Kids Garden Community Resource Library

KidsGardening.org’s searchable Kids Garden Community Resource Library has curricula, webinars, lesson plans, digital interactives, and instructional guides to enhance K–12 teaching and learning through the garden. Educators can access everything from informational articles and practical guides for making the most of school-grown produce, such as Starting and Maintaining a School Garden (grades K–12) or Garden to Cafeteria Toolkit (grades K–12), to curriculum materials that teach lifelong gardening skills, such as Growing a Wild NYC: A K–5 Urban Pollinator Curriculum (grades K–5) and Digging Into Soil: Garden Practicum (grades 9–12). Resources can be searched by type (e.g., videos, one pager, curriculum, lesson plan, activity, etc.); topic (e.g., Composting, Edible Gardens, Pollinators, Science, Soil, and so on), features (e.g., cost, learning standard, and language), and audience (e.g., early childhood, preschool, elementary, middle level, and high school).  

Bridge Ocean Science Education Resource Center

This online clearinghouse of ocean-related content for K–12 educators is a partnership of the National Sea Grant Office, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and the National Marine Educators Association. The site offers such resources as background information on various ocean science topics; lesson plans using authentic marine science data sets; information about marine careers, internships, and summer activities for students; and professional development opportunities for formal and informal educators. Of particular interest is the Bridge DATA Series, lessons that provide opportunities for students to work with authentic scientific data and learn how ocean data is collected and analyzed. Teachers will also appreciate the Bridge Infographic Gallery, a collection of more than three dozen infographics presenting facts and information on ocean themes such as coral bleaching, marine debris, threats to coral reefs, gathering environmental information from the worlds’ oceans, plastics in the oceans, sharks, and humpback whales.

Build STEM Into Every School Day

The STEM Careers Coalition and Discovery Education have teamed up to produce a suite of science, technology, engineering, and math educational resources for K–12 audiences. The Build STEM Into Every School Day collection has classroom activities that encourage students to tackle real challenges through creative problem solving. Each activity includes a teacher’s guide and student handouts to complete the activity. Activities for grades K–5 include Plastic Patrol (negative effects of single-use plastics) and Mixing It Up (mixtures and the common processes used for separating them). Lessons for grades 6–8 include Harnessing Energy (generating electricity from different sources); Recycling and Food Waste (examining composting from national and global perspectives); and Artificial Intelligence (understanding how AI affects daily life). 

The Career Connections collection, targeted for the high school level,  has activities focused on instructional strategies that foster higher-order thinking and are useful in STEM careers. Activity titles include Six Questions (asking questions before, during, and after viewing the career profile video) and Pros and Cons (analyzing featured careers to determine whether they might like to pursue them). 

NASA’s Power to Explore Student Challenge
  
NASA’s fourth annual Power to Explore Student Challenge, a science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) writing challenge, invites K–12 students in the United States to learn about radioisotope power systems, a type of nuclear battery integral to many of NASA’s far-reaching space missions. Students will write an essay about a new nuclear-powered mission to any moon in the solar system they choose. Submissions are due Jan. 31, 2025. 

Entries should detail where students would go, what they would explore, and how they would use radioisotope power systems to achieve mission success in a dusty, dark, or far away moon destination. Judges will review entries in three grade-level categories: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Student entries are limited to 275 words and should address the mission destination and mission goals, and describe one of the student’s unique powers that will help the mission.  

One grand-prize winner from each grade category will receive a trip for two to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to learn about the people and technologies that enable NASA missions. Every student who submits an entry will receive a digital certificate and an invitation to a virtual event with NASA experts in which they’ll learn about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and explore.  

2025 Teaching With Primary Sources Summer On-Site Workshops

The Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington, D.C., will hold a free three-day professional development workshop in which teachers learn and practice strategies for using primary sources with K–12 students. Educators of all disciplines may apply. Two sessions will be offered: July 9–11, 2025, and July 16–18, 2025. In each session, LOC education specialists will model a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based teaching strategies for using primary sources to engage students, build critical-thinking skills, construct knowledge, and launch original research. Activities will feature historical artifacts from the LOC’s collections—photographs, prints, manuscripts, maps, multimedia, and more—that are digitized and freely available online. Educators will conduct research to identify primary sources and develop an activity related to their classroom content.

Tuition and materials for the workshops are offered at no cost to participants. Participants are responsible for all other costs, such as transportation, meals, and lodging. Attendees will receive a certificate of participation for 30 hours of professional development after completing the workshop. Apply by January 31, 2025.

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching recognize mathematics and science (including computer science) teachers. These are the top honors the U.S. government bestows for K–12 mathematics and science teaching, honoring up to 110 teachers each year. Presidential awardees receive a certificate signed by the President; a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend an awards ceremony; and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation. They also join a cadre of more than 5,200 award-winning teachers.

Consider nominating a talented teacher or applying for the award yourself. Applications for teachers of grades 7–12 are now open. Applications must be completed by February 6, 2025.