Marshall Space Flight Center Comes to Nevada

Amanda Sanchez of 13 Action News in Las Vegas reported on an interactive videoconference between a middle school and NASA late last month. It was a dream come true for many of the students who got to attend.

Thirty-seven sixth-graders in a computer literacy class were able to take part. The lesson was led by a staff member at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and took students through a general overview of what happens at NASA. It ranged from space science to astronauts and rockets. Video, graphics and other tools were used in the lesson.

Students loved the experience:

• "It was a great experience especially for sixth graders, I know that probably not even students in high school could do this back then."
• "I liked that we got to learn about what people do at NASA, it is pretty cool."
• "I am really into space stuff, because I like to float."

The Wells Fargo "Grant A Wish For Your School" Program and the Nevada Public Education Foundation paid for the videoconference and this amazing chance to get close to the goings-on at NASA. There's hope that this program and others in the future will help students make future choices that will benefit them and the world around them. It's also another great example of what NASA offers to students wherever and however it can reach them.

SOURCE: "Valley Middle School Students Video Conference With NASA" 05/27/08
photo courtesy of jurvetson, used under this Creative Commons license

NASA Connect

Another great, free program from NASA is NASA Connect, a series of math, science and technology programs made just for students in grades 6-8. Math, science and technology are blended and directly related to work done at NASA by researchers.

NASA Connect offers a series of programs each year that have three different parts:

1. a thirty-minute television broadcast that your students can watch live or that can be recorded for later use
2. a hands-on activity
3. and an interactive web activity to promote use of technology on your classroom.

All three components are created to work together to show how math, science and technology are combined in real-life situations and research. NASA Connect shows are available on 130+ PBS stations, Channel One, and some cable access channels. A search box at the NASA Connect site can help you find your local station. The shows are also available online at NASA's Learning Technologies Channel. Video copies can be ordered from the NASA Educator Resource Center in your state or the NASA Central Operation of Resources for Educators. You can copy and show the shows multiple times as long as it is strictly for educational or classroom use.

NASA Connect is produced by the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA and is endorsed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). As with many NASA educational programs and initiatives, the main goal of NASA Connect is to "establish a 'connection' between the mathematics, science, and technology concepts taught in the classroom and the mathematics, science, and technology used everyday by NASA researchers."

Once you register, you have access to the PDFs which describe the hands-on activities for each unit. Unfortunately, the site shows no new programs since April 2006 but the archives are available of past programs such as "Breaking Barriers: Solving Linear Equations©," "Team Extreme: The Statistics of Success©," and "The Right Ratio of Rest: Proportional Reasoning©." Hopefully, new programs are in the pipeline.

SOURCE: "About: NASA Connect" 2007
photo courtesy of Gaetan Lee, used under this Creative Commons license

Marty Kerzetski: Space Day Design Challenges and Project-Based Learning

Edutopia has a great page on project-based learning with teacher interviews on their use of projects and real-life results. In one Q&A, Marty Kerzetski, fifth grade teacher at Lackawanna Trail Elementary Center in Pennsylvania, talks about her use of Space Day Design Challenges with her students. These challenges "introduce her students to real-life science problems that astronauts face."

Kerzetski says that there are three design challenges, one based on handling emergencies in space, another based on creating an attractive and nutritious recipe for astronauts, and "Stretch and Fetch," in which a retractable arm has to be designed. For the project, Kerzetski and her students used ePals for discussion, questions and sharing of good ideas or resources with each other and students across the nation.

Another great feature of Kerzetski's project was the input of experts. Every week at ePals, students interacted with an employee of NASA, an astronaut, or other expert related to the designs students were working on. Kerzetski says this was excellent because "the experts would come and respond to the children themselves ... and they were very encouraging. They said, 'Great question,' 'Keep up the good work.' And that really motivated the kids."

Kerzetski thinks that some teachers avoid project-based learning because it often seems "easier to read from the book, give a worksheet, and move along that way." She herself, though, is a huge advocate of project-based learning and said in her Q&A that in projects, students

[...] direct their own learning. I set it up for them. I give them guidelines and then I kind of set them loose, but they do what they do best. Like I said, some kids will work on the drawing of the project, on creating the project, whereas other kids might work on the writing. But they work together, they share their ideas. They do the research together so everyone is involved. And then they switch their spots, and it just seems like they work to their strengths, and it gives them an opportunity to show where their strengths are.

SOURCE: "Marty Kerzetski: Project-Based Learning" n.d.
photo courtesy of soldiers media center, used under this Creative Commons license

NASA's Digital Learning Network

News Blaze reports that Wednesday, April 30, middle schoolers across the country will connect with NASA astronauts. The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, will coordinate and "host" the free event.

NASA's Digital Learning Network (DLN) offers fee webcasts and interactive videoconferences to connect students and teachers around the world with NASA experts. The DLN's primary goal is to bring high-quality and "unique" STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) content to K-12 educators and students. At the DLN website, you can search the catalogue for other free, interactive programs for students at any grade level.

Wednesday, students from Junior High School 145 Arturo Toscanini, Bronx, New York; Brenham Junior High School, Brenham, Texas; South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency, Shelton, Washington; Greencastle-Antrim Middle School, Greencastle, Pennsylvania; Middle School at Parkside, Jackson, Michigan; and other middle school students that have been invited to the Goddard Space Flight Center will participate in the webcast. (Greencastle-Antrim and Middle School at Parkside are NASA Explorer Schools.) The webcast will start at 1:15 PM EDT. All the students will be connected to the space shuttle crew that will service the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew will discuss the STS-125 mission to work on the telescope. They will also talk to students about the diversity of the crew and their educational and professional careers. This highlights one of the great side benefits of these kinds of NASA webcasts -- students get to experience remote mentoring to encourage and tempt them to investigate STEM studies and careers.

At the DLN website, you can search for other free programs, look at event guidelines and register for future events. The site also has links for the event catalogue, podcasts, and additional tools and plugins to make connecting middle schoolers and NASA experts easier. NASA has a lot of other great resources for K-12 education, almost all of them free.

SOURCE: "Astronauts to Make Virtual Connection With Students" 2008
Public domain photo courtesy of Library of Congress via pingnews.

NASA Quest Challenges!

One of NASA's great STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education initiatives is NASA Quest, a series of online explorations or "challenges" that involve students in "authentic scientific and engineering processes" with solutions that "relate to issues encountered daily by NASA personnel." With a couple of plug-ins, a free download and some planning, your middle schoolers can join an exploration and participate in webcasts, chats and other interactive features.

In the explorations, students work in teams, taking on roles that parallel those of NASA researchers. To help guide students' research and process, experts at NASA have regular contact with them through Q&As, chats, webcasts and feedback left on the Challenge website. These NASA Quest Challenges occur twice a school year in 6-8 week sessions. Usually, the Challenge starts with registered students getting a question that mirrors a real NASA mission in progress. Students then "work on preliminary solutions, based on research, as NASA experts provide 'real time' critiquing. Final designs are developed after student obtain constructive feedback and encouragement." All of the final student work and similar projects are featured in a Webcast at the end of the Challenge.

To participate in the live events, you'll need to download and install RealPlayer (a how-to page at the NASA Quest site gives clear guidance and up-to-date links). The how-to page for joining ilive events has links to test your installed RealPlayer. Once it is installed and tested, you can click any link available to you for the Challenge your students are registered for. To chat, you need a browser that supports and has Java enabled. Links for chats are provided at specific events but the instructions page also has step-by-step instructions for joining. Other plug-ins or programs you may need for other parts of the Challenges include the Shockwave plug-in and Adobe Acrobat Reader, both free.

In Fall 2007, the HiRISE Challenge had students examining images of Mars to find signs of water and possible life. It was repeated this spring and wraps up in May. The LCROSS Cratering the Moon Challenge wraps up this month. The LIMA Quest Challenge on Antarctic research is in midstream and finishes in May. More details on these and other missions can be found at the NASA Quest website.

SOURCE: "Welcome to NASA Quest!" 6/2007
photo courtesy of emmyboop, used under this Creative Commons license

Steve Elwood Meets the Vomit Comet

Remember Roosevelt Middle School's Steve Elwood of the imploding barrel video? He and another eighth grade science teacher from Roosevelt were in the news recently. Elaine Buschman reports in the Herald Journal (Monticello, IN) that Elwood and fellow RMS teacher Becky Stiller spent ten days at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas. They got to work with astronauts and college engineering students on experiments. One afternoon, a live feed let Elwood and Stiller share a little of their ten-day stay with about 200 Roosevelt middle-schoolers.

Students packed a darkened cafeteria at Roosevelt to have a live question-and-answer session with Elwood and Stiller. Though all kinds of questions were asked, many students wanted to know about the new C-9 aircraft at Johnson Space Center which "flies in a roller coaster-like hill pattern and for about 20-25 seconds on each 'hill' has zero gravity, much like actual space travel." Because this roller-coaster motion nauseates some pilots, the craft is commonly known as the Vomit Comet. The zero-gravity environment allows experiments to be conducted in the kind of weightlessness found in space.

Students may have been disappointed to learn their teachers' stomachs wouldn't be tested by the Vomit Comet. Neither teacher is cleared to be on the plane. The experiments were conducted for Elwood and Stiller by Purdue University engineering students. The teachers got to pass on items to be used during the flights, such as an Elmo doll, M&Ms and spinning magnets. Elwood said of not being able to go on the Vomit Comet, "It’s like being at the Super Bowl but sitting on the bench."

After the live feed, Elwood said the students "were excited" and that he and Stiller were, too: "We were having a blast. (Stiller and I) both agree that this is one of the highlights of our teaching careers.” When Stiller and Elwood get back to Roosevelt after Spring Break, they will have lots of video and still images of the experiments conducted on the Vomit Comet. With these kinds of unique opportunities, teachers get to bring not only great material back to their students but also their excitement, joy and new experiences.

SOURCE: "Middle school teachers experiment at NASA center" 03/03/08
photo courtesy of Moody75, used under this Creative Commons license