EDUCATION RESOURCES

(GRAND) PARENTS / CAREGIVERS: NASA’s SpacePlace is a great website for you to visit that will help you engage your charges with the excitement of Space exploration using games, crafts, activities, and other information!

TEACHERS: The My NASA Data website has a LOT of mini-lessons to support your classroom instruction in the natural sciences! 

NASA’s Eyes: NASA created software over a decade ago that would help users visualize aspects of various Solar System objects. When I worked with NASA’s Outreach programming a dozen years ago, the representatives of the software showcasing their new products to the public was always the busiest person in the room. For good reason; the Eyes On software was amazing!

It still is. NASA has put all of the previous “Eyes On XYZ” apps under one easy-to-navigate site: https://eyes.nasa.gov. The richness and utility of this software is almost impossible to exaggerate. It’s easy to navigate, and is a font of information on the Sun, the Earth, the rest of the Solar System, Exoplanets, and more! The site includes “Solar System Tours,” such as Voyager, Cassini, New Horizons, Dawn, and more. The site also has access to apps about the Deep Space Network, Curiosity, Earth Now, and more. Check it out, especially with a young person interested in Solar System exploration and Astronomy!

ENGAGE “is a resource designed for high school and undergraduate science teachers to improve science literacy and the use of science writing as narrative nonfiction resources.” ENGAGE is a resource presently under development by the American Geophysical Union. It’s a great resource for students, too! Check it out here, and here for an example of materials relating to “Layers of Climate Change.”

NASA Research Experience for Undergraduates Internships: See: https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/internship-programs. The American Astronomical Society also has info about REU programs; see: https://aas.org/careers/internships-summer-jobs.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS are a great way to engage learning interest, no matter if you are a teacher or a care giver. JPL has a wonderful set of assets than can help you pique the interest of others and engage them to learn more about a variety of Space-related topics, all inspired by the latest happenings at NASA. This is great resource for teachers and learners! Please be sure to check it out, and spread the word about it to like-minded friends, relatives, and students: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/column/teachable-moments. 

A recent “Teachable Moment” concerns the unusual asteroid named Psyche, notable because it is composed primarily of metal, not rock. It’s thought to be a remnant of the core of an asteroidal body large enough to have undergone differentiation (where the metals in it sank to form a core, while the lighter rocky material formed a mantle). Psyche is quite large, about a sixth the size of our Moon! Since our deepest drilling to date doesn’t even reach the upper mantle, planetary scientists really want to study Psyche as an example of what Earth’s own core might be like. Plus, Psyche likely contains a LOT of valuable metals (although the mining and transport costs would literally be astronomical!). NASA is planning a mission, also named Psyche, to visit the asteroid. The Psyche spacecraft is undergoing final stages of manufacture, looking for a launch as early as October. Transit time to cover the two-plus billion miles to Psyche will be on the order of six years.

The thought of a metal asteroid is quite engaging, and therefore makes it a perfect teachable moment to stimulate student learning. For more information about that angle on Psyche, see: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2023/8/16/psyche-asteroid-mission-aims-to-explore-mysteries-of-earths-core.

NASA’s UNIVERSE OF LEARNING: NASA’s Astrophysics missions are the theme for the Universe of Learning program, which “connects the public to the data, discoveries, and experts that span NASA’s Astrophysics missions. Our team is made up of scientists, engineers, and educators who have direct connections to these missions.” The program has projects and events “designed to inspire engagement and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Once learners get started, they often return to unlock more secrets of the universe – and perhaps even chart their own path to become a scientist or an engineer.” Find out more about this program here: https://www.universe-of-learning.org/about-us. Check it out with your students, (grand)children, and friends!

STEM EDUCATION: A PATH TO A REWARDING CAREER: Many career paths are open to the student who becomes proficient in STEM topics. Some lead to Academia, but that is not the only area in which to have a rewarding career. STEM also leads to business, military, advocacy, and other areas not intimately-related to STEM. The American Geophysical Union publication, EOS, has an article about 17 examples of how a STEM background allowed people to pursue their career dreams in a variety of fields. This is really good info to share with a young person old enough to ponder their future! For a summary, see here; for the article itself, see here.

SLOOH, THANK YOU! A look through a telescope was an important early moment in my scientific education, as it is for many kids, especially today with the high cost of telescopes and so much light pollution in so many places. One solution is offered by the Slooh Observatory, which runs a series of automated observatories around the world. It is a commercial endeavor, but for a modest cost students can engage in live telescope control and receive age-appropriate learning activities. Slooh isn’t just for students, either. Check it out at https://www.slooh.com. 

AND VON KÁRMÁN, TOO! JPL Hosted the Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, an outstanding educational resource. You can find many past von Kármán lectures, covering a wide range of topics, here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jpl-and-the-community/lecture-series.

The Staying Power of Apollo: A major communications company is presently running an ad campaign about their latest-generation service, using Apollo imagery and key phrases. Note that the events the ad is built upon are over 60 years old. The children of the target audience are the same as their grandparents were during the Moon landings. Such is the (staying) power of Apollo as the icon of high tech. Those of us in the Space education/popularization biz are fortunate to have such powerful images/memes at our disposal. Let’s use them wisely, and often!

EDUCATION LINKS

Check out the JPL STEM Education website: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu! It has sections aimed at teachers, K-12 students, college students, and getting an internship at JPL. The “Learn” section has a LOT of really good learning activities for your (grand)children and students, and the “Teach” section has a LOT of resources for K-12 teachers and (grand)parents. Don’t miss the “Events” section, either. The JPL team had done a great job in creating wonderful on-line resource for learning at all levels!

NOTE: The latest monthly NASA Aeronautics STEM Newsletter is posted on the A+StW website’s “Archive: Other Stuff” page, see here. Sign up to get your own monthly NASA Aeronautics STEM Newsletter here.

Join NASA’s Museum and Informal Education Alliance! For more information, see: https://informal.jpl.nasa.gov/museum/About

NASA STEM Engagement News: https://www.nasa.gov/stem/news.html

NASA STEM Engagement Overview: https://www.nasa.gov/stem/about.html

JPL Education News: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news

NASA has made a major investment in the advancement and promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. You can check out their offerings at https://www.nasa.gov/stem. See browsing tabs for students and teachers at different grade levels. See also: https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/search and https://www.nasa.gov/stem/foreducators/k-12/index.html

Astronomy Teaching Aids for the Visually Impaired: NASA recently released the digital files for 3-D printing of tactile models of the Chandra data of X-Ray universe, see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/resources/misc/visually_impaired.html.

ISS STEM Downlinks: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem_on_station/index.html

Join NASA’s Aeronautics for Educators Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nasaaeronauticsforeducators

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate STEM Education Resources: https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/resources

Leveled Readers: https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/resources/leveled-readers 

STEM Modules for Aeronautics for K-4: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/aero-prek.pdf

STEM Module: Quiet(er) Supersonic Flight: https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/stem/X59

STEM Module: “Seeing” Sound (Educator’s Guide): https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/chevrons-educator-guide-v6.pdf

STEM Module: X-57 Electric Airplane: https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/stem/X57