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Staying cool in the summer and keeping warm in the winter may become easier. Learn about a new thermal fabric prototype and its ability to regulate temperature, answer questions about its design and function and discuss potential applications.

Playing around with ChatGPT is enormously fun, and the technology can be useful. But there are pitfalls too. In this Guide, students will learn about AI and the benefits and challenges posed by the chatbot.

Students will answer questions about the online Science News Explores article “Think twice before using ChatGPT for help with homework,” which explains the pros and cons of using ChatGPT.

Students will discuss the meaning of AI and its uses before testing their ability to distinguish between answers written by students and answers written by ChatGPT. After taking a ChatGPT quiz produced by Science News Explores, students will talk about their results and the educational and ethical implications of using the chatbot. Learning Outcomes: Develop an understanding of artificial intelligence and apply that knowledge to current technologies that use AI.

Have you ever wondered how the people who get to fly in space are chosen? The path to becoming an astronaut has changed a lot over the years. In this activity, students will learn about the space travelers of the past and present — and consider a future where the diversity of astronauts better reflects the diversity of all of humankind. Students will use their creative writing skills to imagine this future.

From buildings to machines to household objects — and even in the natural world — the structure of something relates to its function. Sea urchin skeletons, for example, have a recurring geometric design called a Voronoi pattern that also shows up in honeycombs and dragonfly wings. The pattern probably strengthens the skeleton and could inspire the creation of strong, lightweight materials. In this activity, students will explore aspects of structure and function in everyday objects before applying the same concepts to the natural patterns found in sea urchin skeletons. Inspired by the sea urchin, students can use an engineering design process to brainstorm solutions to real-world problems.

After reading a journalistic article about materials science and engineering over the last century, students will discuss and research why and how new materials are developed and how they transform society. Student groups will develop museum-style exhibits to communicate what they learned to the rest of the class.

In this guide, students will learn about NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and discuss how scientific advances have shaped the telescope’s mission.

Students will discuss the mission of the James Webb Space Telescope and explore how scientific discoveries over the last few decades have shaped the telescope’s to-do list.

Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “When James Webb launches, it will have a bigger to-do list than 1980s researchers suspected,” which details the long journey of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to make it into space to explore other galaxies. A version of the story, “The origami satellite,” appears in the October 9, 2021 & October 23, 2021 issue of Science News.

Students will evaluate experimental methods for recycling plastics, gather data about the types of plastics they use at home, research plastics recycling in their community and write a letter to local officials that advocates for improving plastics recycling.

In this guide, students will learn about how scientists used a computer simulation to show that sea level might influence volcanic eruptions. Then, students will discuss computer simulations and brainstorm a simulation that they could use to investigate a real-world issue.