Teen Summer Camp Opportunity: The Science of Climate Change

Rising North Carolina high school juniors and seniors are eligible to apply for a FREE four-day program on the science of climate change sponsored by the RTP branch of the EPA.  It will take place the week of June 10-13, 2013, and will emphasize case studies and what people can do to mitigate their contribution to the problem.  The deadline for application is Friday, May 3, so your students had better apply soon if they are interested!

For more information, see the official announcement below:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Research Triangle Park, NC is offering a FREE weeklong Summer Enrichment Program to educate NC high school students about the science of climate change. Students will learn what climate change is, how it can affect their health and lifestyle, how they can take action to reduce the impact of climate change and ways in which to adapt to minimize the impacts. Program sessions are led by scientists, engineers, and policy makers from here at EPA, as well as by other experts. Hands-on experiences and interactive case studies are emphasized.

Interested students who are rising 11th and 12th graders in NC are eligible and encouraged to apply. Participation is limited to 25 students. The Program will be held June 10-13, 2013, from 9 am to 4 pm EST Monday-Thursday. The Program will be hosted at the EPA-RTP Campus. Participants must commit to attending the entire Program and provide their own transportation.

Application materials are at http://www.epa.gov/rtp/climate_change/climate_change.htm. Applications will be accepted on a space-available basis through May 3.

Contact: Kelly Witter Leovic
Director of STEM Outreach Sharing Science Technology Engineering & Math (STEM) in our Community U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory
Email: leovic.kelly@epa.gov, 
Phone: 919-541-7717, 
Fax: 919-541-3615 
Office Location: Room D320B EPA-RTP Main Campus 
Mailing Address: MD 305-01, U.S. EPA, RTP, NC 27711

A Concrete Poem on Catching Fire

About a week ago, I wrote about finally reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I liked it way more than I thought, although I questioned whether it is really appropriate for anyone under 13 or 14.   Now I've finished the second book of the trilogy, Catching Fire.  It was very good as well.  I particularly liked some twists in the plot that I hadn't anticipated at all.  However, it is probably even darker than the first one--another reason to wait until your tweens get a little older before before exposing them to the book.  It leaves you on much more of a shocking cliff hanger than does the first book, however, so now I can't wait to finish the third book, Mockingjay.

We've been playing with poetry lately, and the muse hit.  So rather than give you a more traditional review for this book, I've summed it up in the form of a concrete poem (although, technically, it may be more of a space poem, since the words themselves don't really form the pattern).

SPOILER ALERT:  If you haven't read the book, you probably don't want to scroll down to the poem, although you probably can't make any sense of it.  I hope that it does make sense to those of you who have read the book, though.....

Note:  If you are having trouble reading it, you can click on the picture of the poem once to bring it up, and then click again to magnify it.

Curriculum Resource: The Islam Project

We are beginning our study of the religion of Islam, and I ran across what looks like a wonderful educational resource for middle school and high school students.  There are lesson plans and discussion guides for educating tweens and teens about Islam developed by The Islam Project.  

The goal of The Islam Project is to produce multimedia materials and associated lessons to help American youth explore the great diversity among the vast numbers of Muslims around the world (currently estimated to comprise almost a quarter of the Earth's population).  In the wake of the attacks on 9/11, they produced two PBS series:  Muhammad:  Legacy of a Prophet and Muslims, which displays the variety in the way that Muslims around the world practice their faith.

Their latest project is a video program called American Muslim Teens Talk.  In this half hour video, nine American Muslim teenagers discuss the issues common to all teenagers--fitting in, dating, having fun, dealing with parents--and the impact that practicing Islam has for them in these areas.  They also discuss negative stereotypes around being Muslim, as well as demonstrating the difference between teenagers raised under Islam.  

I haven't seen it yet, but it looks like a terrific resource to help this age group understand more about their Muslim peers and to consider the impact of religious stereotypes in general.