It's Moonshot Monday!

Subject: It's Moonshot Monday!

Talking to Your Students About Wildfires

As deadly wildfires continue to spread across southern California, your students may have questions or concerns. National Geographic has learning materials to help you talk to them about how wildfires work, as well as their lasting implications on our health and environment.

Here are some resources, including an interactive map to see where wildfires are currently burning in the United States to help explain wildfires and their global impact to your learners:

What Is a Wildfire? (Grades 5-8)
Wildfires: How They Form, and Why They're So Dangerous (Grades 5-8)
The Ecological Benefits of Fire (Grades 5-12)
MapMaker: Current United States Wildfires and Perimeters (Grades 9-12)

Museum of Science Boston Free High-Quality Curricula for PK-8

The Museum of Science, Boston's Youth Engineering Solutions (YES) offers a collection of PK-8 engineering and STEM curricula designed to engage students in authentic, hands-on challenges connected to their lives and communities. The materials apply a model for equity-oriented and socially engaged engineering learning that encourages all to see themselves as engineers and passionate problem solvers poised to make a difference in the world.

The curricula include 12 engaging, standards-aligned units for elementary and middle school grades and out-of-school settings. All curriculum guides can be downloaded for free at: https://yes.mos.org/curricula/yes-curricula/

Pre-made material kits for classrooms and enrichment settings can also be purchased at that link.

The Power to Explore Challenge is back! NASA is calling on all K-12 students to research Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS), a type of nuclear "battery" used in space exploration, and dream up a new RPS-powered space mission to any moon in our solar system!

Grand prize winners from each grade category (3 total) will receive a trip for two to NASA's Glenn Research Center 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 where they'll learn about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and explore.

Sign up for the contest and learn more here! Submission Deadline: January 31, 2025

Free Activities & Interactives for Families from EiE Families

EiE Families, from the Museum of Science, Boston, has released several new activities and interactive introductions to at-home engineering and computer science activities. These brief online experiences introduce families to the engineering design process and important ideas in computer science, so they are ready to try out hands-on activities with confidence.

All EiE Families resources - including the new online introductions, the hands-on activities, and the website itself - are available for free in both English and Spanish at: https://families.eie.org/activities/at-home

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Subject: It's Moonshot Monday!

Museum of Science Boston Free High-Quality Curricula for PK-8

Free Activities & Interactives for Families from EiE Families