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.
NASA is seeking formal and informal education organizations, individually or working together, to host a live, in-flight education downlink during Expeditions 33 and 34 (approximately September 2012 to March 2013). To maximize these downlink opportunities, NASA is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the downlink into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is June 1, 2012.
A new study by NASA and University of Washington allays concerns that melting Arctic sea ice could be increasing the amount of fresh water in the Arctic enough to have an impact on the global “ocean conveyor belt” that redistributes heat around our planet.
NASA Explorer Schools educator Joan Labay-Marquez from Curington Elementary had her fourth-grade students construct a robotlike hand out of cardboard to apply what they have learned about the engineering design process. This activity fit the school district’s curriculum of teaching about inventors, inventions and the engineering design process.
As an extension activity, the students will design and build a “mock” wing of the International Space Station laboratory in their classroom. To demonstrate what they have learned about the engineering design process and how NASA uses robotics in space, the students will include a model robotic hand in the lab.
Watch the video of NASA’s Robonaut at https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=11952672.
Find the hand activity at https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/I_Want_to_Hold_Your_Hand.html.
For more exciting engineering design challenges, visit the Lesson Library on the NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus website.
Sandeep Yayathi works on Robonaut, a dexterous humanoid robot built and designed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. On April 4, 2012, from noon – 1 p.m. EDT, Yayathi will answer student questions about his work with Robonaut, his career path and what the future holds for robotics. Robonaut 2, or R2, launched to the International Space Station on space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-133 mission. It is the first dexterous humanoid robot in space and the first U.S.-built robot at the space station.
Pythagorean Theorem: Exploring Space Through Math — Lunar Rover Web Seminar
This 60-minute live professional development Web seminar for educators will be on April 2, 2012, at 8 p.m. EDT. Learn to use the distance formula and the Pythagorean theorem to determine the minimal path and minimal time for a lunar rover to perform tasks on the surface of the moon. Participants should have a basic knowledge of scale factor and application of the Pythagorean theorem. Having access to a calculator is helpful but not necessary for session.For more information and to register online, visit https://digitalmedia.wufoo.com/forms/nes-webinar-registration-pythagorean-theorem/.
Electromagnetic Spectrum: Remote Sensing Ices on Mars Web Seminar
This 90-minute Web seminar will be held on April 3, 2012, at 8:15 p.m. EDT. Learn how to use authentic NASA mission data to investigate the composition and distribution of ices in the high latitude regions of Mars through analysis of visible light, infrared light and gamma rays. The seminar includes information about a unique student extension activity, where students access a free computer simulation illustrating how gamma rays are used to determine the chemical composition of Mars.For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar1.aspx.
Properties of Living Things: Searching for Life on Mars Web Seminar
This 90-minute Web seminar for educators will be on April 5, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Review criteria for determining if something is alive and learn how students can apply the criteria in a hands-on activity. A video will be shown that connects the activity to a NASA mission. Collaborate with other participants about ways of using and adapting the activity. Extension activities for students interested in the topic will be provided.For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar7.aspx.
Teachers Speak Out! – Middle and high school science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers nationwide comment on NASA Explorer Schools’ Virtual Campus, and on the value it adds to their teaching techniques, as well as to their students’ interest and performance.
Make NASA a part of your National Science Teachers Association, or NSTA, experience this year! The 2012 NSTA’s national conference is being held March 29 – April 1, 2012, in Indianapolis, Ind. Dozens of NASA presentations, workshops and short courses are scheduled during the conference. To find NASA sessions that fit into your schedule, visit http://bit.ly/nsta2012.
If you are not yet a participant in the NES project, you can obtain detailed information about NES by visiting the NASA exhibit booth or attending a NES presentation. The session, “Teach STEM? NASA Explorer Schools Can Help!”, takes place on Fri., March 30, from 11 a.m. – noon in the Cabinet Room of the Westin Indianapolis.
Attend these presentations and see how NES helps teachers by packaging everything needed to deliver an exciting NASA-related lesson to students!
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
