Educator Opportunities
New NASA opportunities for the education community
NASA Kids in Micro-g Challenge
Audience: 5-8 Educators and Students
Deadline: Dec. 8, 2010
NASA Kids in Micro- g is a student experiment design challenge geared toward grades 5-8. Its purpose is to give students a hands-on opportunity to design an experiment or simple demonstration that could be performed both in the classroom and by astronaut crews aboard the International Space Station.
Experiment challenge winners and runners-up will be selected by a panel consisting of microgravity scientists, International Space Station operations and NASA education personnel, and classroom teachers. The national winner and five runners-up will have their experiments conducted by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station in the March-May 2011 timeframe.
NASA will be accepting experiment proposals through Dec. 8, 2010.
For more information about the NASA Kids in Micro- g Challenge, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/nlab/experimentchallenge.html. Be sure to take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions section to help answer questions you may have as you develop your proposal. You may submit your own questions as well.
If you need further assistance about this opportunity, please contact the ISS Payloads Office at jsc-iss-payloads-helpline@mail.nasa.gov or call 281-244-6187.
2011 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship
Audience: K-12 Educators
Deadline: Jan. 4, 2011
Applications are currently available for the 2011 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program. This program is open to current public or private elementary and secondary mathematics, technology and science classroom teachers with demonstrated excellence in teaching. Applications are due Jan. 4, 2011.
Selected teachers spend a school year in Washington, D.C., sharing their expertise with policy makers. Einstein Fellows may serve with one of several government agency sponsors such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens and be currently employed full-time in a public or private elementary or secondary school or school district. Applicants must have been teaching full- time in a public or private elementary or secondary school for at least five of the last seven years.
For more information about this opportunity and to apply online, visit http://www.trianglecoalition.org/einstein-fellows
Inquiries about the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program should be directed to Program Manager Kathryn Culbertson at culbertsonk@triangle-coalition.org.
NASA Launches the NASA Explorer Schools Project!
Audience: 5-12 Educators
Connect your middle or high school students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes to the exciting world of NASA exploration and discovery by joining the NASA Explorer Schools project.
Incorporate authentic learning experiences designed around NASA's unique missions into your classroom to provide relevance to the curriculum by linking STEM classroom topics to real-world NASA activities. NES provides teachers access to a variety of exciting, free NASA resources that will satisfy curriculum standards and stimulate learning of basic and advanced STEM concepts.
Are you interested in learning more about participating in the NASA Explorer Schools project? Visit the NES Virtual Campus <http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/index.html> to read more about project features and register for the project by clicking on the “NES Registration Form” link in the “Get Involved” section.
NASA Education materials Featured on Howtosmile.org
Audience: K-12 and Informal Educators
NASA educational materials are available on the new Howtosmile.org website. Launched by the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, the Howtosmile.org website is an online collection of thousands of hands-on interactive science and math activities dedicated to making learning exciting and engaging for everyone. All activities at www.howtosmile.org are freely accessible and never require a registration or subscription.
Howtosmile.org brings together a consortium of science museums across the country to empower educators working with school-aged children in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. The website provides a digital infrastructure to allow informal science institutions to broaden their reach to informal educators across the U.S.
Howtosmile.org spotlights hands-on and interactive activities, both physical and virtual, that involve doing and learning. Activities take many forms, from downloadable lesson plans to field trip activities, how-to videos and online interactive games.
Howtosmile.org is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the National Science Digital Library. The website is a joint project of UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, the Exploratorium, the New York Hall of Science, Science Museum of Minnesota, Children’s Museum of Houston, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers.
Visit the new website at http://howtosmile.org/. To find NASA materials on the website, do a keyword search for NASA.
Questions about the Howtosmile.org site should be directed to Sherry Hsi at SherryH@berkeley.edu.
New Educational Materials Available at NASA.gov
Women at NASA Video: Grades k-12
Earth Math: Grades 6-12
Earth Math V: Grades 9-12
Do-It-Yourself Podcast Brochure: Grades 5-12
Hurricane Katrina: A Problem- Based Learning Module: Grades 5-12
NASA Aerospace Education Service Program
AESP education specialists are experienced educators who are broadly knowledgeable about NASA's missions, programs, and educational resources. Education specialists visit schools to deliver teacher professional development and in-class programming in subjects relevant to NASA's missions. AESP is unique as a STEM education project that works "on the ground" in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
There are tons of cool classroom ideas out there!
Click here for a list of resources compiled by ISGC.
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