For nearly 40 years, the White House Office of Science and Technology has honored STEM teachers nationwide for both their deep content knowledge and their ability to motivate students. The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching(PAEMST) are the highest honors bestowed by the United States government on K–6 STEM educators. Anyone can nominate a STEM teacher at the K–6 level. Teachers can also directly apply at paemst.org. Awardees will receive a certificate signed by the President; a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation; an expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC; and access to a nationwide cohort of award-winning teachers.
Deadlines: Nominations are due by January 7, 2022; applications are due by February 6, 2022.
Set to launch in the summer of 2022, NASA’s Psyche mission will be the first to explore a world likely made largely of metal. Scientists hope that studying asteroid Psyche will give insights into how Earth’s core and the cores of the other terrestrial planets came to be.
Students interested in animals and wildlife will find Brave Wilderness an engaging YouTube channel to follow. They can join hosts Coyote Peterson, Mark Vins, and Mario Aldecoa as they lead viewers on a variety of expeditions featuring everything from grizzly bears and crocodiles to rattlesnakes and tiger sharks.
Students can take a 360-degree virtual tour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at California Institute of Technology. Through the virtual tour, students can explore key areas of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Researchers in the BIO5 Institute at The University of Arizona worked with teachers to develop activities that allow high school students to learn about the use of computational analysis for biological questions.