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With about a hundred million stars and two hundred million galaxies, Sky in Google Earth lets you explore the heavens like never before. Visit the link below for a video tour of Google Sky. Google Earth, one of the very best tools for exploring your world, is available as a free download.
Each year, Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks recognize the outstanding efforts of K-12 students and teachers across the country who work at the grassroots level to protect and preserve the environment. The SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fujifilm Environmental Excellence Awards provide school and community groups with a monetary award, national recognition, and some well-deserved fun at one of the adventure parks. Eight winning groups are selected each year to win $10,000. One environmental educator/leader each year receives $5,000. The deadline for applications is November 30, 2007. For more information, please visit the following link:
Administered by Washington State University, CHANGE integrates nutrition education with reading, writing, math and science studies, while providing hands-on learning in cooking and gardening for elementary aged children.
Through these lessons, students learn how to grow and cook their own food, the foundations of a healthy diet, key vitamins and minerals essential to a good health, the importance of fiber, and the connections between healthy soil and healthy food. Each unit is packed with engaging activities that will get your students eating vegetables and asking for more!
PDF versions of the curriculum are available at the Washington State University King County Extension “Nutrition” website. Links to other programs are also provided.
“Dimming the Sun” investigates the discovery that the sunlight reaching Earth has been growing dimmer, which may seem surprising given all the international concern over global warming. At first glance, less sunlight might hardly seem to matter when our planet is stewing beneath a blanket of greenhouse gases. But the discovery of global dimming has led several scientists to revise their models of the climate and how fast it’s changing. According to one recent and highly controversial model, the worst-case warming scenario could be worse than anyone has predicted. “Dimming the Sun” unravels this baffling climate conundrum and the implications for Earth’s future.
“Dimming the Sun” is scheduled to air on Tuesday, September 4, 2007.
Please check your local listings for time and channel. NOVA’s companion site includes a teacher’s guide, a video preview of the show, and many other extras.
Registration is open for two, free Web Seminars featuring scientists and education specialists from NASA. The seminars will focus on how educators can better engage parents and enlist their support for inquiry-based science and mathematics education. The presenters will share their science and science education expertise, answer questions from the participants, and provide information regarding web sites that students can use in the classroom. These Web Seminars are designed for educators of grades K-6. Seminars are scheduled for November 20 and December 12, 2007.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/fall07/NASA_Denver/webseminar.aspx
Registration is open for two, free Web Seminars featuring scientists and education specialists from NASA. The seminars will focus on the biological and physical aspects of humans living and working in space as NASA completes the International Space Station, returns a human presence on the moon and looks forward to Mars and beyond. The presenters will share their science expertise, answer questions from the participants, and provide information regarding web sites that students can use in the classroom. These Web Seminars, designed for educators of grades 4-9, are scheduled for October 30 and November 6, 2007.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/fall07/NASA_Detroit/webseminar.aspx
What is the Great Light Racer Championship?
The GLRC is a technology and science competition designed for parent/child, teacher/students, or RC car hobbyist teams. The teams compete in solving a real NASA lunar exploration problem: building a rover that can operate in a permanently shadowed area of the moon.
Competition rovers consist of an electric RC car, modified to operate using a beam of light as its power source. The teams design, build, and operate the cars. We (Spaceward) provide the race track and the high-power spotlights used to power and race the cars.
Who can play?
The championship is open to three groups: Schools, Families, and Grown-Ups. School and family groups must have a person under the age of 16 controlling the car. A grown-up can handle the spotlight.
The Spaceward Games in Salt Lake City Utah, will host preliminaries beginning on October 15, 2007. Please visit Spaceward’s Light-Racer site for details, including rules and registrations.
http://www.spaceward.org/lightRacers.html
A complete curriculum packet for STEM educators and parents including background materials and car construction guidelines can be found here:
http://www.spaceward.org/lightRacers-stem.html
Registration for the Team America Rocketry Challenge 2008, a national model rocket competition for U.S. students in grades 7 through 12, opens on Sept. 5, 2007. Thousands of students compete each year in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, the world’s largest model rocket contest. Cash prizes are awarded to the top finishers.
Teams of three to 15 students design, build and fly a model rocket to carry two raw eggs for a precise flight duration of 45 seconds and to an exact altitude of 750 feet. The team whose rocket comes the closest to both, and brings the eggs back unbroken, wins.
To be eligible for the national fly-off, teams must fly a qualifying flight observed by an adult member of the National Association of Rocketry. The top-scoring 100 teams in the country will be invited to participate in the final fly-off to be held in May 2008.
Registration closes on Nov. 30, 2007, or when 750 teams have registered — whichever comes first. For more information, visit http://www.rocketcontest.org/
