NASA engineer Russ Werneth discusses the continuous nature of the engineering design process and shares what it was like to design and plan the spacewalks that were key to the Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
On April 16, from 1-2:30 p.m. EDT, your students have an opportunity to interact with NASA experts who will be on hand at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to celebrate the Space Shuttle Discovery Fly Out.
NES Recognition Opportunities Overview
NASA Explorer Schools recognizes teachers, schools and students who become highly engaged with all the NES project has to offer. Highly engaged participants have the opportunity to apply for unique, expenses-paid recognition opportunities for teachers, students and schools. Attend this session on Apr. 17, from 4-5 p.m. EDT and learn how your can participate in these exciting recognition opportunities. Click on the title of this section to register.
Algebraic Equations: Calculator Controlled Robots Professional Development Web Seminar
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute Web seminar on Apr. 18, 2012, at 8:15 p.m. EDT. Discover a unique way of integrating robotic technology into your algebra classes. Robotic missions engage students and provide a unique way of bringing to life the concepts you are teaching. Learn to use programmable Texas Instruments, or TI, calculators and Norland Research Robots to solve problems requiring substituting values for variables in formulas.
This seminar provides an overview of using robotics in algebra so you can make an informed decision about purchasing the robots and other equipment. You do not need to have a Norland Research Robot or programmable TI calculator to participate in this seminar, or know how to program the calculator.
For more information and to register online, click on the title of this section.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
One of two NASA spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed back the first student-requested pictures of the lunar surface from its onboard camera. Fourth grade students from the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont., received the honor of making the first image selections by winning a nationwide competition to rename the two spacecraft.
To read more about this student opportunity and see the image, visit the NASA feature story page. This story details an opportunity NASA opened to students to rename two spacecraft and of students getting involved in moon research serves as an excellent extension to the NASA Explorer Schools featured lesson, Engineering Design Process: On the Moon. Be sure to share this with your students who have completed this activity. To access this lesson, visit the NES Virtual Campus.
Paulo Younse is a robotics engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory located in Pasadena, Calif. and is an expert on NASA’s newest Mars rover, Curiosity. In this NASA Now classroom video he talks about how each mission to Mars is determined by the information gained from previous missions. He explains how scientists and robots work together using the scientific method of research.
This video is available on the NES Virtual Campus beginning Apr. 11.
The NASATalk NXT Tweetup will provide a light introduction for those new to Twitter, while at the same time presenting several NXT robotics resources for use in classroom or informal education settings, on Monday-Friday, April 9-13, from 4-5 p.m. EDT.This event focuses on NXT robotics questions, answers and comments being addressed within the activities presented in the Group Activities on the NASATalk NXT Tweetup website.
The activities include:
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Byron Meadows, a laser systems engineer at NASA, describes his work on the Sensor Testing for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation, or STORRM, project. STORRM is a sensor and laser technology that will make it easier for space vehicles to dock to the International Space Station.
NASA Explorer Schools educator Lesley Stranger from Sewells Point Elementary School modified the Newton’s Laws of Motion: Lunar Nautics — Lunar Base Egg Drop activity. After completing the lesson in class, the fourth-grade students demonstrated the lesson to their parents, siblings and community members during the school’s Family Math and Science Night. Out of the 17 groups that presented, not once was the teacher needed as a facilitator or mediator.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Meteorology: How Clouds Form Web Seminar
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a free 90-minute Web seminar on April 9, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Learn about the relationships between air pressure, temperature, volume and cloud formation. Get an overview of the necessary conditions for cloud formation and then see how to make a cloud in a bottle. Information will be provided about an extension activity, the S’COOL Project, which involves student participation in authentic science.
For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar2.aspx.
Engineering Design: Forces and Motion — The Great Boomerang Challenge Web Seminar
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a free 90-minute professional development Web seminar for educators on April 11, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Learn how NASA aerodynamics research can be applied to boomerang design to increase performance. During the session, participants will be introduced to the Boomerang Design Challenge and learn how to incorporate this activity into science classes. The seminar also includes information about two unique extensions. In the first, students access a free computer simulation illustrating the airflow around an airfoil to determine the correct flow equation, and a second extension uses an interactive simulation to determine the airflow around various shapes of airfoils.
For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar24.aspx.
To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.
Email any questions about these opportunities to the NES Help Desk at NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
Evolution of the Moon: From year to year, the moon never seems to change. Craters and other formations appear to be permanent now, but the moon didn’t always look like this. Thanks to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we now have a better look at some of the moon’s history.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
