The Slingshot Challenge
Resources for Interested and Existing Participants
Learn More.
We are working in partnership with the National Geographic Society to help connect youth and educators with the Slingshot Challenge, which asks youth to create a one-minute video that tells the story of their solution to a pressing environmental problem. Learn more, register, and access resources to inspire and inform your solution with the links below.
Quick Links
Resources to Inspire and Inform Your Solution
A relevant, innovative solution must consider what we already know about the issue, what we don't know about the issue, and what solutions already exist. To offer a starting point and a little inspiration, the sections below are organized around sharing resources related to the five main issues you can choose to address with your one-minute video submission:
Protect Nature
Clean the Air
Restore the Ocean
Reduce Waste
Address Climate Change
For each issue, we have featured some of our favorite citizen science projects that help you to collect new and/or analyze existing data related to the issue. We have also included links to videos and articles to help you learn more about the issue and check out some of the most effective solutions that already exist. As you explore these resources, think about a solution that's not yet being used, a way to enhance an existing solution, or perhaps a location/population that's not yet being served by current solutions.
1. Protect Nature
First, we recommend you look at the existing data iNaturalist has related to biodiversity in your community to identify patterns or needs in your community. You can access a video tutorial for analyzing iNaturalist data here.
If you cannot find the information you are looking for or if there is a data-gap in your community, we encourage you to collect new data for your solution or to further inform your solution. The video above will walk you through the steps to make observations with the iNaturalist app.
Monitor animals with Instant Wild
The San Joaquin Valley Kit Fox is an endangered keystone species in California. Urbanization and the land needed for renewable energy sources are threatening its habitat. Local scientists are working to monitor and protect Kit Foxes through camera traps. You can help identify images of kit foxes with Instant Wild here.
protect bees
Of the 4,000 species of bees in North America, 1 in 4 is at risk of extinction. Help collect data on local bee populations here.
Learn about the importance of protecting nature and existing best practices for doing so with these National Geographic Society and other expert resources. As you consider your solution, think about a strategy that's not yet being used, a way to enhance an existing strategy, or perhaps a location/population that's not yet being served.
2. Clean the Air
Analyze data with airnow.gov
AirNow is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control, and tribal, state, and local air quality agencies. AirNow is your one-stop source for air quality data. See the air quality in your area here.
collect data with the globe Observer program
collect data with a low-cost air quality sensor
We recommend Purple Air. Watch the Stanford Seminar on monitoring indoor and outdoor air quality with Purple Air.
Learn about the importance of cleaning the air and existing best practices for doing so with these National Geographic Society and other expert resources. As you consider your solution, think about a strategy that's not yet being used, a way to enhance an existing strategy, or perhaps a location/population that's not yet being served.
3. Restore the Ocean
Collect & Analyze Data with Marine Debris Tracker
Every day, dedicated educational, non-profit, and scientific organizations and passionate citizen scientists from all around the world record data on inland and marine debris with our easy-to-use app, contributing to our open data platform and scientific research.
Collect and Analyze data with NOAA
NOAA has many citizen science opportunities, which you can find here. The video above also shares ways to bring NOAA data into the classroom.
Collect Data with National Marine Sanctuaries
NOAA and National Marine Sanctuaries have many citizen science projects. Find out about their projects and volunteer opportunities here.
Learn about the importance of restoring the ocean and existing best practices for doing so with these National Geographic Society and other expert resources. As you consider your solution, think about a strategy that's not yet being used, a way to enhance an existing strategy, or perhaps a location/population that's not yet being served.
4. Reduce waste
Household Waste Audit
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American generates 4.51 pounds of waste per day. In this project, students (of all ages) will be asked to actually measure the amount of waste that they generate in a week’s time (identifying single-use plastic or not) and devise creative ways in which they can reduce, reuse and/or recycle to take an active role in their environment. Learn more here.
Learn about the importance of reducing waste and existing best practices for doing so with these National Geographic Society and other expert resources. As you consider your solution, think about a strategy that's not yet being used, a way to enhance an existing strategy, or perhaps a location/population that's not yet being served.
5. Address climate change
Document changes in your community with ISeeChange
Some changes are small while others are planetary, but every day we are experiencing rapid shifts in our weather and climate that affect almost every aspect of our daily lives. ISeeChange was built because people all over the world--in rural areas and dense urban centers alike--are already seeing their daily lives affected by climate change. And as a result, they’re changing too. At ISeeChange, they're collaborating with climatologists, social scientists, urban planners, engineers, and health professionals to better understand natural and human changes regionally and globally. But they need your local stories and measurements to guide them.
Collect Data with GLobe Observer Land Cover
GLOBE Observer Land Cover is an app-based tool that will help you document what is on the land (land cover). Land cover is the base dataset for many areas of critical science, including hazard analysis for floods, fires and landslides, mapping wildlife habitat, and tracking the impacts of climate change. Even though land cover is familiar to everyone on the planet, the most detailed satellite-based maps of global land cover are still on the order of hundreds of meters [about 330 feet] per pixel. That means that a park in a city may be too small to show up on the global map. GLOBE Observer: Land Cover can fill in local gaps and contribute to consistent, detailed global maps. Find out more about the science of land cover and how it is studied on the Land Cover Science page.
Collect data with nature's Notebook
Nature’s Notebook aims to record 2 million citizen science records this year to track key seasonal changes in plants and animals.
Learn about the importance of addressing climate change and existing best practices for doing so with these National Geographic Society and other expert resources. As you consider your solution, think about a strategy that's not yet being used, a way to enhance an existing strategy, or perhaps a location/population that's not yet being served.