New DIY Podcast Module Available – Space Station

Now available - new NASA Do it Yourself Podcast module about the International Space Station

Are you looking for new ideas to integrate technology into your lessons? Or are you a student looking for a savvy idea for a class project? Then NASA’s Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, Podcast “Space Station” module may interest you.

Learn what astronaut Mike Fincke enjoys doing most while in space. Finke served as a flight engineer on the station as well as the commander for Expedition 18. He shares how extraordinary efforts of teamwork have resulted in the largest space structure ever built — the International Space Station, or ISS.

Ground-breaking research is being done on the space station by NASA and its international partners. Camille Alleyne, assistant program scientist for the International Space Station, shares some of the work being done in space and how it benefits us on Earth. And astronaut Garrett Reisman, flight engineer for Expeditions 16 and 17, takes us on a tour of the station.

So, why are you waiting? Choose from 40 video clips, 25 audio clips and a variety of images to learn about the station while having fun creating a podcast.

How DIY Podcast Works:
– Download NASA video and audio clips.
– Write a production script.
– Record your narration.
– Edit your product.
– Share your podcast.

Visit NASA’s DIY Podcast site at http://www.nasa.gov/education/diypodcast to learn more and to access information and resources for the new Space Station module.

New Space Station Page for Educators and Students

NASA Education is launching a new Web page for students and educators about the International Space Station.

NASA Education is launching a new Web page for students and educators about the International Space Station.

Teach Station is the platform for space-station-focused education resources, science and research information for students and teachers, crew updates, and up-to-the minute education news. Visit often and watch for opportunities to connect with the expedition crew members and other NASA education opportunities.

Take a moment to visit the page “A Teacher in Space” and meet Joe Acaba. Read about his experience as an astronaut and his transition from a classroom teacher to the astronaut corps. Acaba’s next assignment is flight engineer for Expedition 31. He will join the crew on the International Space Station in May 2012.

Visit the new Web page at www.nasa.gov/education/teachstation.

Download a Teach Station bookmark at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Teach_Station_Bookmark.html.

Webcast for Teachers – Learn About the NASA Educators Online Network (NEON) – March 28, 2012

Join presenter John Weis from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for an hourlong free webcast on March 28, 2012, at 3 p.m. EDT. This webcast will provide an overview of the NASA Educators Online Network, or NEON, learning community. Learn how this worldwide community of educators, scientists and engineers can provide you with support, training and resources. This session will emphasize the steps to join and how to make the community work for you.

For more information and to view the webcast, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/dln/index.html.

To learn more about NEON, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/NEON.html

Percentage and Volume: Space Food and Nutrition – How Much is Waste? Web Seminar – March 22, 2012

As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences for educators, the NASA Explorer Schools project and project LE&RN are hosting a 60-minute live professional development Web seminar for educators on March 22, 2012, at 8 p.m. EDT. Learn how to guide your students through three mathematical computations to determine usable and unusable portions of foods. Your students determine the mass and volume of a food package before and after repackaging for spaceflight and determine the usable and waste portions of food selected for spaceflight.

For more information and to register online, visit https://digitalmedia.wufoo.com/forms/p7s3w1/.

To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.

Email any questions about this opportunity to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.

New Space Science Educational Materials Available at NASA.gov

The Educational Materials section of NASA’s Web site offers classroom activities, educator guides, posters and other types of resources that are available for use in the classroom. Materials are listed by type, grade level and subject. The following space science-related items are now available for downloading.

Comet Mystery Boxes – Grades K-8

Introduce students to the physical characteristics of comets by using a tactile learning experience. Using only their hands, students reach into a series of boxes and feel the variety of materials and structures within. Each box contains an object that represents a quality of comets.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Comet_Mystery_Boxes.html

A Dusty Dilemma – Grades 8-10

In this lesson, students learn the concepts of averages, standard deviation from the mean, and error analysis. Students explore the concept of standard deviation from the mean before using data from the Student Dust Counter, an instrument aboard the NASA New Horizons mission to Pluto. This data is used to determine the issues associated with taking data, including error and noise. Questions are deliberately open-ended to encourage exploration.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Dusty_Dilemma.html

Signals and Noise Ratio – Grades 6-8

Students are introduced to the terms “signal” and “noise” in the context of spacecraft communication. This hands-on activity includes an online interactive to explore the Signal-to-Noise Ratio, a fundamental concept in spacecraft communication. The lesson’s pencil-and-paper component addresses relevant topics such as proportions and ratios.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Signals_and_Noise_Ratio.html

Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) Educational Kit – Grades 6-8

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a spacecraft orbiting the moon. The primary instrument on LRO for analyzing the moon’s radiation environment is the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation, or CRaTER. This educator guide includes lessons to introduce to students to cosmic rays and their effects on humans.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/CRaTER.html

Earth Calling… Activity from New Horizons – Grades 6-8

Some spacecraft return to Earth with valuable data as part of their cargo, but all require some periodic remote communications as they travel. And for those spacecraft that do not return to Earth, the communication system is the only link to the valuable data collected during its journey. In this activity, students simulate spacecraft radio communication concepts, including the speed of light and the time-delay for signals sent to and from spacecraft.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Earth_Calling.html

Star-forming Nebula NGC 3603 Lithograph and In Search of Stellar Evolution Education Activity – Grades 11-12

Some of the heftiest known stars in the universe reside in the nebula NGC 3603, a large gas cloud in the Milky Way galaxy. The image of the nebula is on the first page of the lithograph and background information is on the second page. The lithograph includes a Level One Inquiry activity entitled “In Search of … Stellar Evolution” in which students research how stars form.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Star-forming_Nebula.html

New DIY Podcast Module Available – Micro-g

Teachers, are you looking for a new interactive way to reinforce core concepts?  Try student Podcasting!  Through DIY student Podcasting, your class will use audio and visual materials organized in subject modules to create their own multimedia content about the module concepts.  The Podcasts can then be shared online to create a collaborative multimedia portfolio.  The companion Blog offers support to educators interested in using Podcasting the the classroom.  Try it out!

The newest Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, Podcast module, Micro-g, is live and ready for use.

This module includes four NASA experts explaining microgravity and how to live in it. Nancy Hall is a microgravity researcher on Earth. Mike Fincke is the U.S. astronaut who has spent the most total time in orbit (more than a year). And we have footage of flight engineers Nicole Stott and Bob Thirsk from the International Space Station.

Several video clips and images on the photo index page show microgravity demonstrations on Earth and objects and astronauts floating through the space station.

Other DIY Podcast topic modules are:
– Fitness
– Lab Safety
– Newton’s Laws
– Robots
– Rocket Science
– Solar Arrays
– Spacesuits
– Sports Demo

Students use the video clips, pictures and audio clips to build podcast episodes and other multimedia projects.  A companion blog offers tips and suggestions for incorporating the DIY Podcast into the classroom.

To learn more and to start building podcasts, visit http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/diypodcast/index.html.

New NASA Kids’ Club Activity: Window to Earth

Visit NASA's Kids' Club to try the new Window to Earth activity

Astronauts have a spectacular view of Earth from space. Move through the pages of Window to Earth and see images taken from space of these geographical features: peninsula, glacier, lake, desert, cape, island, upheaval dome, strait, waterfall, reef and volcano.

To take a peek and see how Earth looks from space, visit http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/clubhouse/Window_to_Earth.html

For more fun activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub.

What’s New at the NASA Space Place?

Science and technology permeate all our activities from driving a car to cooking to writing poetry. So when we study science and technology, why not incorporate some of those other activities? Why not use interests like art and music to think about and express our understanding of nature? The Space Place has lots of cross-disciplinary opportunities to help make nature unforgettable.

New at spaceplace.nasa.gov
Get the key to the treasure chest! The new “Go with the Flow” game at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ocean-currents/en/ has you playing with salinity and heat, which have opposing effects on vertical water movement. Using heat and salt as tools, as well as horizontal currents and walls, you set up flow patterns that your little submarine can follow in order to reach the key that will open the treasure chest and get the gold.

After playing “Flow,” students are not likely to forget the roles that heat and salinity play on ocean currents. These are important principles to learn in order to understand the potential effects of climate change.

Space Place en español
¡Haz un mapa topográfico! But first, make a clay sculpture of a mountain. This hands-on arts and crafts activity shows how 3-D topography can be represented very accurately on a 2-D map. Using clay (or our recipe for modeling dough), dental floss, paper, pencil, ruler and toothpicks, students make a mountain of any shape, slice it horizontally using dental floss and outline the slices on a piece of paper. It could be an art project or a geography project. Either way, it’s lots of fun, and clearly explains the mystery of topo maps, which many people never understand. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sp/topomap-clay.

Spotlight on Music
Music is science and technology in the service of art. At least that’s one way to look at it. See (and hear) an example at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/violins. Musical instruments are technologies. The most exquisite-sounding instruments represent technological excellence. But what makes the best instrument sound better than the second best instrument? In the case of Stradivarius violins, it’s believed to be the unique density of the wood, which grew only during a certain period of history. Why? Because of a lack of sunspots!

Another example of technology as a delivery mechanism for art is the Golden Records on each of the two Voyager spacecraft, now nearing interstellar space. These records are meant as messages from Earth in the event that intelligent alien beings someday encounter the probes. Students can see some of the photos of Earth and try to guess the identity of some of the sounds on the records at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/voyager-to-stars.

For the classroom
Drumming is a form of music, but it can also be a form of precise verbal communication.

When people figured out how to add meaning to an electromagnetic wave, which is essentially a rhythm, a universe of possibilities opened up. Speaking in Phases is a classroom activity that demonstrates the difference between amplitude modulated (AM), frequency modulated (FM) and phase modulated signals. It’s not as hard as you might think. In this case, all that’s required is something to beat on — like drums or desks — and maybe a metronome or electronic keyboard that can make a steady beat.

Students learn the basics of how information is added to a carrier signal. Then they add their own meaning to the signal and communicate with each other using only the timing of beats. It truly teaches the most basic concept underlying all electronic communication, including radio, TV, phones, satellites and spacecraft far away in deep space. See http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/classroom-activities/#phases.

For out-of-school time
Almost everyone loves to eat. Why not make it even more fun by combining snack preparation with space exploration? The Space Place has several projects you can make, and then eat.

One project is Asteroid Potatoes, spaceplace.nasa.gov/asteroid-potatoes. To cut down on mess, you can make the mashed potatoes ahead of time, and let the kids do the sculpting, baking (with supervision) and eating.

Another creative activity is making edible spacecraft or rockets. Tortillas make a wonderful base. You can even paint them (or paint small, cut-out pieces) with food coloring. Also provide colorful vegetables and fruits of many kinds, olives, cream cheese (for glue), chips and anything else you can think of that’s good to eat. Take pictures before they’re gobbled up. See some examples and recipes at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/tortilla-spacecraft.

Special Days

January is National Whale Watching Month
Some species are endangered. See how satellites can help, and play “Migration Concentration” at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/migration.

Feb. 12, 1809: Charles Darwin’s Birthday
Darwin is known for his theory of the evolution of species. Play with the “Emoticonstructor” and see one way evolution works at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/emoticonstructor.

Feb. 22: Thinking Day
Exercise your brain by going “VecàTouring” at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/vec-touring.

Feb. 25: Quiet Day
Even the most violent events in space make no sound. Make a Sound Cone to hear even very quiet sounds. See how at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sound-cone.