For Educators Grades 5-8

You're invited to an online showcase of artwork created by 16 undergraduate Psyche Inspired interns from around the U.S. View the creative ways they are sharing the science, engineering, technology, and teamwork of NASA's Psyche mission. Event Date: April 16-26

NASA’s Next Gen STEM Project is teaming up with Kennedy Space Center in Florida to host a Women in STEM Briefing for Students. During this live broadcast, a panel of experts will discuss their NASA story and how they use the unique capabilities at NASA to achieve mission goals. Application Deadline: April 30

ARISS-US is accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host an amateur radio contact with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2025. Proposal Deadline: May 19

In-Flight Education Downlinks are opportunities for students and educators to interact with astronauts aboard the International Space Station during a 20-minute Question and Answer session. During the event, astronauts respond to the student questions live on- air. Proposal Deadline: May 21

Take part in a year-long virtual professional development program to explore ways to help your students improve their observation and science writing skills using the GLOBE Program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment). Application Deadline: May 31

The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is in search of Local Leads for the 2024 hackathon taking place in October. Local Leads work alongside NASA and the Space Apps Global Organizing Team to organize the Space Apps Challenge for a specific city or town. This includes planning a virtual or in-person local event, supporting local participants, and coordinating local collaborators, judges, and community members. Application Deadline: June 15

NASA Quest (NQuest) is a new, virtual and in-person NASA STEM engagement opportunity for grades 6-8 classrooms. NQuest is offered at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis, and is a collaboration between NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California, and the NASA Office of STEM Engagement. Virtual sessions are held Mondays and Thursdays. In-person sessions are held Tuesdays and Fridays.

Explore the Earthrise monthly newsletter to elevate Earth and climate science in your classroom with STEM resources from NASA and our federal partners!

NASA's EPD connects formal and informal K-12 educators with enriching opportunities designed to support educators in STEM teaching with real-world connections to NASA missions. Join us to learn with NASA team members through virtual and in-person opportunities in real-time.

SPARX provides educators with hands-on, standards-aligned activities, training, and resources to help engage students in STEM learning in a way only NASA can. 

Join the next Sally Ride EarthKAM mission. Your students can "take pictures" of Earth from the International Space Station.

Climate change affects more than air temperatures. Students analyze NASA data and perform an experiment to learn that sea-level rise is also a result of changes in Earth’s weather patterns.

Surprisingly STEM is a video series that highlights exciting and unexpected careers at NASA. Each episode highlights a member of NASA’s workforce, focusing on their unique job and how their personal journey led them to that career. The purpose of the series is to inform students about the broad range of career opportunities at NASA – outside of the typical associations of rocket scientists and astronauts – and to break down perceived barriers for working at the agency.

Find the latest STEM demonstrations performed and explained by astronauts living and working on the International Space Station. Accompanied by lessons known as Classroom Connections, these video-lesson combos help teachers bring the excitement of space to their students.

Picture this. NASA sends a spacecraft to land on an asteroid, grab a piece of that asteroid, and then send that sample back to Earth to study. Learn more about all that NASA can learn about the formation of the Solar System from the close encounter of OSIRIS-REx with near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

A great way to practice classifying rocks is by describing the structures found inside different candy bars.

An aerospace engineer explains the basic components that help a rocket launch and fly beyond Earth’s orbit to deep space destinations like the Moon and Mars. Students can follow along and make their own SLS rocket.

In this project, students will build a paper helicopter. Then, just as NASA engineers had to try out different versions of the Mars helicopter before coming up with a final design, you will experiment with the design of your helicopter to see what works best.

Discover how long a year is on other planets.

Use this resource by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create extraterrestrial robotic insects!