Teaching Tools About Polar Bears and Climate Change
 
This teaching toolkit from World Wildlife Fund focuses on the role human impact and climate change play on the future of polar bears and the Arctic. Most of the resources are geared toward grades 3–5. The toolkit features a resource guide and interactive classroom presentation; learning activities for science, social studies, language arts, arts education, and physical education; a video playlist; various printables, including posters; a link to Tumble Science Podcast For Kids, which has a polar bear episode; and links to a quiz and a climate change course. The newest resource is The Polar Bear Capital of the World: Discover Churchill, Canada, a printable storybook for grades K–5, available for free download. 

How Do We Identify Climate Change? Explainer Video 

A new video from World Wildlife Fund’s Wild Classroom YouTube channel explains the differences among weather, climate, and climate change. The video is accompanied by a transcript and a student worksheet at http://worldwildlife.org/publications/how-do-we-identify-climate-change-student-handout. 

Balancing Act
 
In this two-lesson mini-unit for grades 9–12, students will follow in the soggy footsteps of scientists wading through ponds at night to record frogs’ calls as they learn about biological tradeoffs that connect humans to horses to frogs. Along the way, they'll decide which male a female frog should choose as a mate, based on analysis of call performance. Videos that accompany this unit are You Can't Have It All: Biologists Explain Tradeoffs in Life at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wfd035SSFM and Tradeoffs in the Love Language of Frogs at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZO0uF229iQ.

DIG Field School Summer Program
 
DIG Field School Hell Creek (DIG Hell Creek) will take place July 28–August 1 at Hell Creek Recreation Area near Jordan, Montana. In this summer professional learning program, teachers can get hands-on experience in paleontology, geology, and evolution by participating in an active field research site. This program provides teachers with hands-on, immersive practice in STEM subjects along with skills to engage their students in authentic scientific research. You’ll investigate the extinction of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals in Montana, then take what you learn with you back into the classroom with a DIG Burke Box. Designed to familiarize students with geology and paleontology while also teaching them about what researchers actually do in the field and lab, each box includes fossils, casts, and lesson plans that can be adjusted to your grade level.

Interested teachers can apply on the website. The application will remain open until March 2.

Diversity Education In Nature (DEIN), The Earth as a Role Model for Building Diversity and Belonging

Join Camille Simone Edwards and Dan Kriesberg, creators of DEIN, on March 18 for an introduction to their innovative approach to DEIN efforts that combines outdoor education with reflective practices and group discussions. DEIN uses the Earth as a role model to show how the ecological concepts of biodiversity, interrelationships, and mutualism can inspire us to take action in building communities of belonging. The webinar’s focus is on grades 2–8, but the content can be adapted for younger and older students. Topics to be addressed include

• What is Diversity Education In Nature?
• What are the Diversity Education In Nature activities?
• How does Diversity Education In Nature work?
• How can you move forward and take your first next step?

The Zoom link for the webinar is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4867633541.

Webinar: Using Nature Awareness Skills to Build Communities of Belonging

On April 8, Camille Simone Edwards and Dan Kriesberg, creators of Diversity Education In Nature, will present an introduction to using the nature awareness skills of attending, wonderfulling, and pattern-seeking. Participants will gain a toolkit of actions they can apply to create communities of belonging through better connections and understanding of one another and the more-than-human world. The webinar’s focus is on grades 2–8, but the content can be adapted for younger and older students. Topics to be covered are 

• What is Diversity Education In Nature?
• What are the nature awareness skills of attending, wonderfulling, and pattern-seeking?
• How can you help build communities of belonging?
• What are some activities for your toolkit?
• How can you move forward and take your first next step?

The Zoom link for the webinar is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4867633541.

National MagLab’s Summer Research Experience for Teachers
 
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) is seeking teachers and informal educators for this summer’s Research Experience for Teachers (RET). This year’s program will help accepted applicants learn how to incorporate MagLab research subject areas into their STEM lessons and curriculum. The program consists of a one-week MagLab experience during June 23 –27 in Tallahassee, Florida, for science content. This will be supplemented with weekly online meetings with pedagogical experts and scientists and engineers throughout the fall semester. The program’s goal is for educators to update their lesson plan/curriculum to use what they’ve learned in the RET in their classrooms during the 2025–2026 school year. 

Each teacher accepted by the program receives a $3,600 stipend paid at the conclusion of the program. Travel reimbursements of up to $600 are available to non-local residents, and housing will be provided for non-local participants for their week in Tallahassee. Apply by April 8.