OCTOBER 2025
NETWORK NEWS
ASTC Conference 2025
Thank you to everyone who connected with us during the ASTC 2025 annual conference! We greatly appreciated everyone who took the time to stop by our booth, talked to us during a session, joined us for our networking event in front of the Children's Creativity Museum, or found other ways to engage with us throughout the conference. If you missed us, we have posted resources shared during the conference on our site, including session slides, handouts, and more:
nisenet.org/astc2025
STEM Learning Ecosystems and Community Partnership Meeting Debuts “What Values Do You Share” Conversation Starter Cards
August 2025, Arizona State University (ASU), in partnership with NASA's Science Activation program and the NISE Network, hosted the STEM Learning Ecosystems and Community Partnership meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota. This day-and-a-half long meeting brought together a number of individuals representing NASA Science Activation projects and STEM Learning Ecosystems from across the nation. Focused on partnerships to engage learners in NASA Earth and space science, the meeting specifically looked at intentional, place-focused STEM learning ecosystems that are designed to engage all learners. During the meeting, one of the NISE Network's latest resources, the What Values Do You Share? conversation starter cards were introduced and received by meeting participants with enthusiasm and positivity.
Learn more
UPCOMING EVENTS
Online Workshops
The NISE Network hosts free online workshops as professional development opportunities for our partners to share with and learn from each other. Online workshops take place on select Tuesdays at 2pm-3pm Eastern. View upcoming online workshops at nisenet.org/events
• Online Workshop: DIY NASA Exhibits with Earth Information Center & ViewSpace
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
2-3pm Eastern
Did you know that NASA has freely available DIY exhibit resources including print-you-own signs and interpretive panels, graphics, digital interactive components, and continually updated content that you can use to build your own museum exhibits? Please join us for this online workshop as we explore how to set up these NASA exhibits at your location, featuring resources and content from NASA's Earth Information Center and ViewSpace. Learn details about how you could incorporate these exhibits into your museum or science center including options for installation, design examples, space needs, minimum technological requirements, and the range of costs.
Learn more and register
• Online Workshop: Co-Creating with Communities - Inspiring Partner Stories
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
2-3pm Eastern
Join us for this online workshop focused on co-creation, as we hear from members of the NISE Network’s Co-Creating with Communities project. We will begin with a brief presentation about the principles and processes of co-creation, and then hear from partners doing this transformative work in their local communities. Presenters will share their unique stories and lessons learned around issues of trust, power-sharing, organizational and individual impacts, and much more. Whether you want to refine your co-creation practices or simply gain insights from additional examples of relevant STEM engagement, please join us to learn more about co-creation and how to build relationships with members of your community.
Learn more and register
• Online Workshop: The Climate Action Playbook - Resources Focused on the Developmental Needs of Early Learners
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
2-3pm Eastern
Join us for an introduction to The Climate Action Playbook, a new developmental framework created to help informal education organizations approach this topic in developmentally appropriate ways. This resource offers practical guidance for caregivers and education professionals, blending expertise from climate psychology, neuroscience, equity, early childhood, nature education, and climate science. The Playbooks can help you communicate and design programs to support children eight and under—and the adults who love them—in building compassion & empathy, climate knowledge, agency, and hope for a bright climate future.
Learn more and register
FEATURED ON THE WEBSITE
New Professional Learning Resources:
• What Values Do You Share? Conversation Starter
Successful collaborative plans and actions are grounded in values. Values shape the behavior and decision-making of an organization or collaborative group. This activity is designed to help people working together consider how their efforts align with their values and share what values are important for them, their organizations, and their community.
Online Workshop Recordings:
• America 250 - How Can Children's Museums and Science Centers Celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial? (recorded on 6-3-25)
Learn more
• More online workshop recordings
Navigating Changing Federal Priorities:
Resources to help your organization navigate changing federal priorities for STEM, public engagement, and education.
Learn more
Recent Publications:
• “Let’s Have a Plática – Tengamos Una Plática: Practical Considerations and Lessons Learned From Conducting Pláticas in Three Different Settings” by Regina Ayala Chávez, in International Journal of Qualitative Methods, with free access online.
• “Implementing Culturally Responsive Evaluation Methods: Reflections on Challenges to Traditional Understandings of Power, Validity, and Rigor” in Visitor Studies with free access online.
• More publications: nisenet.org/publications
Planning a Halloween event?
Check out ways to incorporate fun STEM activities into your events:
nisenet.org/halloween
United States 250th “Semiquincentennial”
Resources to help plan relevant programming for the United States' 250th anniversary (Semiquincentennial)
nisenet.org/america250
Looking for an easy way to discover resources on the nisenet.org website?
Check out our “Browse by Themes and Topics,” featuring curated collections of hands-on activities and resources by themes and STEM topics:
nisenet.org/browse-topic
PARTNER HIGHLIGHT
Minnesota STEM Ecosystem Combines New NISE Network Resources for 2025 STEM Convening
On August 27, 2025, the Minnesota (MN) STEM Ecosystem held its annual convening at the Wilder in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was an afternoon of collaborations and partnerships in STEM learning and workforce development, bringing together industry, K-12 education, higher education, and out-of-school STEM practitioners. For this convening, Emily Saed, Director of the MN STEM Ecosystem, adapted two of the NISE Network’s newest professional development resources and created a unique learning experience that prompted thoughtful reflection among participants.
Learn more
COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
International Observe the Moon Night - October 4
Prepare for this event with observing suggestions and tools for hosting, hands-on activities, and custom Moon Maps. You can register your event to NASA’s global map of lunar observers.
Event planning webinar
Learn more
NISE Network Moon resources
SCIENCE TALK hybrid conference proposal deadline - October 7
The Association of Science Communicators is accepting submissions for speaking opportunities at the hybrid annual conference March 26-27, 2026 in Portland, OR.
Learn more
National Chemistry Week - October 19-25
This year’s October 2025 National Chemistry Week theme is The Hidden Life of Spices - a great opportunity to make chemistry and food connections. Resources for this year’s theme are now available from the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Learn more
Museum of Science Fellowship opportunity deadline- October 24
Looking for applicants passionate about building public trust in science through powerful digital storytelling; $20,000 fellowship program is open to two types of applicants 1) science communicators with an existing online audience and 2) Scientists wanting to grow their digital presence.
Learn more
Interested in one of our exhibitions? Join the waiting list!
If you are interested in hosting the Nano exhibition or the Sun, Earth, Universe exhibition, please reach out to Christina Leavell, NISE Network Community Manager, to be added to a waiting list.
Contact us
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS
Is Autism really on the rise? Nature looks into the decades of research on the causes of autism.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Brain and neuroscience resources
GENETICS NEWS
With the help of the CRISPR gene-editing technique polo horses have been created that are designed to quicken their pace. Critics say that genetic manipulation has no place among polo’s traditional breeding practices.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Storming the Castle Museum Theater Show
• Building with Biology: Introduction to Synthetic Biology and Society Video
SPACE NEWS
A sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover from an ancient dry riverbed in Jezero Crater contains potential biosignatures, but further study before a conclusion can be reached about the absence or presence of life.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Asteroids and Meteorite resources
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION NEWS
In response to the federal administration’s efforts to review signage at Smithsonian museums and National Parks, several volunteer efforts have emerged to document signs and exhibits at Smithsonian locations and at National Parks.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Navigating Changing Federal Priorities
WEATHER NEWS
FEMA’s Risk Index ranks every U.S. county by disaster risk, social vulnerability, and community resilience. This risk map factors in a wide range of natural hazards, including hurricanes, floods, drought, winter storms, extreme heat and cold, lightning, high winds, earthquakes, avalanches, volcanic activity, and more.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Climate and weather resources
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
A new formulation of cement reflects and emits heat more effectively than normal Portland cement, so it stays much cooler on a hot day reducing the need for air conditioning.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
ENGINEERING & AI NEWS
Similar to the way an octopus can squeeze into a tiny sea cave, metatruss robots can adapt to environments by changing their shape. Using an AI-driven framework, these transforming robots are made of trusses that rotate and twist.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Engineering and robot resources
• Size, Scale, & Measurement resources
RADIO NEWS
MIT scientists have developed a reconfigurable antenna that can adjust its frequency range by changing its physical shape, making it more versatile for communications and sensing than static antennas.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• Making Waves with Radio kit
• Electromagnetic Spectrum
NANOTECHNOLOGY NEWS
National Nanotechnology Day is an annual celebration and pays homage to the nanometer scale, 10–9 meters. This worldwide celebration highlights how nanotechnology enriches our daily lives today and the exciting opportunities it offers for the future.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• NanoDays activities
• NISE Network Size, Scale, & Measurement resources
CHEMISTRY NEWS
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has released resources for celebrating this year’s October 2025 National Chemistry Week theme: The Hidden Life of Spices.
Learn more
NISE Network resources:
• National Chemistry Week
• Chemistry resources
SCIENCE NEWS
The Golden Goose Award honors scientists whose work may have initially been considered silly, odd, or obscure, but has resulted in significant transformational benefits to society. The 2025 awardees include cell biologist Joseph Gall and Barnett Rosenberg, Loretta VanCamp, Thomas Krigas for their work on cancer treatment.
Learn more
Ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners were also recently announced. Each winner has done something that makes people laugh, and then think. The prizes were handed to them by a group of actual Nobel laureates
Learn more
STEM THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
Discover activity ideas for incorporating current science, engineering, and technology content into events, special programming, holidays, and seasonal activities by visiting: nisenet.org/seasons
Year-long 2025
- International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ)
- National Science Foundation's 75th anniversary
- Planetarium Centennial
October
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15)
- Campus Sustainability Month (October)
- Walk Bike & Roll to School (early October)
- International Observe the Moon Night (October 4, 2025)
- World Space Week (October 4-10)
- Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) (October 3)
- Public Power Week (first week in October) (October 5-11, 2025)
- Ada Lovelace Day (October 8)
- National Nano Day (October 9)
- National Nanotechnology Day is an annual celebration and pays homage to the nanometer scale, 10–9 meters.
- NanoDays activities and resources
- NISE Network size, scale, & measurement resources
- Metric Day (October 10)
- Indigenous Peoples' Day (Second Monday in October)
- International Day of the Girl Child (October 11)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) - World AI Week (second week in October)
- Earth Science Week (second full week in October)
- Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills (third Thursday in October)
- World CRISPR Day (October 20)
- Lights On Afterschool (October 23, 2025)
- National showcase for afterschool programs
- Lights On Afterschool resources
- National Chemistry Week (October 19-25, 2025)
- Imagine a Day Without Water (mid-October)
- International Archeology Day (third Saturday in October)
- Nuclear Science Week (third week in October)
- Take Me Outside Day celebration of outdoor learning (third week in October)
- World Origami Days (October 24 - November 11)
- Dark Matter Day (on or around October 31)
- Halloween (October 31)
November
- Native American Heritage Month / American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month (November)
- World Tsunami Awareness Day (November 5)
- National STEM/STEAM Day (November 8)
- the date is a play on words, when spoken Nov8 sounds like "innovate"
- NISE Network STEAM activities
- International Day of Radiology & World Radiography Day (November 8)
- The date marks the anniversary of the discovery of X-Rays by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895
- International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technicians resources
- Society of Radiography resources
- World Science Day for Peace and Development (November 10) & International Science Center and Science Museum Day (November 10)
- America Recycles Day (November 15)
- Pride in STEM Day (November 18) & International Day of LGBTQIA+ People in STEM (November 18)
- LGBTQ+ STEM
- World Children's Day (November 20)
- Fibonacci Day (November 23)
- November 23 (11/23) is the date of Fibonacci Day because the first series of numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 1, 1, 2, and 3
- NISE Network size, scale, & measurement resources
- Howtosmile.org fibonacci activities
- Society of Women Engineers suggestions to celebrate
- Thanksgiving (last Thursday in November)
- Turkey breast feathers are iridescent due to nano-sized structures within the feathers
- NISE Network biomimicry resources including iridescence
- What’s Up Skywatching Tips from NASA
- NISE Network butterfly resources including iridescence
- "Black Friday" Shopping Day - (Friday after Thanksgiving)
- Black Hole Friday (last Friday in November)
NATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES
- ASTC List of Conferences in the Community
Learn more - Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) Annual Conference, October 28-30, 2025 Pittsburgh, PA
Learn more - STEM Ecosystems Convening October 20-22, 2025, Washington, DC
Learn more - Association of Children's Museums (ACM) InterActivity, April 21-23, 2026, San Diego
Learn more - ASTC Conference, September 16-19, Phoenix, AZ
Learn more - National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conferences
Learn more