Cambridge Science Festival

The Cambridge Science Festival will go through April 30

From Boston.com: The Cambridge Science Festival, primarily online this year has more than 160 free exhibitions, demonstrations, tours, workshops, and more. The festival website says: “From culinary creations to comedy, from astrophysics to artwork, we’ve got your science needs covered. Meet a scientist! Tour a lab! Talk to an eel!”

Puberty Info for Specific Student Populations

I came across this through a link in an article today in the NY Times - it's information about puberty from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville that is geared toward specific student populations and their families and educators -- (1) students with intellectual disabilities and (2) students with autism.

There are separate guides for families of boys and girls with intellectual disabilities, which would also be useful for educators. Note the separate appendix with storyboards and visuals to use while implementing the methods outlined in the guide.  The guides for students with intellectual disabilities are also available in Spanish. 

Girls with intellectual disabilities

• Healthy Bodies: A Parent's Guide on Puberty for Girls with Disabilities
• Spanish language version - for girls
• Girls Toolkit Appendix 

Boys with intellectual disabilities

• Healthy Bodies: A Parent's Guide on Puberty for Boys with Disabilities
• Spanish-language version - for boys
• Boys Toolkit Appendix

For autistic teens and adults

• Puberty, Sex, and Sexuality: An Introduction for Autistic Teens and Adults Toolkit
• View as interactive online course: 
  *To take part in the online course, register for a free account at triad.vkclearning.org and access the information under "Information Toolkit" To learn how to navigate the online learning portal, visit https://vkc.vumc.org/vkc/triad/online/

Portuguese Language Books

There was an email thread with MA school librarians this week about the best place to get Portuguese language books

Amazon has the best selection. Most on Amazon are offered by the vendors Pure Brazil and Foreign Books Illinois and most are reasonably priced.

Another vendor is BuoBooks  (https://www.buobooks.com/).  They claim to be "the world's first Portuguese language bookstore" and are headquartered in Florida with offices in Portugal and Brazil. 

France seeks Unesco heritage status for the baguette

France seeks Unesco heritage status for the baguette - BBC

Video game could help improve brain function for children with disabilities

“Researchers at the University of Victoria have tapped into a booming gaming industry to help improve brain function and cognitive abilities in children with disabilities. A team at UVic, building on years of study, have partnered with the private sector to create Dino Island, a video game that takes children with neurodevelopment disabilities on a tour of a fictitious, digitized island where they face a progressive series of challenges in the hopes of improving their brain function.”

Read article here: Video game could help improve brain function for children with disabilities.

OurEcho Challenge - STEM Innovation Competition

The OurEcho Challenge is a STEM innovation competition that ask U.S. middle school students to take a closer look at biodiversity in their communities then do something to protect it. Students identify threats to local ecosystems and then propose solutions to help preserve, protect or repair those natural resources. 

 
Entries will be accepted through April 22, 2021, and free standards-aligned biodiversity resources are available to support teachers and students year-round. 

10 Finalist Teams will join EarthEcho for a live broadcast virtual celebration, where they will present their innovative ideas. The top 3 teams will be awarded grants of up to $5,000 to turn their projects into a reality.

Click here for more info and to enter

YouTube "Checks" Tool

If you ever upload videos to YouTube that may be using music or other copywritten content, here's some info for you:

YouTube can now warn creators about copyright issues before videos are posted

• YouTube is rolling out a new tool called “Checks” that tells a creator ahead of time if their video contains copyrighted material.
• The new feature screens uploads for copyrighted content, which could lead to takedowns
• This new system is reliant on Content ID. If YouTube’s copyright identification system finds a violation after a video is scanned, the rights holder’s policy will be automatically applied to the video, according to the company. This could result in either the video being blocked entirely or the rights holders monetizing the video instead.

Listen to Five of the World’s Newest, Wildest Instruments

Listen to Five of the World’s Newest, Wildest Instruments - NY Times

A Lego guitar and a “war tuba” are among the highlights of this year’s Guthman Musical Instrument Competition.

You can also go here:
Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

Franco American Digital Archives

University of Maine has launched First-ever online, bilingual portal to Franco American archives launches this spring. 

"Franco American Digital Archives/Portail franco-américain, formerly known as the Franco American Portal project, will offer access to various primary sources about the French-Canadian, Acadian and Québécois(e) diaspora communities of the Northeast. Available records will include letters and other correspondence, scrapbooks, family and business records, newspapers, photographs and other media depicting Franco-American history, culture and people."

WBUR story about ELL students

For English Language Learners, School Ties Are Key To Overcoming Pandemic Challenges

WBUR, March 11, 2021

Online Event: Leveling the Playing Field in STEM

Black and Latinx Americans are underrepresented in STEM jobs. The root reasons are myriad: limited access to quality education, discrimination in recruitment and promotion practices, and disparities in STEM-based programming across youth communities to name a few. A range of perspectives and having as many voices at the table as possible will be crucial to solving the global issues before us.

Join On Point host Meghna Chakrabarti for a wide-ranging conversation with field experts on how to develop solutions to reverse these trends.

Register here

https://www.wbur.org/events/663375/leveling-the-playing-field-in-stem

Time & Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 6:00 pm

Panelists

• Tarika Barrett - CEO, Girls Who Code
• Nigel Jacob - co-chair, Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics
• Adrian Mims - founder and national director, The Calculus Project
• Karl Reid - former executive director, National Society of Black Engineers

Join the conversation! Submit your questions to us before and during the event here.

Broadband Access Discount Program

The December Covid-19 relief bill included $3.2 billion to help low-income Americans pay for broadband service. Last week, the FCC established the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, which will make use of those funds.

CNN: Are you eligible for the FCC's emergency internet discount program? Here's how to find out. 

"The program will provide discounts of up to $50 a month, or $75 on Tribal lands, for broadband service for low-income households. It also includes a one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, desktop computer or tablet purchased from certain providers, which are yet to be named but are likely to include major wireless network operators, among others."

STEM Everyday Podcast

STEM EVERYDAY PODCAST
dailystem.com/stem-everyday-podcast

Scout Report says: "Nearly 200 episodes with resources for STEM educators... May be particularly useful for educators looking for unique ways to get "non-science" oriented students interested in the vast possibilities that STEM subjects can create. It shares expertise from educators at all grade levels, from university professors to kindergarten teachers. Most episodes are approximately 30 minutes.

On the Road with Jason Reynolds

On the Road with Jason Reynolds

https://www.facebook.com/events/492322142164966

National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds will discuss his ambassadorship, including his recent “GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story” virtual tour, with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Through his platform, “GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story,” Reynolds has directed his focus as ambassador by empowering students to embrace and share their own personal stories.
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is an initiative of the Library of Congress, in partnership with Every Child a Reader and the Children’s Book Council, with generous support from Dollar General Literacy Foundation.
Please join us to watch this presentation as it premieres with closed captions on both the Library's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/libraryofcongress and the Library's YouTube site at https://www.youtube.com/loc/. 

The presentation will be available for viewing afterwards at those sites and on the Library of Congress website at https://www.loc.gov/collections/event-videos/.

Black History in Two Minutes (or so)

As we continue with Black History Month, the Black History in Two Minutes (or so) podcast & video series is a wonderful resource to learn the full scope of U.S. history, with episodes that can tie into many different subjects, not just history/social studies!

The award-winning show explores important people and events from the past and present. These episodes create more accurate depictions or fill in gaps in our student's knowledge with well-studied events such as the Civil War and school integration (including the central role that Boston played in the 1970s), while also highlighting prominent figures often left out of most history books.

The resource is well suited for educators, too; episodes are short and accessible to a general audience. The series is narrated by Professor Henry Louis Gates and is executive produced by an equally impressive team.

Look for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Android, and Stitcher.

You can also find it on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Recycling plastic waste to make bricks that are stronger than concrete

This video is really cool/inspirational:

Recycling plastic waste to make bricks that are stronger than concrete
Materials engineer and Gjenge Makers founder Nzambi Matee is transforming plastic waste into bricks that are lighter and five to seven times stronger than concrete.

She is one of 7 UN Environmental Program's 2020 Young Champions of the Earth winners

Sparklab - Design a Spacecraft

Sparklab - Design a Spacecraft

Design a spacecraft with these virtual materials — or create your own parts and pieces. Uses Tinkercad.

Storytelling Through Art from MoMA

Storytelling through Art

Discover how Jacob Lawrence shared the history of an important event by combining words and images in a series of paintings called the Migration Series. Tell your own story through multiple panels in this online workshop that you can access anytime.

For kids nine to 14; allow for around 12 minutes of video, plus time to complete your project. Materials needed: 3-4 sheets of paper; a pencil; colored pencils, crayons, markers, or paint.

Black Violin

You have may have heard about Black Violin, although I only heard of them when they got a grammy nomination recently.

Anyway, Black Violin has thelatest entry in the Morning Edition Song Project


Here's a page with other songs from the Morning Edition Song Project series, where NPR specifically commissions songs from a range of different musical artists to write songs that reflect our times in some way - it's pretty interesting/great!

Black Violin & NPR Morning Ed. Song Project

You may have heard about Black Violin, although I only heard of them when they got a Grammy nomination recently.  

They have the latest entry in the NPR Morning Edition Song Project

Here's a page with other songs from the project series, where NPR specifically commissions songs from a range of different musical artists to write songs that reflect our times in some way - it's pretty interesting/great!