Live Video Chat: In Celebration of National Women’s History Month – March 22, 2012

In celebration of Women’s History Month, a panel of outstanding women at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will answer student questions about their contributions to the missions and goals of NASA. Meet Judith Watson, a senior research engineer, Julie Williams-Byrd, an electro-optics engineer, Kimberly Land, a communications, education and public outreach manager, and Lindsay Rogers, a resources management analyst.

Join the video chat on Mar. 22, 2012 from 2-3 p.m. EDT to ask panel members questions about their career paths or the projects they work on. Submit questions during the chat through a chat window, or send them to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.

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

For more information and to view the video chat, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/women-history-month-chat.html.

If you have any questions about the video chat, contact NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.

Live Video Chat – Astronomy: Starry, Starry Night – March 16, 2012

On March 16, 2012, Dr. Michelle Thaller from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will answer student questions from 1-2 p.m. EDT. Dr. Thaller’s research interests are hot stars, colliding stellar winds, binary star evolution and evolved stellar companions. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your students ask Dr. Thaller about her research and the path that led her to NASA.

Submit questions during the chat through a chat window, or send them to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.

To learn more about NES, visit the explorerschools.nasa.gov website.

For more information and to view the video chat, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/thaller-chat.html.

“STEM Through the Eyes, Ears and Heart of a Woman” Webcast Series – March 2012

In honor of Women’s History Month, NASA’s Digital Learning Network is pleased to invite you and your students to take a look into the intriguing world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics from a woman’s perspective.

This free webcast series titled “STEM Through the Eyes, Ears and Heart of a Woman” will feature a female NASA STEM professional, along with a high school senior from NASA’s Women in STEM High School Aerospace project, also known as WISH.

This hourlong webcast will take place each Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern during the month of March.

For more information and to watch the webcasts online, visit the DLN website at http://dln.nasa.gov.

Women in STEM Webcast Series for Women’s History Month – March 2012

In honor of Women’s History Month, NASA’s Digital Learning Network is pleased to invite you and your students to take part in a special event series titled “Women in STEM.”

Various subject matter experts from different NASA centers will be in the Digital Learning Network studios for a series of free webcasts focusing on how women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields contribute to NASA. Selected classrooms will be able to interact live with the experts in the studio. Each event will be webcast to allow students from all over the world to watch the interviews. Any student can interact by sending questions via email.

The schedule of events through March 2012 includes:

— March 9: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
— March 12: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
— March 16: NASA’s Glenn Research Center near Cleveland, Ohio, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
— March 19: NASA’s Glenn Research Center near Cleveland, Ohio, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
— March 22: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
— March 30: NASA’s Glenn Research Center near Cleveland, Ohio, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Each hourlong webcast is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Eastern.
For more information and to watch the webcasts online, visit the DLN website at http://dln.nasa.gov

Watch the Transit of Venus Live Online – June 5-6, 2012

Visit the Sun-Earth Day Venus Transit Site to watch live online!

Are you ready for the ‘Transit of Venus’?  On June 5 or 6, depending upon your location, many locations around the globe will be able to see the planet Venus as it moves between the Earth and the Sun.

You won’t want to miss it because it will not be seen again until 2117.  We will bring this event to you through a ‘LIVE’ webcast from the top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii!

For all information, safe viewing tips and additional resources, visit  http://venustransit.nasa.gov

NSTA Podcast Talks Zombies and Science

How can this zombie help teach science?

Zombies. The shuffling undead. Smelly pests or teaching tools?

BOTH!

Dr. Steven Schlozman, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Lecturer in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education talks to us about his start in teaching, his recent book “The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse” and how to use zombies to teach science.

The podcast is available at the bottom of the following URL. http://laboutloud.com/2012/02/episode-74-theres-a-zombie-in-my-classroom/

Science Videos From Astronaut Don Pettit

Expedition Six NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit. Image from NASA

NASA and the American Physical Society (APS) have begun a partnership to share videos from the International Space Station with students, educators and science fans around the world. NASA astronaut Don Pettit, currently on the orbiting outpost as a member of the Expedition 30 crew, will use everyday objects from Earth to demonstrate physics through “Science off the Sphere” presentations.

Space fans know Pettit from his previous science demonstrations performed in space, such as the “Zero G Coffee Cup” from the space shuttle’s STS-126 mission in 2008. This time he has added a physics challenge for viewers. Some episodes of “Science off the Sphere” will end with a question. APS will review the responses and identify a winner. Pettit will announce the winner from aboard the station.

APS, the professional society for physicists, plans to ignite interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by sharing the “Science off the Sphere” videos on its outreach website, Physics Central. The website also will feature the physics challenges and educational content on topics Pettit demonstrates.

Pettit spent more than five and half months on board the station during Expedition 6 in 2002 and 2003. He returned to space during STS-126. Most recently, Pettit launched to the orbiting laboratory Dec. 23 with Russian Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers. The crew joined Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank of NASA and Russian Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, who have been on the station since Nov. 16.

Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers will remain on the station until May as members of the Expedition 31 crew. The crew members will support dozens of experiments during their time aboard the station.

• To view Pettit’s science experiments performed during Expedition 6,visit: http://go.nasa.gov/spacechronicles
• To view Pettit’s “Zero G Coffee Cup” video from STS-126, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/pettitcoffee
• For more information about the International Space Station and its crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
• To view APS’ Physics Central website, visit: http://www.physicscentral.com/sots

NASA DLN Webcast – National African American History Month and Engineers Week – Feb 22, 2012

In observance of National African American History Month and Engineers Week in February, the Office of Education at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland will host a live webcast for teachers and students in grades K-12.

On Feb. 22, 2012, from 1-2 p.m. EST, students will interact live with African-American engineers and scientists who will share how they use science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, in their careers. Presenters will discuss what sparked their career choices and how students can prepare for future careers in STEM fields. The event will be streamed on the Digital Learning Network “DLiNfo” webcast channel, and during the event students can submit questions for the scientists to answer via an email address that will be provided by the on-air host.

Also during the month of February, GSFC will release two videos featuring Dr. Aprille Ericsson and James Fraction. These videos will give an inside look at what engineers do during the day. This is a great opportunity for educators and students to learn more about engineering careers at NASA.

For more information on these events and how to participate, please visit the DLiNfo webcast section at the Digital Learning Network site, http://dln.nasa.gov.