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Using AI gobbles up an enormous amount of energy, and the power needs of data centers may already be helping to drive up electricity costs in some areas. So researchers are looking to compress AI models to a more manageable size, which would also allow them to run on devices instead of online in the cloud. One approach uses a mathematical structure called a tensor network.

To 3-D print tiny things, researchers need tiny tools. Learn about how nature’s age-old designs might be repurposed to address technological limitations. Discuss obstacles that hold 3-D printing technology back from reaching its full potential, all while answering questions about how biologically derived innovation might expand to other applications and lead to a more sustainable future.

Researchers are drawing inspiration from the brains of creatures from worms to humans to develop more efficient, more capable forms of AI.

Inspired by nature’s greatest acrobats, roboticists have made engineering leaps — creating and upgrading an agile, jumping robot that can grasp branches like a squirrel. Learn how scientists use biomimicry to launch new approaches to old engineering challenges. At the same time, explore concepts of momentum in daily life, then answer questions about possible applications for squirrely robots of the future.

Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Analyze This that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Analyze This article. Each Analyze This article includes a graph or data visualization that is paired with questions for students to answer and a short story that provides context.

Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice the KWL strategy. This note-taking strategy helps students organize their thoughts and reflect on their knowledge around a particular reading.

Virtual reality (VR) has expanded people's ability to experience visual and auditory sensations in virtual worlds. What about our other senses? Learn how chemical-detection capabilities of the tongue allow us to taste cake as being sweet and lemonade as being sour. Explore how scientists used this understanding to develop taste-mimicking VR technology, all while answering questions about how this tasty research might one day help people.

How can comic strips help teach experimental design of research studies? Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Wild Things that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. Wild Things use comic strips that tell the stories of research studies on animals’ biology and behavior. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Wild Things article.

Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice the 3-2-1 strategy. This literacy strategy is a quick way to check students’ understanding of a concept, reading or lesson. It helps them summarize and organize their thoughts by listing three responses to one prompt, two responses to another prompt and one response to a final prompt.

Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Technically Fiction that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. Technically Fiction articles focus on a fictional phenomenon and explain whether it could be possible and the science it would take to make it a reality. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Technically Fiction article.

Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice creating concept maps for any article. This literacy strategy boosts critical thinking and reading retention by having students organize information and connect important ideas, concepts and terms.

Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Explainers that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Explainer article. Explainer articles take a deep dive into a key scientific concept or process.