NASA’s Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience, or INSPIRE, is a multi-tiered, year-round program for students in grades 9-12 and their parents or legal guardians. Applications are due June 30, 2009.
INSPIRE provides grade-appropriate, NASA-related resources and experiences to encourage and reinforce students’ aspirations to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education and careers. The project also offers resources and information for parents to help them better champion their student’s goals. INSPIRE provides participants a rich online community, as well as opportunities to compete to participate in NASA/STEM experiences.
INSPIRE participants will be matched to one of the 10 NASA facilities, based on the participant’s place of residence and the NASA facility’s Area of Service.
For more information about this opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/education/INSPIRE
Filed under: K-12, NASA, Professional Development, STEM, Science, Teacher Development, Workshop
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center and the Federal Aviation Administration are sponsoring a teacher workshop for middle and high school teachers. This workshop will focus on using aerospace-based activities to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The workshop is taking place on June 30, 2009, at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, N.H.
Registration is $75 per person and limited to the first 80 participants. To register, call 603-271-7827, and press zero (0) after the recording begins.
For more information, visit http://www.faa.gov/education/educator_resources/teacher_workshops/
Filed under: NASA, Professional Development, STEM, Science, Teacher Development, Webcasts
NASA’s Digital Learning Network presents a webcast to assist educators in staying current on NASA education resources and related products.
During the event, product producers, authors and experts will demonstrate their materials designed to optimize awareness and understanding of science concepts. Instructional objectives, accessing the materials and primary contacts for the materials will also be discussed. During the videoconference, participants will be able to submit questions to the presenter that will be addressed during the presentation.
The following topic will be covered: NASA Explores Virtual Worlds: May 27, 2009, 4-5 p.m. ET
Virtual immersive environments are increasing in popularity in modern America. Explore the virtual world that NASA education is building in Second Life and learn how to become an active citizen of this world.
For more information about this videoconference and to sign up online, visit http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/webcast/
ABC news has posted an article entitled “Think You Know Hubble? Top 10 Things You Don’t Know: The ‘People’s Telescope’ in the Movies, Album Covers, Museums and More”
Orbiting 350 miles above Earth for the past 19 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has allowed scientists to peer deep into the cosmos, sending them astonishing images of newborn stars and colliding galaxies from the earliest moments of the universe.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been mentioned in movies, featured on album covers and displayed as art. But there’s more than meets the eye for this ground-breaking telescope.
How much do you really know about the beloved Hubble? Here are 10 things you probably don’t know yet.
Read more about it here: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/Space/story?id=7595654&page=1
Filed under: Biology, Educational Materials, K-12, Lesson Plans, NASA, STEM, Science
The method of distribution of seeds for the Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber experience has changed. Packets of space-flown seeds and packets of seeds not flown in space are now available as part of the Seeds in Space Kit. The kit includes the following items:
• Five packets of seeds. Each packet includes one envelope of space seeds and one envelope of Earth seeds.
• Liftoff to Learning: Plants in Space DVD.
• The Ozone Monitoring Garden Lithograph.
• The Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber Bookmark.
The Seeds in Space Kit may be obtained from the Central Operation of Resources for Educators, or CORE. Seeds are available as long as supplies last. Seed kits are free (plus shipping and handling).
http://corecatalog.nasa.gov/item.cfm?num=300.0-83B
For more information about the NASA Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber, please visit the Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/plantgrowth/home/index.html
Filed under: Best Practice, Educational Materials, K-12, Lesson Plans, NASA, NSTA, Professional Development, STEM, Science, Teacher Opportunities, Webcasts
Join NASA, NSTA and WGBH for a free Web seminar that will put science concepts into context with resources from NASA and PBS’ Design Squad. The Web seminar will take place on June 4, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT.
Learn how six engineering activities from the “On the Moon” guide can help your students apply physical and Earth/space science concepts learned in class. Concepts like the moon, force, energy, simple machines, Newton’s Laws, EM-spectrum measurement, and technology related to living and working on the moon will be addressed. The fun, open-ended challenges not only put science concepts in a meaningful context, but they show students that the design process is a powerful way to develop solutions for problems.
Finally, see how easy it is to incorporate the activities into your curriculum. Each activity connects with topics taught in the Grades 3–12 curricula; maps to education standards; uses low- cost, readily available materials; takes one class period; and is easy to set up. Students have never had so much fun meeting a host of science, math and technology standards, all while putting what they know into practice by tackling engineering challenges.
To learn more and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/WGBH/Webseminar.aspx .
“Drama builds as the countdown clock ticks down toward another space shuttle launch. Dressed in bright-orange protective suits and prepared for the mission, an elite group boards a van and the convoy heads to the launch pad where the shuttle awaits. But this crew isn’t made up of astronauts headed for space. It’s the Ice Team.”
For a behind the scenes look at the NASA “Ice Team”, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/behindscenes/ice_team.html
Filed under: Aeronautics, Astronomy, Educational Materials, K-12, NASA, STEM, Science
Since its launch in 1990, scientists have used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the most distant stars and galaxies as well as the planets in our solar system.
Sight/Insight, a secondary education initiative created by USA TODAY Education in cooperation with NASA, invites students and educators to enter a world where careers are focused on advancing the capabilities for space exploration.
Visit the Sight/Insight website for a project based prgram designed for hgih school students. The program is:
Lesson length and number of class sessions:
Sight/Insight encourages individual responsibility, collaboration and creativity; it requires integrated and experiential learning and concludes with the submission of a project portfolio that documents and demonstrates student accomplishments.
Visit the Sight/Insight website today for more information, including all class materials and instructions:
http://www.hubble-sightinsight.com/
Filed under: Cool Science, NASA, STEM, Science, Webcasts | Tags: Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-125
Watch the live launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-125 as it blasts off for an eleven day mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Tha countdown has begun and conditions look favorable for a launch at 2:01PM EST from Kennedy Space center in Florida.
You may view the launch for free online at NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
Filed under: Aeronautics, Astronomy, Conference, NASA, STEM, Science, Teacher Opportunities
Join NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Education Office for an education conference being held May 30-31, 2009, near Pasadena, Calif. The conference will celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope, the STS-125 space shuttle mission to Hubble and the International Year of Astronomy.
The Hubble Space Telescope launched on a 15-year mission to explore the universe. Now, just past its 19th birthday, the telescope is getting a new lease on life. Space shuttle mission STS-125 is slated to replace and repair Hubble’s science instruments, computers, batteries, gyroscopes and blankets. This final Hubble servicing mission should allow the telescope to operate as a fully operational, enhanced astronomical observatory for many more years.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is taking this opportunity to revisit the Hubble mission and the work of JPL’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, Hubble’s workhorse science instrument. The camera has taken most of the revolutionary images attributed to Hubble. A recap of the shuttle mission activities will take place as well.
2009 is also the International Year of Astronomy. This event is a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture. IYA marks the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei. The aim of IYA is to stimulate interest, especially among young people, in astronomy and science under the central theme “The Universe, Yours to Discover.” Conference attendees will learn about IYA 2009 events and activities and about ways to promote a greater appreciation of the inspirational aspects of astronomy.
The conference is designed for all formal and informal educators and students in high school and above. Students under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a registered adult. Registration is due by May 22, 2009. Pre-registration is required.
For more information, visit http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/events/conf-20090530.html
