NISE Network Blog

Do you remember where you were during the historic Moon landing 50 years ago? Can you recall the emotions that ran through you at that time? Or, perhaps you weren’t born yet but this historical feat has captured your imagination...

All 52 copies of the NISE Network's Sun, Earth, Universe exhibition have now been delivered and are currently on display. Collectively, the exhibition is estimated to reach millions of people a year in Earth and space science. Thank you to...

Looking for the intersection of education and entertainment? Marine science and museums? Look no further than Mote Marine Laboratory’s new virtual learning program, the “Mote SEA Show”! Mote’s team of marine science educators is taking learning beyond the classroom, literally, with a new interactive, livestream marine science morning show. This innovative, educational broadcast focuses on illuminating what goes on behind-the-scenes in marine science and research.

Thursday, May 3 2018 started like any other typical Hawaiian day in paradise on the island of Hawaii, the state’s largest and most geologically active island, when without warning first responders began receiving calls of cracks in the roads and unusual noises in Leilani Estates Subdivision. To this day many residents continue to struggle to recover from this life altering event, buoyed only by hope and the Aloha Spirit of family and friends in this tight knit community accustomed to coming together to rebuild after natural disasters. The State and County of Hawaii continue to deliver assistance to the communities most affected by the eruption and have tapped the Hawaii Science and Technology Museum, a NISE Network Partner, to help rebuild the local workforce and industries through STEM education and programming.

The Mobius Children's Science Museum & Science Center serves a large geographic community in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, reaching both rural and urban communities. This past summer, in support of the nation-wide program, A Universe of Stories, the children's museum created programming using their Explore Science: Earth & Space toolkit and mobile planetarium engaging 1950 visitors across 24 different library events, which was a 20% increase from previous summer library programming!

The 2019 Nobel prizes were recently announced and one of the NISE Network NanoDays partners Stan Whittingham at Binghamton University, NY was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries are able...

NISE Network project staff from the Museum of Life and Science, the Sciencenter and the Children’s Creativity Museum just wrapped filming a new set of content and facilitation training videos to accompany the hands-on activities in the new 2020 Explore...

In September, professionals from 30 different museums joined forces to help create a sustainable future. They represented the first cohort of NISE Network’s Sustainability Fellowship program, which will include over 90 organizations in 2019-2020. This program is a key part of the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability in Science and Technology Museums initiative, which provides professional development, educational materials, and other resources to help museums integrate sustainability into their public engagement work, operations, and community partnerships.

This past August, members from the NISE Network's Explore Science: Let's Do Chemistry project participated in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Fall Meeting in San Diego, CA, which included presenting project activities and findings as part of a half-day symposium about chemistry education beyond the classroom. Additionally, during this year's ACS ChemLuminary Awards, a special ChemAttitudes Partnership Award was presented to the Kentucky Lake Local Section for their use of the Explore Science: Let's Do Chemistry kit, serving and engaging over 500 children across their rural region in hands-on chemistry activities.

Trois, deux, un…blast off! This past July, visitors from as close as next door and as far away as Paris, France gathered around the upper plaza of the EcoTarium in Worcester, Massachusetts to celebrate 50 years since Apollo 11 headed into space. Along with cheering on two chemical rocket launches, attendees of the Lunar Launch Party also sent stomp rockets flying, blew the tops off film canister rockets using a mix of acids and bases, drove model rovers through an obstacle course, designed and tested small-scale parachutes for astronauts, and watch planetarium shows. Read more about Worcester on the Moon events and festivities.