Check out the following NASA opportunities for the education community. Full descriptions are listed below.
Join the Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2012 Campaign
Audience: All Educators and Students
Event Date: Now through April 20, 2012
NASA’s Digital Learning Network Presents Space Shuttle Discovery "Fly-Out" Celebration
Audience: Grades 4-12
Event Date: April 16, 2012, 1 - 2.:30 p.m. EDT
Live Video Chat: Space Shuttle Discovery Fly Out
Audience: Grades 4-12
Event Date: April 16, 2012, 1 - 2:30 p.m. EDT
Free Education Webinar Series from the Aerospace Education Services Project
Audience: K-12 Educators
Event Dates: Various Dates for April 2012
Airborne Research Experiences for Educators and Students Academy
Audience: 5-12 Educators
Application Deadline: April 16, 2012
Student Flight Mission Challenge -- Improving Earthquake Monitoring
Audience: 7-9 Educators
Notice of Intent Deadline: April 16, 2012
Teacher Submission Deadline: May 21, 2012
Educator Workshop: Greenhouse Gases and Their Roles on Earth
Audience: Grade 6-12 Educators
Registration Deadline: April 17, 2012
Event Date: April 21, 2012
NASA's Digital Learning Network Presents "Beautiful Earth"
Audience: Grades 5-12
Event Date: April 18, 2012
Algebraic Equations: Calculator Controlled Robots Web Seminar
Audience: Algebra Teachers and Informal Educators
Event Date: April 18, 2012
Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge
Audience: Anyone 13 years or older who meets eligibility requirements
Registration Deadline: April 20, 2012
Mars Student Imaging Project
Audience: 5-12 Educators
Submit Interest By: April 27, 2012
2012 Summer Workshops -- Climate Science Research for Educators and Students
Audience: 9-12 Educators
Application Deadline: June 1, 2012
Sun-Earth Day Webcast to Commemorate Venus Transit
Audience: All Educators and Students
Event Date: June 5, 2012
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Join the Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2012 Campaign
GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program for primary and secondary schools. The GLOBE at Night project encourages citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of the night sky. During four select sets of dates, children and adults match the appearance of a constellation (Orion or Leo in the northern hemisphere, and Orion and Crux in the southern hemisphere) with seven star charts of progressively fainter stars. The map is located at http://www.globeatnight.org. Participants then submit their choice of star chart online with their date, time and location to help create a light-pollution map worldwide.
The GLOBE at Night 2012 campaign runs through April 20, 2012. Over 68,000 measurements have been contributed from more than 115 countries over the last six years of two-week campaigns.
Children and adults can submit their measurements in real time if they have a smart phone or tablet. To do this, use the Web application at http://www.globeatnight.org/webapp/. With smart phones and tablets, the location, date and time are put in automatically. And if you do not have a smart phone or tablet, there are user-friendly tools on the GLOBE at Night report page to find latitude and longitude.
Through GLOBE at Night, students, teachers, parents and community members are amassing a data set from which they can explore the nature of light pollution locally and across the globe. Make a difference and join the GLOBE at Night efforts in 2012. Activity packets, one-page flyers and postcards advertising the campaign are available at http://www.globeatnight.org.
Please email any questions about GLOBE at Night to globeatnight@noao.edu.
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NASA’s Digital Learning Network Presents Space Shuttle Discovery "Fly-Out" Celebration
NASA's Digital Learning Network, or DLN, is hosting a special event on April 16, 2012 at 1 p.m. EDT, to commemorate the departure of space shuttle Discovery. Join DLN hosts Damon Talley and Rachel Power as they broadcast live from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center's Space Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The space shuttle Discovery is being prepared to fly on the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified 747. The flight will take Discovery to its final destination at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
The Space Shuttle Discovery “Fly-Out” celebration will include special guests that have worked on the space shuttle over the years, both on land and in space!
For more information and to watch the webcasts online, visit the DLN website at http://dln.nasa.gov.
Do you have a question you would like to see answered live during the webcast? Send questions to dlinfochannel@gmail.com.
Inquiries about this webcast should be directed to Damon Talley at Damon.B.Talley@nasa.gov.
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Live Video Chat: Space Shuttle Discovery Fly Out
Join NASA Explorer Schools, or NES, on April 16, 2012, at 1 p.m. EDT, for a live webchat from the Space Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Preparations are underway to transport space shuttle Discovery on the back of a modified 747 to its final destination at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. This special flight will take place on April 17, 2012. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your students ask NASA experts questions about the shuttle program and the future of space exploration.
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/discovery-chat.html.
If you have any questions about the video chat, contact NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
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Free Education Webinar Series from the Aerospace Education Services Project
Aerospace Education Services Project is presenting a series of free webinars through June 2012. All webinars can be accessed online. Join aerospace education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources to bring NASA into your classroom.
Messenger's Mission to Mercury (Grades K-12)
April 16, 2012, 5 - 6 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Brandon Hargis will provide an overview of the Messenger mission to the planet Mercury and will share lessons and activities connected with the mission. Participants will learn where to find online resources to bring the excitement of exploring Mercury into the classroom. Attendees will learn about geological processes and create a labeled illustration of lava layering.
Start a Space Garden (Grades K-5)
April 18, 2012, 4 - 5 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Tom Estill will share how to start a school garden using seeds from NASA’s Seeds in Space project and the Canadian Space Agency’s Tomatosphere project. Over the past 10 years, Tomatosphere has evolved into a regular component of the curriculum for more than 13,700 classrooms in Canada and the United States. At the end of the workshop, a NASA space seeds surprise awaits you.
Animals in Space (Grades K-5)
April 18, 2012, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Wil Robertson will demonstrate how teachers can use stuffed animals as props in telling the story of the animals that preceded humans in space. The program is geared for teachers in K-5 with a special focus of aligning the topic with the Core Literacy Standards for elementary grades. Web resources will be provided.
NASA Literature and Science (Grades K-5)
April 25, 2012, 4 - 5 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Lester Morales will share an array of NASA literature to enrich students’ vocabulary and scientific skills. During this session Morales will review The Air we Breathe, Echo the Bat and Amelia the Pigeon. Participants will practice the scientific method and remote sensing in both the city and in the wild.
For more information about the webinars listed above, and to see a full list of webinars taking place through May 2012, visit http://neon.psu.edu/webinars/.
Questions about this series of webinars should be directed to Gwendolyn Wheatle at Gwendolyn.H.Wheatle@nasa.gov.
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Airborne Research Experiences for Educators and Students Academy
The NASA Airborne Research Experiences for Educators and Students, or AREES, program is recruiting science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, educators of students in grades 5-12 to participate in a two-week residential Academy in Palmdale, Calif. The Academy will be offered June 18-29, 2012. The dynamic training program provides research-based experiences for educators using NASA’s unique flight platforms. Participants will engage as science practitioners by becoming involved in a NASA earth science mission.
The workshop is designed to combine research-based opportunities for educators with NASA content-based curriculum and student-focused design challenges in a program that focuses on three education goals:
1. Engage participants in NASA's unique, airborne research-based missions.
2. Increase educators’ core scientific and research knowledge bases.
3. Develop NASA's airborne research-based curriculum and student activities.
Experiences will include technical content instruction by scientists and engineers, hands-on learning of airborne data collection methods and operations, and a field site investigation to collect ground truth data from the Elkhorn Slough in Monterey Bay, Calif., for comparison to data collected from NASA’s ER-2 high-altitude airborne science aircraft. Further, participants may attend pedagogic workshops in problem-based learning, engineering design, inquiry-based instruction and integration of technology and data-focused curricula into the classroom. Experiences will be translated into classroom practice through the development of STEM action plans utilizing NASA thematic, curriculum modules based on the foundation that AREES provides and in context with on-going research.
Applications are due April 16, 2012.
For more information, visit http://www.aeroi.org. Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Shaun Smith at shaun.smith@nasa.gov.
The AREES program is sponsored by NASA's Teaching from Space project, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and NASA’s Airborne Science Program, and administered through a partnership with the Aerospace, Education, Research and Operations Institute in Palmdale, Calif., the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wetlands Research and CNL World in Nebraska.
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Student Flight Mission Challenge -- Improving Earthquake Monitoring
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is gaining a better understanding of earth science processes such as earthquakes through airborne science research platforms. Using a specially modified Gulfstream-III jet, NASA engineers and scientists are using radar to collect data on how quakes change the Earth’s surface, which may eventually help scientists forecast earthquakes. NASA hopes to collect baseline data in critical areas in order to improve our understanding of how quakes affect not only the immediate area of the quake, but also the state of stress in the surrounding faults. This will help them improve their forecast models of quake probability and magnitude.
NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory are in process of identifying several new areas to collect baseline data for earthquake studies. Educators, grades 7-9, are invited to engage students in the NASA Student Flight Mission Challenge. Through this challenge, students will have the opportunity to investigate, evaluate, design and present a solution to a real-world problem that will expand our understanding of earthquakes at the global level. Students will form small mission teams to create multimedia presentations that suggest a site for a new earthquake science investigation. The challenge will engage students as practitioners of science through exploration of the airborne science research process that NASA scientists and engineers use to study earth system science. Students will:
-- Investigate the science.
-- Select a site for earthquake monitoring.
-- Prepare a flight plan.
-- Develop a multimedia proposal for submittal to NASA.
The challenge can be implemented in a classroom, after-school or other formal and informal teaching environment. One student team proposal can be submitted per educator. Proposals will be reviewed and ranked by NASA staff. Select student teams will receive recognition as earth system science investigators, and up to three teachers will be invited to attend the Airborne Research Experiences for Educators and Students, or AREES, 2012 summer academy.
To submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) for the Student Flight Mission Challenge, visit www.aeroi.org.
The deadline to submit an NOI is April 16, 2012.
The deadline to submit a student team’s proposal is May 21, 2012.
To obtain the curriculum materials and to learn the science and pedagogical content knowledge to prepare students for this challenge, enroll in the online course Earth System Science through NASA’s electronic Professional Development Network at http://www.nasaepdn.gatech.edu/nasa_sdc_earthsystemscience.php. The course is free, self-directed and technology and standards-based.
This activity is offered through the Aerospace, Education, Research and Operations Institute in Palmdale, Calif., in partnership with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and the Teaching From Space program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The G-III aircraft is operated from the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale in collaboration with instrument investigators from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
For more information about the AREES activity, refer to the website at www.nasa.gov/education/arees.
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Educator Workshop: Greenhouse Gases and Their Roles on Earth
Greenhouse gases are both naturally occurring and man-made gases that trap heat in Earth's atmosphere and play a vital role in maintaining a habitable climate. However, human activity is quickly increasing the concentration of these gases on Earth and causing concern about the future of our planet.
On April 21, 2012, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, in Pasadena, Calif., will host an educator workshop that will examine the role of greenhouse gases in our complex global system, and explore the ways that media deliver science content and discusses climate change. The workshop is open to formal and informal educators teaching grades 6 through 12. Attendees will take part in a group discussion, science presentations and a hands-on activity/discussion on the media's portrayal of science and climate change. Teachers will receive a certificate for continuing education hours.
Registration for this workshop closes on April 17, 2012. A $30 registration fee includes continental breakfast, beverages, snacks, a box lunch and incidentals.
For more information, directions to the workshop location and to register online, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=318.
Please direct questions about this workshop to Mary K. Kuehn at Mary.K.Kuehn@jpl.nasa.gov.
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NASA's Digital Learning Network Presents "Beautiful Earth"
NASA's Digital Learning Network, or DLN, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is hosting a special event on April 18, 2012 at 1 p.m. EDT, to celebrate our beautiful planet. This event will use simulated spaceflight imagery to present views of Earth's water in all of its forms: solid, liquid and vapor. See our planet from scientific, artistic and cultural perspectives.
For more information and to watch the webcasts online, visit the DLN website at http://dln.nasa.gov.
Inquiries about this event should be directed to Erin McKinley at erin.e.mckinley@nasa.gov.
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Algebraic Equations: Calculator Controlled Robots 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, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar8.aspx.
To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.
Email any questions about this opportunity to the NASA Explorer Schools help desk at NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
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Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge
NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT's Space Systems Laboratory are offering the opportunity to design experiments that will be tested in space aboard the International Space Station.
The Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge is a programming tournament that uses bowling ball-sized spherical satellites aboard the International Space Station. These Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, are used inside the space station to test maneuvers for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking.
This challenge opens the SPHERES satellite research platform to the general public for the first time. The goal of the tournament is to write a computer program to control a satellite to dock with a space object that may be tumbling through space. The best algorithm submissions from simulation competitions will be tested in microgravity on real SPHERES satellites aboard the International Space Station.
The Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge is open to anyone 13 years of age or older who meets eligibility requirements. Participants may work individually or in teams of up to 50 members to write their own algorithms to fly the satellites in the station.
The contest runs March 28 - April 25, 2012. Registration is now open and teams must join the competition by April 20, 2012. For more information, visit http://www.zerorobotics.org/web/zero-robotics/tournament-details?tournamentId=6.
The Zero Robotics project, a component of the ISS National Laboratory Education Project, or NLEP, is facilitated by MIT, TopCoder and Aurora Flight Sciences, continues the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, focus of the SPHERES facility. The Zero Robotics Autonomous Space Capture Challenge expands on a pilot program performed in 2009, 2010 and 2011. By making the benefits and resources of the space program tangible to high school and college students, Zero Robotics is designed to inspire future scientists and engineers. Students will have the opportunity to push their limits and develop skills in STEM. This program builds critical engineering skills, such as problem solving, design thought process, operations training, team work and presentation skills.
MIT's Space Systems Laboratory started operations of SPHERES in 2006 to provide DARPA, NASA and other researchers with a long-term test bed for validating technologies critical to the operation of future satellites, docking missions and satellite autonomous maneuvers. The satellites provide opportunities to test a wide range of hardware and software at an affordable cost.
For additional information about NASA and MIT's Zero Robotics program, visit www.zerorobotics.org.
For additional information about DARPA, visit http://www.darpa.mil.
Please email any questions about this opportunity to zerorobotics@mit.edu.
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Mars Student Imaging Project
The Mars Student Imaging Project is seeking educators and classroom teams to participate in an authentic research opportunity for the remainder of the 2011-2012 school year and the summer of 2012. Students will have the ability to formulate and ask a research question about Mars, interact with Mars scientists, target an image of Mars using a special camera on the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft and use their Mars data to answer their research question. This is an opportunity for students to build on their science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, experiences, and possibly make a new discovery on Mars!
The Mars Student Imaging Project strongly aligns to National Science Education Standards and the new National Research Council's Science Framework and working with data helps to build students’ essential 21st century workforce development skills. Participation is free and open to teams from grades 5-12 across the U.S.
Interested educators are asked to submit an Online Interest Form by April 27, 2012.
To get started and learn more about the project, visit http://marsed.mars.asu.edu/msip-home.
Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Jessica Swann at jlswann@asu.edu or Anthony Zippay at jzippay@asu.edu.
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2012 Summer Workshops -- Climate Science Research for Educators and Students
The Institute for Earth Science Research and Education, in collaboration with Queens College/City University of New York, is seeking participants for summer professional development workshops in the second year of its Climate Science Research for Educators and Students project. Funded by the NASA Innovations in Climate Education program, this project seeks to improve student engagement in climate science by helping teachers and students develop authentic climate-related science research projects.
During summer 2012, two climate science workshops will take place in New York City. The first workshop will be held in late June or early July. The workshop will focus on understanding sun/Earth/atmosphere interactions and Earth's radiative balance, a fundamental concept for climate science. All participants will build pyranometers, instruments for monitoring solar radiation. A follow-up workshop will take place in August. During the summer, participants are expected to conduct their own research.
All workshop participants in 2011 were from New York City or within commuting distance. In 2012, teachers from other places are encouraged to attend the early summer workshop, with follow-on activities to be conducted online in place of attendance at the August workshop. On-campus housing at Queens College should be available, and travel support for teachers from outside the NYC area may be available.
Applications are due June 1, 2012.
For more information, visit http://www.instesre.org/GCCE/GCCEHome.htm.
Questions about this competition should be directed to David Brooks via email at brooksdr@drexel.edu or by phone at 610-584-5619.
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Sun-Earth Day Webcast to Commemorate Venus Transit
NASA's Sun-Earth Day team has joined forces with NASA EDGE to celebrate the Transit of Venus with a live webcast from Hawaii. On June 5, 2012, tune in for a live webcast from Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
The Venus Transit event will not be visible from the continental U.S. in its entirety, so the NASA EDGE and Sun-Earth Day teams are heading to Hilo, Hawaii. A mountainside location on Mauna Kea will give a wonderful view of the entire transit with little chance of cloud cover. Viewers will be able to see real-time images of the transit for the duration of the event in various wavelengths of light.
This webcast will emphasize the history and importance of Hawaiian astronomy and its connections to NASA space science. Using the backdrop of Mauna Kea, the University of Hawaii, NASA scientists and Hawaiian cultural leaders will weave multigenerational stories combining ancient ways of knowing with modern scientific discoveries.
For more information about the Venus Transit webcast, visit http://venustransit.nasa.gov.
To learn more about the Transit of Venus and to find activities related to this once-in-a-lifetime event, visit http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/transitofvenus.php.
Inquiries about this event should be directed to Elaine Lewis at elaine.m.lewis@nasa.gov.
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