OSGC Educational Resources Blog

The newest episode of Nova should be of particular interest to those living in the Northwest! This is the information from Nova’s newsletter.

Next on NOVA: “Mystery of the Megaflood”
http://www.pbs.org/nova/megaflood

Broadcast: March 20, 2007 at 8 p.m. ET/PT (NOVA airs Tuesdays on PBS at 8 p.m. Check your local listings as dates and times may vary.)

One of the Earth’s strangest geological riddles is the evidence for a huge catastrophe that struck eastern Washington State some millennia ago. It took scientists decades to figure out that a colossal flood had carved out bizarre landscape features strewn across thousands of square miles. On “Mystery of the Megaflood,” NOVA gets to the bottom of what created this compelling detective story. The program features a dogged geologist sticking to his bold theory despite virtual professional banishment. Eventually, other geologists join his cause and fill in the intricate details, which NOVA recreates in stunning computer animation to show what may be one of the most spectacular series of events ever to occur on our planet.

Here’s what you’ll find on the companion Web site:

Interview & Article

Fantastic Floods
In this interview, learn what megafloods can tell us about Mars,
the nature of science, and more.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/fantastic.html

Ice Age Lake
What would Glacial Lake Missoula have looked like before its
disastrous emptyings? Find out here.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/lake.html

Interactives

Explore the Scablands
Examine the evidence left by the violent floods.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/scablands.html

Stumbling Upon a Treasure
Try your hand at our gee-whiz geology quiz.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/quiz.html

Also, Links & Books, the Teacher’s Guide, the program transcript, and more:
http://www.pbs.org/nova/megaflood

New information is available at www.FairerScience.org including a blog! Come comment on the blog and check out the new linked and annotated bibliography of diversity and STEM.
http://www.fairerscience.org/fs-blogs/index.html

This new resource on the IWITTS Web site, connects educators with research-based articles on recruiting and retaining women in technology. Find articles in categories such as bridge courses, spatial reasoning, and learning styles, introducing educators to research on the most effective strategies. Future phases of the Portal will incorporate best practice case studies, student recruitment tools, downloadable posters and marketing materials.
http://www.iwitts.com/html/womentechportal_home.html

Help NASA on the quest for signs of water on the Red Planet.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, now orbiting Mars, is helping NASA search for signs of water on Mars. Students are invited to help choose regions of Mars for HiRISE to image. The HiRISE team will pick several suggestions and image them with the camera in the coming months. The winning team will represent the first people on Earth to see the resulting image and will have the chance to search for signs of water in the image.

Background information, teacher guides, student activity books and tutorials are available online to help students choose a region. Interested teachers and students are encouraged to log on to a training webcast taking place on March 21, 2007.

Challenge entries are due April 7, 2007.   For more information, visit:
http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/index.html

Capture the imagination of your students as NASA prepares for the historic first spaceflight of an Educator Astronaut, Barbara Morgan.

Spark the curiosity, creativity and imagination of your students with the NASA Space Pennant Design Challenge. Participating students will create a design, conduct research and write an essay about the design’s connection to exploration. Six finalists will be announced and one overall winner will be selected through online voting at KOL, AOL’s service for kids. The winning design will be flown aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour during the STS-118 mission.

he contest begins on March 15, 2007, and entries are due by April 10, 2007. Online voting will take place May 3-17, 2007. For more information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/F_Flying_a_Flag_Educators.html

The educational module Exploration: Then and Now commemorating the settlement of Jamestown is available in the For Educators section of the NASA Web site. The module focuses on the settlement of Jamestown, the first permanent English-speaking colony in the New World, and NASA’s plans to return to the moon and reach for Mars.

Exploration: Then and Now is made up of four lessons and one introductory activity, “Survival!” Educators may choose to complete any or all parts of the lessons. Each lesson consists of several student activities.

The components of the module include:
– Survival!: What do explorers need to survive in a new world?
– Transportation: How do vessel design, navigation and propulsion affect exploration?
– Settlement: How do an area’s location, soil and weather affect settlement?
– Follow the Water: How is water important to life?
– Human Needs: How do people adapt to and meet their needs in new environments?

To view the Exploration: Then and Now Module, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/F_Exploration_Then_and_Now.html

To learn more about the educational events surrounding the 400th anniversary of the settling of Jamestown, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/F_400_Years_of_Exploration.html

Sun-Earth Day is comprised of a series of programs and events that occur throughout the year, culminating with a celebration on, or near, the Spring Equinox. This year’s celebration is on March 20, 2007, and includes a live webcast with NASA experts.

Over the past six years, the NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum has sponsored and coordinated education and public outreach events to highlight NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection research and discoveries. This effort involves using celestial events, such as total solar eclipses and the Transit of Venus, as well as Sun-Earth Day during the March Equinox, to engage K-12 schools and the public in space science activities, demonstrations and interactions with space scientists.

For more information and educational resources, including posters, flyers, postcards and an educator kit, visit the Sun-Earth Day Web site at: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/index.php