Bertinos

Fingerprinting Techniques and Activities for Remote Learning

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Fingerprinting Techniques and Activities for Remote Learning

Join National Geographic Learning for an exciting webinar enabling you to provide your students with at-home, hands-on activities for Forensic Science that use simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-find materials. Get advice and directions to make and use teaching tools to engage students in the processes of forensic investigations. We will discuss easy ways to collect and analyze fingerprint evidence and tire impressions and show tricks to successfully photograph fingerprints using cell phones.

Anthony “Bud” Bertino and
Patricia Nolan Bertino

Teacher Trainers and
Forensic Science Program Authors

Join National Geographic Learning for an exciting webinar enabling you to provide your students with at-home, hands-on activities for Forensic Science that use simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-find materials. Get advice and directions to make and use teaching tools to engage students in the processes of forensic investigations. We will discuss easy ways to collect and analyze fingerprint evidence and tire impressions and show tricks to successfully photograph fingerprints using cell phones.

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

  • Techniques to use hands-on forensic science activities to improve student understanding and engagement
  • Instructions for making inexpensive tools for use in Forensic Science lessons and curriculum
  • Review and receive hand-outs and lesson resources that you can use with students right now, however you are conducting your classes
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Students Become Real Scientists with Citizen Science Projects

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Students Become Real Scientists with Citizen Science Projects

Mark Hoffman

Senior Product Marketing Manager • K-12 Science/Disciplinary Literacy • National Geographic Learning | Cengage

Here are two things that are still taking place normally in this extraordinary time of pandemics and social distancing:

  1. Kids still need new activities and learning opportunities to stay happy and engaged, and
  2. Scientists still need new data collected to continue their research. 

Why not combine these two needs for the benefit of kids AND science!? All from your own home or a visit to a nearby park or open space.

April is Citizen Science Month and none of us will have experienced an April quite like this one. Regardless of what’s happening in the news and at home, the natural world outside is continuing as normal. Spring flowers are emerging, bugs and other wildlife are waking up, and the stars and moon still appear every night. And scientists need help from as many people as possible to observe and report data on all sorts of interesting phenomena. Check out some opportunities below to have your students or your own kids become real scientists and contribute to real science research. It’ll help them and the science community at large!

A few of our own National Geographic Learning programs include Citizen Science Projects and ideas for elementary and high school students. See below for links to free lessons taken from Exploring Science for grades K-5 and Environmental Science: Sustaining Your World for high school that students can work on now.

Project BudBurst Student Pages
(excerpt from Grade 1 Exploring Science)

Click here

Project BudBurst Teacher's Edition Pages
(excerpt from Grade 1 Exploring Science)

Click here

Track Bird Life Student Pages
(excerpt from Grade 4 Exploring Science)

Click here

Track Bird Life Teacher's Edition Pages
(excerpt from Grade 4 Exploring Science)

Click here

Citizen Science: Of the People, By the People, For the People Student Pages
(excerpt from Environmental Science: Sustaining Your World)

Click here

Citizen Science: Of the People, By the People, For the People Teacher's Edition Pages
(excerpt from Environmental Science: Sustaining Your World)

Click here

The National Geographic Society’s Education group has a wonderful list of 24 Citizen Science Projects for you to consider that range from classifying galaxy shapes from images on your computer, observing and reporting on bird sightings in urban cities or anywhere else, and listening to frogs in any wetland area near you.

National Geographic also partnered with the California Academy of Sciences to create the iNaturalist App which lets anybody take a picture of any plant or animal, offers help in identifying the species, but also submits that data including time and location of the sighting for scientists to analyze.

These projects are so widely varied in subject and so flexible in their commitment of time (from a few seconds to take a picture in iNaturalist up to a few hours of observations) that there is surely something to interest any young scientist to make observations, learn about their environment, and potentially help scientists make some important new discoveries.

Here are a few other good online resources for finding a Citizen Science project that can engage adults and kids of all ages and advice on how these projects increase educational value.

Official Citizen Science Month Website – great starting place to learn what citizen science is, find a project, or start one of your own!

Citizen Science Toolkit – Great educator resource for integrating citizen science projects into classroom/school settings

How to Help Scientists Without Leaving Home – Atlas Obscura

Fairfax County Public Schools Citizen Science page

Unlocking the Educational Potential of Citizen Science – National Geographic Article

Resources and help for those affected by COVID-19

We’re monitoring the spread and impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on K-12 schools across the country. If you’ve been affected by Coronavirus and are experiencing a school closure, we’ve collected resources for educators that may help.
Learn More
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Explorers in the Classroom – Keep students engaged and learning from home

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Explorers in the Classroom – Keep students engaged and learning from home

Mark Hoffman

Senior Product Marketing Manager • K-12 Science/Disciplinary Literacy • National Geographic Learning | Cengage

A 5th grade teacher friend told me about how she is trying to keep her students engaged as they continue their learning from home. “There’s a limit to the number of math worksheets you can give them,” she explained. “Have them read anything, the back of the cereal box, just as long as they’re reading!” She was hitting on the problem of keeping her students engaged from a distance, but also wanting real-world and authentic experiences that she can no longer provide in person.

One way to overcome this challenge is with live streaming videos of real National Geographic Explorers, scientists, engineers, and conservationists right at home. This is exactly what teacher Joe Grabowski started doing in his own classroom several years ago. His methods and results were so successful, he was selected to become a National Geographic Explorer in 2017 and soon after became National Geographic’s first Education Fellow.

So how can your students benefit from what National Geographic and Joe have started? Two ways, actually.

National Geographic Explorer Classroom

Explorer Classroom connects classrooms around the world with National Geographic Explorers, bringing science, exploration, and conservation to life through live video events. Students have the opportunity to ask the explorer their questions directly. Each month Explorer Classroom features a new theme and provides supporting resources for educators. Throughout the school year, classes can also join explorers live on expedition through their In the Field series.

To help students stuck at home, starting March 23, Explorer Classroom is launching a daily broadcast at 2pm Eastern time. This is in addition to other scheduled events throughout the day/week. They have also set up Family Guides for parents to help students learn more about the Explorers and the topics they study including pre- and post-session activities and questions.

Every talk is recorded, so if you can’t attend live to ask questions in person, you can view over 100 past talks with Explorers any time on National Geographic Education’s YouTube page.

Exploring By The Seat of Your Pants

Exploring By The Seat of Your Pants is the nonprofit set up by Explorer and teacher Joe Grabowski with dozens of live events each month streaming Science, Exploration, Adventure, and Conservation into classrooms across North America. Joe and his team host guest speakers and take students on virtual field trips with leading experts from around the world using special transmitters to broadcast live into classrooms and homes from the most remote regions on the planet. Since September 2015, they have run well over 1,000 live events connecting hundreds of thousands of students to scientists and Explorers in over 70 countries.

Their news series starting this month, Coronavirus Can’t Stop the Virtual Classroom, was created specifically for students and parents at home.

These talks are recorded as well and you can view hundreds of them on-demand at the Exploring By the Seat of Your Pants YouTube page.

Resources and help for those affected by COVID-19

We’re monitoring the spread and impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on K-12 schools across the country. If you’ve been affected by Coronavirus and are experiencing a school closure, we’ve collected resources for educators that may help.
Learn More
Andres Ruzo

STEAMy Lessons from the Amazon: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Boiling River Project and using STEAM to connect students to science and conservation

by with No Comment Webinar - Science

STEAMy Lessons from the Amazon: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Boiling River Project and using STEAM to connect students to science and conservation

Andrés Ruzo is a geothermal scientist, conservationalist, educator, host, author, and science communicator best known for his work at the Boiling River of the Amazon. Whether it is working with governments, energy companies, students, or indigenous communities, his goal is to connect people to the natural world and help build bridges to an environmentally conscious future.

Andres Ruzo

Andrés Ruzo

National Geographic Explorer

Andrés Ruzo is a geothermal scientist, conservationalist, educator, host, author, and science communicator best known for his work at the Boiling River of the Amazon. Whether it is working with governments, energy companies, students, or indigenous communities, his goal is to connect people to the natural world and help build bridges to an environmentally conscious future.

It’s imperative for students to understand what science can teach them, where it can take them, how to understand current global issues, and how they can play a part in changing the future for our people and planet. Join Andrés for an update on his latest endeavors on the Boiling River Project and his award-winning NatGeo Latin America television show, Misterios del Inframundo (Mysteries of the Underworld), and other innovative projects.  

In this webinar, you will learn:

  • How to connect kids with nature, conservation, and preservation
  • Expert insights into current global events including wildfires, wildlife trafficking (stories recently published by NatGeo Magazine), and responsible tourism
  • How to expand your curriculum to include renewable energy projects, sustainable initiatives, and empowerment of students through STEAM education
Yellowstone

Encouraging Girls’ Interest in STEM

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Encouraging Girls’ Interest in STEM

Mark Hoffman

Senior Product Marketing Manager • K-12 Science/Disciplinary Literacy • National Geographic Learning | Cengage

February 11 marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

When my 4-year-old daughter says she wants to make a “science table”, my ears perk up. “What do you mean by that?” I ask. She wanted to explore the front and back yards of our suburban house to find and sort natural (and some unnatural) objects. So off we went.

Late January in California yielded some treasures, some adventure, and some learning about the natural world around her.

How can we keep up that momentum?

Every grown-up female scientist or engineer likely had many nudges along their journey to entering a STEM career. Unfortunately, too many do not have the needed encouragement to pursue science. That trend is starting to change; and it’s beginning with stories told by women who have defied the odds.

Here are a few stories of encouragement that we can all share to inspire any young person, but especially girls, to pursue science, engineering, technology, and math.

STEM

Mireya Mayor

National Geographic Bio

National Geographic Video

Mireya Mayor is a world-renowned National Geographic Explorer, primatologist & Emmy Award nominated wildlife correspondent for the National Geographic Channel. But the former NFL cheerleader, daughter of Cuban immigrants, and mother of six, is not your typical scientist.

Known as the “Female Indiana Jones”, Mayor has reported to audiences worldwide on pertinent wildlife and habitat issues. Mayor earned her Ph.D. while conducting research on the effects of forest fragmentation and isolation on two types of lemurs found only in northern Madagascar. Her adventures and significant scientific discoveries and conservation efforts our outlined in her book Pink Boots and a Machete: My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer.

Lillygol Sedaghat

National Geographic Bio

Lillygol Sedaghat is a National Geographic Explorer and multimedia storyteller at the intersection of science, systems and people.

Banana peels and plastic straws are little more than garbage in most of the world. To environmental educator Lillygol Sedaghat, they’re precious commodities. For the past two years, the 27-year-old has traveled the globe to advocate for the untapped potential of trash. The linear economy, where resources are turned into disposable products, “is no longer sustainable,” Sedaghat says. She aims to promote a circular economy, in which “you maximize your resources and minimize your waste.” Since 2017 Sedaghat has researched one of the world’s most efficient waste management systems: Taiwan recycles nearly half its municipal waste and has reduced the amount sent to landfills to less than one percent—turning plastic waste into cell phone cases and food scraps into fertilizer. To Sedaghat, it’s a prime example of how a zero-waste economy can work. Her goal? For people “to realize a) they are a part of a waste system, b) they could make a difference and live a more sustainable lifestyle, [and] c) that our trash doesn’t disappear, it goes somewhere and affects someone.”

Nalini M. Nadkarni

National Geographic Bio

National Geographic Video

She started climbing trees as a kid, and eventually helped create scientist Barbie. (see this Washington Post article) Nalini Nadkarni, a National Geographic Explorer, is known as “the Queen of the Forest Canopy”. She has pioneered canopy access techniques to study the plants, animals, and microbes that live in rainforest treetops. Nadkarni has discovered that the world of the canopy is a separate but deeply interrelated part of forest ecosystems.

She is also a passionate communicator about nature and science to people in all walks of life, and has collaborated with preachers, policy-makers, and prisoners to bring science and nature to those who do not or cannot get access to them. She has forged creative collaborations with artists, dancers, and musicians to communicate the beauty and values of rainforests. Nadkarni relates this work to teachers in K-12 and higher education, particularly to reach students who find science distant from their lives.

Articles and Links

National Geographic Explorer Classroom – Live web events where students hear from Explorers and can ask questions directly, live on camera! February features all women.

Great Big Story – Gillian Jacobs: Women in STEM – Awesome video series featuring 5 women in STEM

The SciGirls Strategies: How to Engage Girls in STEM – NSTA Connected Science Learning article

STEM Mindset: Supporting Girls’ Ongoing Engagement and Success in STEM – NSTA Connected Science Learning article

The heroines STEM: Ten women in science you should know – CNN video and article

Career Barbie® Doll series – many are STEM-related, and which Nalini Nadkarni consulted in creating

The Nature of Science in YOUR Classroom

Explore strategies and resources for taking Science instruction to the next level in this on-demand webinar presented by Exploring Science author Dr. Randy Bell.
View Now
STEM

STEM Gift Ideas for Your Science-Minded Kids and Adults

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STEM Gift Ideas for Your Science-Minded Kids and Adults

Mark Hoffman

Senior Product Marketing Manager • K-12 Science/Disciplinary Literacy • National Geographic Learning | Cengage

For Adults

Being a science-minded person myself, my wife often searches for gifts that might appeal to my nerdy side. For our 5-year wedding anniversary, she found a website that printed and framed an image of the night sky with the stars positioned as they appeared on our wedding night that now hangs in our living room. Similar examples can be found here and here. Other examples in this vein include companies that will print an image of the position of the planets at any moment in history; examples include printing on metal, wood, acrylic, or onto t-shirts.

What if you could hold every element in the world in your hands at the same time? Or at least the ones that are safe to hold! You or your geeky loved ones can with a special periodic table that encapsulates little bits of each element in an acrylic holder. It’s a visually interesting conversation starter when displayed in your science friends’ home or office, see here.

Another go-to source when I’m looking for science-y gifts (or something fun for myself!) is Geek Wrapped. This site constantly finds new and interesting science products that range from incredibly useful to comically silly. Examples on sale now include an “Unbreakable Mechanical Pencil” to a “Giant Bag of Marshmallows”. Get lost in all the nerdiness here.

For Kids

For those naturally curious kids, there are many ways to satisfy the science bug or to encourage it in those who may need a nudge in the science direction. National Geographic is always an excellent source to inspire kids to act like real scientists and Explorers. They feature a wide variety of interactive STEM toys, projects, and books to activate busy hands and minds. Kids can crack open real geode rocks to reveal the crystals inside or build their own solar-powered mars rover. Get in on all the action here.

Some of the big toy manufacturers have embraced STEM versions of their traditional toys. Lego™ has included scientists and engineers in several of their City series including a Volcano series featuring National Geographic Explorer and Geoscientist Andrés Ruzo; although ‘retired’ by Lego, Amazon has it in stock here. Many of the Barbie™ Career Dolls are actually scientists including Entomologist, Astrophysicist, and Robotics Engineer dolls as examples, find them all here.

Several companies have hit on a subscription service which sends a different science activity in a box each month to various age kids. There is a wide variety of these science subscription kits and you can see some of the best options summarized here.

The Nature of Science in YOUR Classroom

Explore strategies and resources for taking Science instruction to the next level in this on-demand webinar presented by Exploring Science author Dr. Randy Bell.
View Now
Randy_Bell

The Nature of Science in YOUR Classroom

by with No Comment Webinar - Science

The Nature of Science in YOUR Classroom

What is the nature of science and how can it be used to increase student interest and promote scientific literacy? These are just some of the questions that you will explore as you learn from student-centered activities designed to encourage critical thinking about what nature of science is and how it can enhance your instruction. Dr. Bell’s session will offer specific strategies and resources that support ALL students in learning about the nature of science and how to make sense of scientific claims they encounter on a daily basis.

Randy_Bell

Dr. Randy Bell

Associate Dean and Professor of Science Education

What is the nature of science and how can it be used to increase student interest and promote scientific literacy? These are just some of the questions that you will explore as you learn from student-centered activities designed to encourage critical thinking about what nature of science is and how it can enhance your instruction. Dr. Bell’s session will offer specific strategies and resources that support ALL students in learning about the nature of science and how to make sense of scientific claims they encounter on a daily basis.

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

  • What nature of science means and how it is represented in NGSS
  • Strategies for teaching nature of science and how they can be used to boost student interest
  • The nuanced difference between science inquiry and nature of science
Malcolm_Butler

Reading and Writing in and About Science — Engaging and Encouraging Every Student with Notebooking

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Reading and Writing in and About Science — Engaging and Encouraging Every Student with Notebooking

How can we use notebooking as a tool for increasing student success in science? Language is a critical part of the learning equation, and the use of a variety of communication strategies is essential for students in developing their academic language. This webinar replay will offer specific strategies (with appropriate rationales!) for teachers, as they support ALL students in the learning of science and language. 

Malcolm_Butler

Dr. Malcolm Butler

Associate Director, School of Teacher Education
University of Central Florida

How can we use notebooking as a tool for increasing student success in science? Language is a critical part of the learning equation, and the use of a variety of communication strategies is essential for students in developing their academic language. This webinar replay will offer specific strategies (with appropriate rationales!) for teachers, as they support ALL students in the learning of science and language. 

In this webinar replay, you will learn:

  • The importance of academic language development in science
  • Strategies for supporting learners in science as they develop their language skills
  • The nuanced difference between 'writing' and 'documenting' experiences and thoughts in science notebooks
  • Ways to support colleagues in the use of science notebooks, and garner support of administrators in the use of science notebooks