The Center for Microbial Oceanography at the University of Hawai'i is currently offering Grants for Education in Microbial Science (GEMS) to K-12 public school science teachers. These mini-grants--up to $1000--are intended to promote awareness in microbial science. Funds can cover a variety of educational expenses, such as equipment, consumable supplies, substitute teacher compensation, bus transportation for field trips, and more. One of HNLC's teachers, Maggie Prevenas, recently took advantage of these mini-grants to create the project "Baseline Studies of Phytoplankton and Productivity in Near Shore Environments of Maui." In her year-long project, she devised three units titled "Art in Science," "Remote Sensing and Ocean Color Mapping," and "Tools of a Scientist - Phytoplankton Protocol, Nets, and Sampling." The grant paid for field trip buses and the materials for plankton nets for her students. Read the whole story to find out how you can take advantage of this new resource!

The Hawai'i Networked Learning Communities staff is pleased to introduce a new series of short help videos for our users. Since HNLC.org is constantly undergoing small changes and improvements, we decided video tutorials, called "screencasts," would be an effective way to educate and support our members.

Our first set of videos demonstrate a variety of common tasks users engage in on HNLC.org. Some of these tasks include editing workspaces, uploading and manipulating files and resources, and navigating the web site. Over time and with more user feedback, we intend to create additional videos to answer common questions and act as an instantaneous help resource.

Astrobiology is an integrative science with the theme of searching for the signatures of life in the universe. Investigations are done comparing the geology of rocks and minerals on our Earth with other planets, the astronomy of small solar bodies such as comets and meteorites delivering water and hydrocarbons to our world, and the quest for extra solar terrestrial planets orbiting other stars.

The UH Institute for Astronomy is hosting a weeklong workshop on July 13 - 18 for secondary science teachers to explore these concepts and bring them into the classroom. This workshop will emphasize professional development with the use of learning cycles for concept development, lectures and activities led by scientists and state-of-the-art lab tours. Register by March 28 to guarantee a spot at this exciting opportunity!