Grant or Paid Opportunities

• MSUB is exploring a grant opportunity that would allow local and rural science teachers to work alongside scientists in their labs for the summer. If you could answer some survey questions, we would better understand which areas of science are of interest. Please fill out this Qualtrics survey!

•  aiEDU AI Trailblazer Fellowships 

  This is a great chance for teachers to learn the foundations of AI literacy and practice implementing new curriculum in their classrooms. Applications are open now!

  Participants will receive an $875 stipend and will be required to:

  • Be a current K–12 classroom teacher in the U.S.
  • Teach 2–3 aiEDU lessons this fall.
  •  
  • Attend 5 live virtual sessions between September and November 2025.
  • Be comfortable recording themselves teaching and collecting student release forms 

• ROADS FROM EARTH TO VENUS PD registration:  Looking for engaging, student-centered STEM materials?  In this professional development series for informal and formal educators, you will be prepared to adapt and deliver this Earth to Venus experience to your students.  We will also explore the ROADS archive to help you meet your specific needs.

• Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) applications for travel grants are open for Sri Lanka 

• Montana Environmental Education Association
  • Mini Grants
  • Travel Grants
• 21st Century Community Learning Center Competitive Grant Update  The 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant provides funds to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and community-based organizations (CBOs). Grantees are awarded a minimum of $50,000 each year for 5 years. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers provide opportunities for academic enrichment during out-of-school time in a community learning center environment.  Services reinforce and complement regular academic programs and offer literacy and educational development to students and families. You can apply, see the timeline learn a little more on the website. 

• CSX Community Service Grants (includes schools) with suggested ranges from $1,000 to $5,00

• Aldrin Family Foundation Map Package Grant Application Aldrin Family Foundation has worked with donors to make Giant Mars and Moon Map packages available for distribution to individual schools, school districts, and informal education organizations throughout the country in areas where we believe they can do the most good, especially in under-served communities.

Challenges and Competitions

• 

  
  NASA TechRise Student Challenge

  The next NASA TechRise Student Challenge is expected to open for entries in September 2025. Pre-register now to receive challenge updates!
  The NASA TechRise Student Challenge empowers teams of sixth to 12th-grade students to design, build, and launch experiments on NASA-supported test flights. Guided by an educator, student teams affiliated with U.S. public, private, and charter schools can submit ideas for experiments to test on a suborbital flight. 
  Winning teams will be selected to build their proposed experiment. Each winning team will be awarded:

  • $1,500 to build their experiment
  • A flight box in which to build it
  • An assigned spot to test their experiment on a NASA-sponsored flight

No experience is needed to participate in the NASA TechRise Challenge! Challenge Flyer 

• Technical support during the experiment build phase from Future Engineers advisors, who will help students learn the skills they need to turn their experiment idea into reality.

• Montana Robotics Alliance:  With 90 FIRST Lego League (FLL) and 30 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams across the state, we have a network of mentors to help kickstart your program.

     Curriculum resources: 

•    FIRST Class Packs
• FIRST Free Education Resources  

  • Please take a moment to fill out our contact information form so we can learn more about your particular interest and connect you with the right individual in our organization. 

• Federal Aviation Administration Airport Design Challenge, register now!

• Montana Envirothon 2025 competition: Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change. If you are interested in registering your team, please contact Tenlee Atchison, Executive Director at tenlee@cascadecd.com or Teresa Wilhelms, Administrator at secretary@cascadecd.com for the registration form, rules and hotel information. You can also call 406-866-0020.

• Apply or Nominate Educators for Prestigious Shell Awards

• I am the "M" in STEM, American Mathematics Competitions for MS students

Lumiere Education Competitions for MS Students

• American Mathematics Competition (MC-8)
  • American Mathematics Competition (AMC-8)
  • The 3M Young Scientist Challenge
  • Congressional App Challenge
  • Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge
  • American Computer Science League
  • Pi Math Contest
  • eCYBERMISSION
  • California Science & Engineering Fair
  • Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle School Students (MOEMS)
  • American Rocketry Challenge
  • Future City
  • Junior Solar Sprint 
  • National Biology Bowl
  • San Francisco Middle School Science Fair
  • National Engineering Design Competition
  • Lumiere Junior Explorer Program

• Lemonson-MIT Invention Challenges, sign up for their Newsletter.  

• Ongoing Challenges: 

  • Inspired Classroom offers many challenges throughout the school year.  To learn more go to their FAQs webpage. 

  • Ongoing Challenges Big Sky Film Institute (Late deadline October 13)

  • NASA always has some challenge going on!  Subscribe to the NASA Express newsletter to find more NASA opportunities.

Student and Classroom Opportunities

K-8

• Nautilus Live - Ship to Shore Interactions: 

  • Looking for an exciting way to bring STEM to life in your classroom? Nautilus Live is offering free, live Ship-to-Shore interactions with their team of scientists and engineers currently conducting expeditions in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

    These interactive sessions, lasting 30-60 minutes, are a fantastic opportunity for students to ask questions and engage directly with experts working aboard the ship. The Nautilus team is particularly eager to connect with Montana teachers before their season concludes in mid-December.

    Learn more and schedule your session here: Nautilus Live - Ship-to-Shore Interactions

    Don’t miss this chance to inspire your students with real-world science and exploration!

• From NASA EXPRESS:

  NASA’s Climate Kids brings climate science to life with games, interactive features, and exciting articles.

  Explore key concepts about Earth science, missions, and climate with "NASA's Earth Minute" videos.

  Find tips for incorporating hands-on data collection activities into your programs with the GLOBE Observer: Toolkit for Informal Educators.

  Peer into NASA's Earth Observatory to find images, stories, and discoveries about the environment and Earth's systems.

  For even more Earth science resources, visit the NASA STEM.

K-12

• Help Scientists Search for Asteroids Around Dead Stars

  Audience: Science enthusiasts of all ages

  Do you ever wonder what the future holds for our solar system? The Sun will eventually become a dense, planet-sized object called a white dwarf. That means studying white dwarfs we see in the sky can provide a glimpse into our own solar system’s fate.

  The Exoasteroids participatory science project lets you help scientists discover debris disks and asteroids around white dwarfs using images taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope. This data can provide clues into the formation and composition of other planetary systems in the universe.

• Visit the New MSTA Website and view all the upcoming events!
• Air Quality Flag Program. This program is funded by the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Flags, onsite training, and educational materials are free.  If you would like to get involved, contact mac.nollde@ontanahphc.org, (406) 763-1006.
• Bugs, bugs, bugs!  Field trips, Classroom visits, Distance Learning, all available through Missoula Butterfly House, scholarships are available.
• Coding: CS Ed Week, Computer Science for Educators-resources
• EPA Region 8 (Mountains and Plains) offers virtual presentations to the general public, teachers and students on a variety of environmental topics. Presentations can be tailored for any age group and are offered during the school week. EPA also has lesson plans, activity books, pre-recorded presentations and games available.  EPA Region 8 offers informal mentorships to young people who are interested in finding out more about environmental/conservation issues, projects and careers. Students are matched with a subject matter expert who can discuss with the students their environmental questions or career paths. Mentorships can be one-time visits, a phone call, virtual meetings or last a few months depending on the student’s needs/interests. Mentees can be of any age. Teachers or parents interested in finding out more about these offerings should contact Wendy Dew at dew.wendy@epa.govor 303-877-0428

K-5

• NASA Guide to Climate Change for Kids
• For Elementary grades, to support early literacy, the Montana State Library and Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks are pleased to announce a relaunch of the Ready 2 Read Goes Wild Bear Trunk program, which will provide communities throughout Montana with a unique learning opportunity grounded in outdoor education and appreciation.
• GoNoodle Take Care with PEANUTS for Elementary Students
• PBS LearningMedia: Grades: PreK-5 and Grades: 3-4

4-8

• Email Inspired Classroom to Learn about the Program 
• Museum as Megaphone
• December 8-12, 2025
• 4-8th Grades

6-8

6-12

• Media Mavericks: Teen Media Making Clubs Visit our Website  

  • Start a Media Mavericks Club in YOUR Community!

    Are you passionate about amplifying student voices? Do you see storytelling and media making as valuable tools in your classroom or library? Do you want to engage teens in projects that inspire civic engagement and teach real-world skills? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you should start a MEDIA MAVERICKS CLUB!

  • Media Mavericks & KQED Youth Media Challenge Media Mavericks Showcase Page

    Students are prompted to create a variety of media, including short film, mini-documentary, podcasts, infographics, photo essays, editorial cartoons, and more, in response to prompts that fall into three categories- persuasive commentary, informational, and first-person narrative.

  • Educator Toolkit: Educator Toolkit Educators who want to introduce their students to an authentic audience for their media have a vast assortment of resources to support their endeavors. The Educator Toolkit is a great place to start your journey!

  • Story-Maker: Story-Maker Expand your toolbox to include the powerful learning platform developed by Student Reporting Labs, Story-Maker.

  • KQED Teach:  KQED Teach Access free workshops and self-paced courses on media-making, and implementing and assessing student media projects.

    • Participation is free, and no prior experience or expertise is necessary to implement highly-engaging, relevant, and valuable media projects in any educational setting. Students and their supportive educators who submit media to the Youth Media Challenge will receive a signature Media Mavericks Hoodie and other assorted swag.  

      Ann Bernard, our Youth Media Specialist, is here to guide you through the exciting journey of media production! Have questions or need advice? She's ready to help you get started, she can be contacted at ann.bernard@montanapbs.org or 406-994-6192

• Re: Ideas for making learning more relevant (and providing perspective on current issues)

  Teacher Leaders in Montana History Cynthia Wilondek and Dylan Huisken (former MT Teacher of the Year) led a dynamite professional development workshop a few weeks ago on "Connecting Past to Present." They created a Google Doc with links to many resources and lesson plans. I'll only highlight a few here.

  • In the 2023 case Held vs State of Montana, kids sued the state of Montana over not doing enough to prevent climate change, claiming that the state's inaction violated the Montana constitution's guarantee of a "clean and healthful environment."  You can use this as an entry into discussing Montana's 1972 Constitution.
  • Digitized newspapers are a great way to research the history of current events, for example, the closure of a local business or bridge.
  • There have been a number of recent articles on trying to document all of the students who died at Indian boarding schools and returning the remains to their communities. This obviously connects to a study of the boarding school era. 
  • Discussions of dark money in politics today tie nicely with a discussion of the Clark-Daly feud, fight for the state capitol and decision to pass the direct election of senators after William A. Clark successfully bribed his way into the U.S. Senate in 1899.
• NASA Graphing Global Temperature Trends for 5-12 
• Climate Emergency Feedback Loops, 5 short Climate Change videos with curriculum guides, as seen on PBS
• PBS LearningMedia: Grades: 6-12

9-12

• Lemelson-MIT is collaborating with the California State Railroad Museum to present "Rail Innovation in Action," a free, online program that will explore topics in transportation, environment, problem solving, and more. Please forward to students you know and others that can help spread the word. 
  • The California State Railroad Museum is thrilled to introduce another year of Rail Innovation in Action, a free virtual program for high school students nationwide created in partnership with Lemelson-MIT. We invite you to join our cohort of future rail innovators! 

Applications are open until September 22, 2025 and the program runs on Saturdays from October 18 to December 13, 2025 (off for Thanksgiving weekend). No prior knowledge of railroading is necessary—all students need is curiosity and a passion for innovation. Priority may be given to low-income, traditionally marginalized communities. More details and information about the program can be found at www.californiarailroad.museum/RIA. 

Our fall 2025 theme is Community Impact where students will be exploring real-world, human-centered issues that shape a community’s relationship with the railroad industry, in the past, present and future.

In Rail Innovation in Action students will:

●      Hear from experts in the field

●      Interact with industry professionals

●      Engage in activities and virtual tours

●      Discover exciting career paths

●      Work together in small teams with peers to propose a new railway innovation/invention

●      Present their innovation projects to family and friends

Apply today and spread the word! For questions and comments, please  reach out to STEM Museum Educator, Alondra Moreno (amoreno@csrmf.org) or Special Projects Manager, Carly Starr (cstarr@csrmf.org). We value your input and look forward to hearing from you!  

About the Lemelson-MIT Program: For over 20 years, the Lemelson-MIT Program, within the MIT School of Engineering, has been helping educators provide invention education programs to students with incredible results through our InvenTeam Grants Initiative, curriculum development for all grades, and especially our PD workshops.

Visit lemelson.mit.edu to learn more. 

• The Montana Aerospace Scholars (MAS) is a two-phase program for high school students to take part in an extracurricular experience that immerses them in aerospace-related activities. MAS is offered through NASA partnerships with the Montana Learning Center at Canyon Ferry Lake and the Northwest Earth & Space Sciences Pathways program.
  
  Phase One is a remote portion where students will make an introduction video and complete a research essay. These assignments help students build general space technology and career knowledge while allowing them to develop skills such as problem solving, creativity, proposal writing, and critical thinking.
  
  Students who pass Phase One will be invited to the in-person experience at the MLC campus, Phase Two. They will work as a team to plan a detailed mission to either the Moon or Mars, depending on their program. Other activities provided at this residency include learning how to fly a plane, engaging in engineering challenges, partaking in aerospace-industry tours, and interacting with NASA personnel. Students will also spend time observing objects in the night sky at our state-of-the-art observatory, featuring the largest public access telescope in Montana (weather permitting).
  
  If you have any students who are interested, please encourage them to apply! This program is FREE. Applications are due by March 1st.
  
  A description of the program, a FAQ document, and the application can be found here:
  https://montanalearning.org/apollo50/ [montanalearning.org]
  
  If you or students have any questions, contact Executive Director Ryan Hannahoe at MontanaLearningCenter@gmail.com.

• NASA Future Temperature Projections Unit
• High School, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) offers free, innovative classroom products. These online learning resources form the foundation of a global civics curriculum, empowering young people with the essential knowledge, skills, and perspective to be responsible citizens, take on the challenges of global competition, and steer through partisan rhetoric and disinformation.  Review their resources that could be used in a science classroom.  For more information contact Lori Matza, lmatza@cfr.org.
• BioInteractive: High School Science Curricular Materials 

Conferences and Professional Learning​​​​​​

• OpenSciEd Web Seminars at NSTA for Fall 2025

• Making Sense of Science PD from WestEd: Differential Effects of Three Professional Development Models on Teacher Knowledge and Student Achievement in Elementary Science
• Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) applications for travel grants are open for Sri Lanka 

• WSTA OSE Professional Learning Fall 2025 Series

  Cost: $200 per session, WSTA clock hours available for a fee.

  Sign up at WSTA Events Calander: https://wsta.wildapricot.org/Events 

  OSE 6.1 Thursdays, August 28, September 11 & 25 and October 9, 2025, 4:00 – 5:30 pm PST

  OSE 7.1 Tuesdays, September 2 & 16 & 30 and October14, 2025, 4:00 – 5:30 pm PST

  OSE 8.1 In Process of Scheduling

  OSE B.1 Thursdays, September 4 & 18 and October 2 & 16, 2025, 4:00 – 5:30 pm PST

  OSE C.1 Tuesdays, August 26, September 9 & 23 and October 7, 2025, 4:00 – 5:30 pm PST

   

• For more information or questions, contact Don Pruett at wstaose@gmail.com

  • OPEN TO ALL. Learn more and register on the Washington State Science Teachers Association (WSTA) Event Calendar at https://wsta.wildapricot.org/EventCalendar [wsta.wildapricot.org]

• National Council for Geographic Education: NCGE Around the World Peruvian Amazon opportunity

• Join us, become a member in the Montana STEM Ecosystem!

• Supercharge Your Classroom

  Supercharge Your Classroom with Montana Field Science Data is a free, self-paced course for educators that consists of five modules. Through these modules, educators will learn to incorporate datasets from authentic Montana research projects into their own classroom.  The Supercharge Your Classroom course is sponsored by Montana NSF EPSCoR and was originally taught by Montana Partnership with Regions for Excellence in STEM (MPRES) educators Chris Pavlovich and Bill Stockton through the Montana Office of Public Instruction's (OPI)  Teacher Learning Hub. 

  Getting Started:  The Supercharge Your Classroom course takes educators through research-based approaches to complete an applicable product, a unit or lesson, for their classroom. Each topic is composed of a building background knowledge portion and an inquiry portion. These steps are designed to mimic best practices in the classroom of inquiry and explicit instruction. By progressing through the modules below, educators will deepen their understanding of Montana research and better refine their end product. Simply click each module title below to access content. 

  • Module 1 - Backwards Design and Dataset Inquiry
  • Module 2 - Framing Your Dataset with NGSS
  • Module 3 - The Essence of Your Plan
  • Module 4 - Your Blueprint
  • Module 5 - Building Your Plan

  • After you have completed this course, please share your feedback and we will send you a free STEM kit for your class! If you'd like your survey responses to be anonymous, please email smrc@montana.edu to let us know you have completed it; otherwise, you can include your name, email and shipping address on the survey. Thank you!  Give us your feedback here

• Interested in teaching about Climate Change?  Climate Generation is a nonprofit providing interdisciplinary climate change educator professional development.  Register for their newsletter and learn more!

NASEM Opportunities/Information

Subscribe to the NASEM Climate Resources at the National Academies Newsletter

Subscribe to the NASEM Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

Other News:

• NEW RELEASE: Engineering Responses to Climate Change: Proceedings of a Forum

• RECORDING AVAILABLE: Climate Conversations: Biodiversity

STEM Community 

• Exploration Works
• Montana STEM Ecosystem
• Flathead STEAM Alliance
• Montana Science Teachers Association (MSTA)
• Montana Girls STEM Collaborative
• RIPPLE
• Montana Afterschool Alliance
• New Tech Network (national, STEM )
• Montana Environmental Education Association

  • Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium

• Montana Learning Center
• School Services of Montana
• MSU Science Math Resource Center
• spectrUM University of Montana
  • Newsletter Subscription
• Montana PBS Education newsletter
• Big Sky Film Institute

• AAAS Science Education

• NSTA Reports Subscription
• American Association of Chemistry Teachers

• NASA Express Subscription

• NGSS NOW Subscription

• NEED Subscription