Environmental Jukebox

This collection of interdisciplinary lessons brings together science, music, and civics in K–12 classrooms. Developed by TeachRock, an organization focused on using the power of music to help students connect learning across disciplines, the lessons introduce Earth science and engineering principles while also exploring activism and the importance of addressing environmental issues. Each lesson features a teacher’s guide and a student version and includes essential questions, learning objectives, student procedures, and necessary links and handouts to facilitate classroom implementation. Titles include Cleaning Up the Plastic Beach (elementary and middle/high school levels); The Science and the Civics of the Flint Water Crisis (elementary/middle and high school levels); Confronting the Climate Crisis (middle/high school); Greta Thunberg, Music, and the Climate Crisis (middle/high school), and Mountaintop Removal Mining in Appalachia (elementary, middle, and high school). (Note: Free e-mail registration is required to access the collection’s complete lesson plans.) 

Activity: Make Your Own X-59

Upgrade your paper airplane game with this hands-on activity from NASA. Targeted for grades 3–8, the activity presents step-by-step instructions, images, and a template to build a paper airplane model of the X-59 QueSST (SuperSonic Transport), NASA’s experimental research aircraft designed to reduce the noise created by planes flying faster than the speed of sound. Supersonic planes produce a sonic boom, a noise so loud that it can damage property and disturb animals. The activity’s Background Information section describes the aircraft’s unique features and design that enable supersonic travel without the explosive boom.

Exploring Evolution and Selective Breeding Through Corn 

This activity from the Library of Congress (LOC) blog Teaching With the Library supports teachers using primary sources from the LOC. Most appropriate for use in high school biology classrooms, the activity describes how teachers can use the historical newspaper article “From Grass to Corn in Eighteen Years” (Crossville Chronicle, August 17, 1921) as a focal point for a unit exploring evolution and selective breeding. The activity includes a link to the LOC’s Primary Source Analysis Tool, as well as questions to guide student learning throughout the unit. In addition to building students’ knowledge about evolution and selective breeding, the activity provides opportunities for students to reflect on scientific practices and learn more about the constructive nature of science. 

Sally Ride EarthKAM Mission

Sally Ride EarthKAM is a free STEM educational program managed by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During October 9–11 and October 29–November 1, EarthKAM will allow students to take images of Earth from space using a camera aboard the International Space Station. Educators can use EarthKAM as a teaching tool for Earth science, space science, environmental science, geography, social studies, mathematics, communications, and art. Educators, educational institutions, and students may participate. Sally Ride EarthKAM is intended for middle school students, but all ages are welcome. The website’s activities section features lesson ideas for teachers.

ORISE Atomic Learning: Nuclear Science Lesson Plan Competition

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) wants to see how you bring the field of nuclear science to life in your lesson plans. Teachers of any grade level or subject are invited to submit a STEM lesson plan that includes nuclear science. Two teachers who submit lesson plans will be selected to receive a MacBook Air and a nuclear science kit. (Deadline October 31)

Toshiba America Foundation Grants

Teachers of grades 6–12 can apply online for a Toshiba America Foundation grant of less than $5,000 to help bring an innovative project into their own classroom. If you have an innovative idea for improving STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning in your classroom, and if your idea involves project-based learning with measurable outcomes, apply by December 1.