. We are looking forward to continued collaborations.
Recent Conferences and Presentations
It was wonderful to see so many familiar and new faces at recent conferences; NISE Network slides are now available:
- 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
Upcoming Conferences:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
December 9-13, 2024 in Washington, DC
nisenet.org/AGU2024
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
• Co-creation & You - Inspiring Partner Stories from Participants of the Co-Created Public Engagement with Science Project
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
2-3pm Eastern
Many informal science education institutions have used co-creation approaches when developing and implementing public engagement with science activities as a way to include community priorities and perspectives. This approach focuses on responding to community issues as viewed by the community themselves, and allows informal science education institutions to work with civic and community partners to meaningfully engage on these topics. Join us as we chat with NISE Network partners that participated in the NSF-funded “Building Capacity For Co-Created Public Engagement with Science” (CC-PES) Project. These partners will share insights into their unique adaptations of the co-creation model and how they worked within their own communities to create and host public engagement with science activities. We will also hear from project evaluators, who will provide context about the project and their findings from this work.
Learn more and register
• 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, who joined us previously for our online workshop: STEM Identity, STEM Career Interest, and Participation in Out-of-School Time Activities. Since this workshop, 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.
Learn more and register
PARTNER HIGHLIGHTS
Engaging Hispanic Communities Project Hosts October Gathering of Co-collaborators in Mesa, Arizona
Two complementary NASA-funded projects focused on increasing the capacity of informal educators to engage Hispanic communities recently held a joint meeting in Mesa, AZ to learn and share from each other. This successful gathering of the Engaging Hispanic Communities project and Sparking Interest project, (both part of the NISE Network’s Engaging Hispanic Communities Initiative work with NASA), brought together educators, community members, and subject matter experts who are at various stages of co-created STEM engagement with Latinx learners in their communities. These projects are co-developing hands-on learning materials with their community and subject matter experts in order to create authentic learning experiences that explore NASA Earth and space science, sustain Hispanic cultures and languages, and support family and community priorities
Learn more
The Engaging Hispanic Communities Project Team Adapts the Space Souvenir Activity for Día de los Muertos in Mesa, Arizona
The Mesa Arts Center hosted its 19th annual Día de los Muertos Festival in downtown Mesa, Arizona on October 19-20, 2024. Arizona State University’s Center for Innovation in Informal STEM Learning staff and co-collaborators from the STEAMBrando Futuros team, (part of the Engaging Hispanic Communities project), ran activities at the event. One of the activities was an adaptation of the NISE Network's Voyage through the Solar System: Space Souvenir activity that made connections to traditional Mexican folk art and indigenous Mesoamerican astronomy.
Learn more
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
Online Workshop Recordings:
• Making Waves with Radio - Resource Roundup for Educators Working with Hispanic Audiences (recorded on 8-20-24)
Learn more
• Engaging Hispanic/Latinx Communities - Forming Community Partnerships & the Co-creation Process (Part 1) (recorded on 9-10-24)
Learn more
• Engaging Hispanic/Latinx Communities - Resources for Public Engagement (Part 2)
(recorded on 10-8-24)
Learn more
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 Health 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 issues titled “Lessons, Challenges, and Opportunities in Participatory Science from a Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) Perspective.”
Learn more
Children’s Museums and AI
Association of Children's Museums special Hand to Hand publication on artificial intelligence explores how we can help design experiences and activities to engage families in exploring AI concepts playfully, as well as opportunities for professionals to apply the possibilities of AI to our work.
Learn more
New Science Communication Report
A new publication from the Science Public Engagement Partnership (SciPEP) is now available: Insights and Practical Considerations for Communicating Basic Science.
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
Batteries lose capacity over time, which is why older cell phones run out of power more quickly. An international team of researchers has revealed an underlying mechanism behind battery degradation. This discovery could help scientists to develop better batteries that could increase energy storage as well as longer-lived batteries for things like electric vehicles.
NISE Network resources:
• NanoDays energy resources and battery activities
AI NEWS
A robot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has created a painting that sold for $1.1 million. The painting entitled “A.I. God. Portrait of Alan Turing” was created by the humanoid robot artist Ai-Da
NISE Network resources:
• What Makes Us Human activity
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
The US Food and Drug Administration has given approval for the next step in Neuralink’s “Blindsight” device clinical trial. The device is a wireless Brain Computer Interface (BCI) designed to restore sight to people who have lost it, and even provide sight to people who were born blind.
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and neuroscience resources
GENETICS NEWS
Scientists at a private company may be a few steps closer to resurrecting a long-extinct carnivorous marsupial known as the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine). The last captive tiger died in 1936.
NISE Network resources:
SPACE NEWS
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft launched in October and will investigate Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. When the spacecraft reaches Jupiter in 2030 it will make many flybys of Europa as it orbits Jupiter.
NISE Network resources:
RADIO NEWS
Radio blackouts may occur as a sunspot turns towards the Earth. Solar flares are sudden, intense bursts of radiation from the sun's atmosphere caused by the release of magnetic energy.
NISE Network resources:
CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS
The UN Climate Change Conference COP29 conference has been taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. These COPs take place every year, and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change that brings together almost every country on Earth.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
SUSTAINABILITY & CHEMISTRY NEWS
Researchers have created a new plastic that dissolves in water. The material known as MECHS consists of engineered E. coli bacteria with a fiber matrix to create a paper or film-like material. MECHS can stretch like plastic wrap and it can be healable
NISE Network resources:
NANOTECHNOLOGY & CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING NEWS
Apple has announced it will use organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for all new iPhone models, moving entirely away from liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Television and smartphone makers are adopting OLED displays over LCDs to deliver more vivid colors and sharper contrast.
NISE Network resources:
• Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) activity
• Exploring Products - Liquid Crystal Displays activity
• Exploring Materials - Liquid Crystals 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
November
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- Native American Heritage Month (November)
- NASA Native American Heritage Month
- NISE Network books and storytelling resources section on Night Sky Storytelling & Indigenous Ways of Knowing resources
- Learn more about Indigenous ways of knowing and making local connections in the NISE Network guide Working with STEM Experts
- Indigenous Education Institute (IEI)
- Thanksgiving (last Thursday in November)
- Turkey breast feathers are iridescent due to nano-sized structures within the feathers; for more about iridescence see:
- NISE Network biomimicry resources including iridescence
- Exploring Materials - Thin Films program
- "Black Friday" Shopping Day - (Friday after Thanksgiving)
- Black Hole Friday (last Friday in November)
December
- World Futures Day (December 2)
- National Disability Day (December 3)
- Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) and Hour of Code (second week in December)
- 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
- New Year's Day (January 1)
- An opportunity to imagine the future as well as reflect on past science and technology predictions
- NISE Network societal aspects of STEM including futures-thinking activities and programs
Winter
- Snow and Snowflakes:
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity, May 14-16, 2025, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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