Soda Bottle Rocket — Design, Build and Test a Model Rocket

Soda bottle rocket ready to launchHere is a great student activity for the springtime — have your students construct and launch a soda bottle rocket. This fun but highly educational activity demonstrates Newton’s Laws of Motion. Find out about other ways you can challenge your students by doing some of the other extensions to the Lunar Nautics module.

To find out more about this and other Lunar Nautics lessons, read the article in NEON.



NES Monthly Career Video Chat With Zareh Gorjian, NASA Computer Animator

Chat
If you are an up-and-coming artist, an avid game player or a programmer, and you are interested in a behind-the-scenes look at NASA’s computer graphics, join NASA Explorer Schools for a live chat with Zareh Gorjian on June 2, 2011, at 9 a.m. PDT.

Gorjian specializes in computer graphics. He implemented all of the Quick View wireframe and high-performance renderers for NASA’s Surveyor mission, as well as the interface used for displaying images. He worked on Surveyor full time until September 1993 and has continued to contribute on a part-time basis while working on other projects. He currently is involved in designing and implementing third-generation animation and rendering software for the Digital Image Animation Lab at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was most recently a part of the team that produced animations for the IMAX movie “Destiny in Space.”

Before working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Gorjian worked at a software development company where he was a part of the team that developed a piano teaching system for a computer gaming platform. He developed the graphics for an artificial intelligence system designed to help people learn to play the piano.
In addition to his academic and professional involvement with computer graphics, he engages in the artistic pursuit of the subject in his spare time. When Gorjian is not transforming polygons, he is transforming coins and other objects as a magician.


Live Chat With NASA Astronaut Michael J. Foreman

NASA Explorer Schools would like to extend an invitation to K-12 students across the United States to participate in a webchat with astronaut and veteran spacewalker Mike Foreman. The event will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. EST on Nov. 22, 2010. Foreman will answer questions about his spacewalking experiences, living and working in the microgravity environment of space, and his unique career path from high school through astronaut training.


For more information go to the information page on the NES Virtual Campus.

NASA Now: Expedition 27

NASA Now logoIn this episode of NASA Now, Camille Alleyne, Assistant Program Scientist for the International Space Station discusses the unique research environment onboard the ISS while sharing information about many of the past, present and planned experiments. To date, more than three hundred experiments have been conducted on the ISS. Through this research, we will better understand the effects of microgravity on the human body, further develop technology, and expand our knowledge about our Earth and about the universe.


Look for this episode on the NES Virtual Campus beginning May 25, 2011.


NASA Now Minute: Expedition 27



An Idea for a Lunar Rover Project

Clarendon Elementary SchoolPatricia Smeyers, a teacher from Secaucus Board of Education, has a great idea for a Lunar Rover Project. Students design a new lunar rover for the future. They create their designs using cloud-based 3-D modeling software and present their engineered 3-D model and research.

The students used an online educational collaborative website to create their presentation and used a wikispace to house their projects.

This activity reinforces the best practice — use of technology to facilitate student collaboration — while incorporating NES materials and NASA opportunities. 

Read the article in NEON to find out about specific websites and programs supporting the educational goals of this project.

NASA Now: Human Research on the ISS

NASA Now logoLiz Warren, NASA Johnson Space Center operations lead for the International Space Station Medical Project, discusses why exercise and nutrition are important to maintaining good health on Earth and even more important to astronauts on the International Space Station. She also discusses how living in space causes changes in the human body such as loss of bone density, decreased cardiovascular fitness, and muscle atrophy. Astronauts participate in experiments to measure changes in their bodies so that we can prevent those types of changes in the future.


Link to this NASA Now program (requires log-in to the NES Virtual Campus).

Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.


NASA Now Minute: Human Research on the ISS



NASA Now: Nanotechnology and Space

NASA Now logoWhen it comes to taking the next “giant leap” in space exploration, NASA is thinking small — really small – really, really small. In this NASA Now program, Dr. Mike Oye describes how researchers can deliberately order and structure matter at the molecular level to watch amazing new properties emerge.


Dr. Oye is developing applications for energy-harvesting nanowires. Nanowires could be woven into special clothing for an astronaut. As the astronaut moves around, the tiny nanowires within the clothing collect charges produced by the mechanical vibrations of the astronaut’s movement. The resulting electricity can be used to power equipment aboard a spacecraft.

Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.


NASA Now Minute: Nanotechnology and Space




Math Club Students DRAW on The Air Traffic Control Challenge

Currington Elementary SchoolIf you’re looking for ways to extend the Smart Skies: Line Up With Math module on the NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus, check this out. It’s one of many ideas that make the unit come alive.

Students in NES educator Joan Labay-Marquez’s Math Club at Curington Elementary School apply math to real-life problems, seeking the best solution among several possibilities. They defend their choices and explain how they arrived at their solutions. Building on the materials from the NASA Explorer School content module, Smart Skies: Line Up With Math, the students are required to create their own interactive story of an air traffic controller in either an animation or online game. 

Read more about other extension activities, exciting uses of educational technology, and the variety of resources Labay-Marquez incorporated into the Air Traffic Control Challenge in her detailed article in NEON. You’ll also find files provided by Labay-Marquez for you to download and use with your students.

NES National Student Symposium Showcases Student Research


Students from across the nation will gather at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida May 4-7 for the NASA Explorer Schools National Student Symposium. Future leaders in science, technology, education and math, or STEM, will present their work to NASA scientists, engineers, fellow students and educators.


The competitively selected group of fourth through 12th-graders consists of 58 students and their teachers. The various student research projects were designed to improve learning and bolster interest in STEM disciplines.


The students were required to complete an original investigation focused on existing NASA missions or research interests. Students presented their work to experts at virtual regional symposia held January through March at NASA centers using the agency’s Digital Learning Network.


In addition to presenting their work at the national symposium, participants also will learn more about NASA’s research activities and exploration missions. Students will tour a variety of operational facilities at Kennedy, including the space shuttle launch complex, and participate in a webcase of a career panel featuring NASA scientists, engineers and specialists.


Congratulations to the students and schools attending the National Student Symposium:


School Name

Grade

Topic

Orleans Elementary School

4

Hot Air Balloon

Forest Heights Elementary School

5

When They Build It, We Will Come

Forest Lake Elementary Technology Magnet School

5

Hand Sanitizer-Friend or Foe?

Franke Park Elementary School

5

The Insulation Properties of Snow

Johnson Magnet for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

5

NASA Lunar Plant Growth Chamber

Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School

5

Save the Earth

Kenneth J Carberry Intermediate School

5

Growing Crystals

Mack Benn Jr. Elementary School

5

It’s Just Right

Oceanair Elementary School

5

What is the Effect of Temperature on the Survival Rate of Yeast?

 

 

 

Harding Middle School

6

Testing the Effects of Altering Viscosities of Nutritions Supplements

Hobgood Elementary School

6

One if By Sea, Two if By Land

Lebanon Middle School

6

Growing plants on the Moon

Northeast Nodaway R-V

6

The Effect of the Number of Straws on the Distance the Rocket  Racer Travels

Dr. Albert Einstein Academy

7

Lunar Plant Growth Chamber

Edward Harris Jr. Middle School

7

Dirty, Stinky Water

Ellen Ochoa Learning Center

7

Moldilocks and the FunGuy (Fungi)

Island City Research Academy

7

Life on the Moon

Broughal Middle School

8

Quasar or Black Hole

Ferndale Middle School

8

Planting the Future

Hudson Middle School

8

Water Filtration Challenge

Johnston Middle School

8

Microbes in Space

Key Peninsula Middle School

8

Waste Water Recycling System

Shelburne Community School

8

NASA On Target Challenge

Two Rivers Magnet Middle School

8

Life on Europa

Middle School at Parkside

7, 8

Mission to Phoebe

 

 

 

Albertville High School

11

Engineering Design Challenge: Water Filtration 

Central Florida Aerospace Academy of Kathleen High School

11

The Effect of Sodiium Hypochlorite on the Efficiencies of Carbon Filters

Covenant Christian High School

9

Parabolar in Sapce and Time

Newnan High School

11

Lunar Surface Instrumentation