2008 International Young Eco Hero Awards

Are you an Eco Hero?

In an effort to acknowlege the accomplishments of young people (age 8-16), Action For Nature will award cash prizes of up to $500 to young Eco-Heroes from around the world for their outstanding accomplishments in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research or protection of the natural world. Their individual initiatives will inspire others to preserve and protect our fragile environment.

If you or somebody you know is an eco hero, just fill out the application available at the Action For Nature website found here: http://www.actionfornature.org/eco-hero/ecoheroawards.html

The application deadline is February 28. 2008.  Full rules and project guidelines are available at the website.

50+ New Earth and Space Science Clips Added At NASA Site — K-12

More than 50 educational video clips have been added to the Videos section of the NASA Educational Materials site. Educational video clips are short segments about aeronautics, Earth science, space science, space exploration and other NASA-related topics.  Designed for students in grades K-12, these short videos are ideal for supplementing teaching ideas in the classroom.

Use the Find Teaching Materials tool at the link below to select Video Learning Clips and the appropriate grade level.
http://search.nasa.gov/search/edFilterSearch.jsp?empty=true

Extra-Credit Problems in Space Science — Grades 7-9

These activities comprise a series of 20 practical math applications in space science. Students looking for additional challenges in math and physical science are encouraged to use these as potential extra credit problems. The problems are authentic glimpses of modern engineering issues that arise in designing satellites to work in space. Each word problem has background information providing insight into the basic phenomena of the sun-Earth system, specifically space weather. The one-page assignments are accompanied by one-page teachers guides with answer keys.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Extra-Credit_Problems_in_Space_Science.html

Lunar Nautics: Designing a Mission to Live and Work on the Moon Educator Guide — Grades 6-8

The Lunar Nautics: Designing a Mission to Live and Work on the Moon Educator Guide (Grades 6-8) features 40 activities that challenge students to assume the roles of workers at Lunar Nautics Space Systems, Inc., a fictional aerospace company specializing in mission management, lunar habitat and exploration design, and scientific research.

The guide includes information to teach the basics on Newton’s Laws of Motion, rocket design, microgravity, and the moon. Students design, test and analyze a model lunar lander, a robot, and a soda bottle rocket. They also build edible models, a solar oven to cook hot dogs, and a microgravity sled while underwater.

Educators can use this guide in a variety of formats such as week- long day camps, after-school programs, a classroom unit or as supporting curriculum. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Lunar_Nautics_Designing_a_Mission.html 

Free Web Seminars – Arctic and Antarctic Living Systems

Join NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association for three, free Web seminars on the topic of the International Polar Year. Designed for educators of grades 5-8, the seminars will focus on land and marine adaptations to extreme conditions, species migration, and the role of humans in polar ecosystems. The presenters will share their expertise, answer questions from the participants and provide information regarding Web sites that students can use in the classroom.

The Web seminars are 90-minute, live professional development sessions that use online learning technologies to allow participants to interact with nationally acclaimed experts, scientists, engineers and education specialists funded by NASA, NOAA and NSF. Each Web seminar is a unique, stand-alone program. Archives of the Web seminars and the presenters’ presentations will be available online. The Web seminars in this series are scheduled for Dec. 30, 2007, Jan. 17 and Jan. 24, 2008. Each seminar will begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Online registration for each is now open.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/fall07/IPY_Birmingham/webseminar.aspx

Spaceward Bound Fieldwork Opportunity for Students

Spaceward Bound is an educational program designed to train the next generation of space explorers. Students participate in the exploration of scientifically interesting but remote and extreme environments on Earth as analogs for human exploration of the moon and Mars.

The student program enables students at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels to participate as crew members in two-week-long immersive, full-scale simulations of living and working on the moon and Mars at the Mars Desert Research Station. The Spaceward Bound crew rotations at MDRS take place from October to March each year. They are currently planned through 2010.

Applications for these expeditions are available through The Mars Society, which established and operates the Research Station. Each Spaceward Bound MDRS participant receives a $500 stipend toward travel expenses.

For more information, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/mdrs.html