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