Volume 11, Number 3 • Fall 2003 • Cover Story

Reaching the Stars Through Education

Mr. O’Keefe with a group of students at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. NASA Headquarters/Renee Bouchard.

As NASA celebrates its 45th anniversary this year, the Agency also celebrates nearly 45 years of dedication to education. With the designation of Education as NASA’s newest Enterprise in 2002, the focus on the next generation has become even more of a core element of the organization and is now an integral component of every major NASA research and development mission. NASA’s call “to inspire the next generation of explorers” is resounding throughout the NASA community, schools and informal education venues across the country. As a result, NASA has begun to unify the educational programs throughout NASA Headquarters, the Agency’s other five science and technology Enterprises, and the Agency’s 10 Field Centers under the “One NASA” education vision. The Education Enterprise’s programs are inclusive of everyone and have a special focus on traditionally underrepresented groups in an effort to ensure that the next generation of explorers will represent the full diversity of the US population.

NASA wants to capture the interests of students and intrigue them with new and exciting scientific research. The Agency also is providing educators with the tools they need to improve America’s scientific literacy. A number of learning opportunities have been generated through printed material, Web sites and Webcasts, robotics, rocketry and aerospace design contests, just to name a few. In 2002 alone, NASA reached well over a half million educators, nearly two million K–12 students and almost 70,000 higher education students through direct, onsite activities and programs. In addition to those served by broad-based NASA education programs, the Agency also reached more than 17,000 minority students through its minority-targeted academies, scholarships and other initiatives.

Leveraging the fascination that children have with flying vehicles, NASA designed the educational initiative “Robin Whirlybird on Her Rotorcraft Adventures.” This online, Web-based interactive children’s book introduces K–4th graders to the history, concepts and research behind aeronautics and rotorcraft. “The Adventures of Amelia the Pigeon” is a similar effort developed last year. Through an interactive Web site, this project teaches children how scientists use satellite imagery to better understand the Earth’s environmental changes.

NASA also is impacting traditional textbook learning. Earlier this year, the Agency joined forces with Pearson Scott Foresman, the leading pre-K–6 educational publisher, to collaborate on the development of a new science textbook series. Before the new series is published, lessons will be designed for students and teachers following the steps that Barbara Morgan, NASA’s first Educator Astronaut and a former elementary school teacher, will take in preparation for her flight into space.

NASA’s focus on children with special needs has led to the development of a new astronomy program using Internet technology. The program opens up the universe to youngsters who would otherwise be denied the experience because of physical or cognitive challenges. The program is funded by NASA through the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) of Baltimore. Students with visual impairments are provided the opportunity to explore space through a new book, Touch the Universe: A NASA Braille Book of Astronomy. The book incorporates Braille and large-print descriptions of each of its 14 photographs to make it useful and intriguing for readers.

The NASA Explorer Schools (NES) program is a new Education Enterprise initiative designed to provide customized, extended professional development for educators and unique science and technology experiences for students, their families and communities. NES will link participating schools with NASA personnel and other partners in a three-year partnership to develop and implement action plans for educators. The action plans will promote and support the use of NASA materials and programs that address local needs in mathematics, science and technology education. Each team consists of three or four science, mathematics or technology teachers, an administrator and a state supervisor, who begin the partnership with an all-expense-paid week of intensive training at one of NASA’s 10 Centers. Each NES team receives a $10,000 grant intended to assist with the purchase of science and technology tools to support implementation plans and to bring cutting-edge educational technology to the classroom.

Inquisitive students ask Mr. O’Keefe questions at the National Air and Space Museum. NASA Headquarters/Renee Bouchard.

About 18,000 South Carolina educators representing a half-million students are registered users of three Emmy Award-winning shows developed at NASA Langley Research Center Office of Education. NASA Science Files and NASA Connect are aimed at students ranging from grades three through 12. The third show, NASA’s Destination Tomorrow is designed for educators, parents and life-long learners. NASA Webcasts are reaching schools across America as a valuable distance-learning tool. Students are able to learn how NASA studies the Northern Lights phenomena to improve satellite operations and space communications. They can study the role of snow cover on the Earth’s water and climate, and conduct science and engineering experiments based on those of the actual Mars Exploration Rover mission.

Giving distance learning a new meaning, the ISS EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) allows youngsters to take pictures of Earth using a camera on the International Space Station (ISS). Students can control the high-resolution digital camera operating on the space station’s Destiny science module through special Internet connections. The project, created in 1994 by Dr. Sally Ride—America’s first female astronaut—is helping scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center study the planet’s changing surface.

As NASA’s role in education grows, the Agency is forming partnerships that will provide support and encouragement for youngsters who may be at a disadvantage. Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD) and NASA have joined forces to encourage students with disabilities who are pursuing mathematics, science, engineering and technology degrees to seek employment with the Agency.

NASA also supports underrepresented students by providing outreach and assistance to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities, and encouraging recruitment, development and academic growth opportunities. As an example, on October 23, 2003, NASA presented a first-time grant of $500,000 to the Hispanic College Fund to assist some of the nation’s best and brightest students entering careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In another initiative, NASA helped launch a new education center to inspire and support socially and economically disadvantaged students in their quest for higher learning. The NASA Center for Success in Math and Science is located on the campus of Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale, AZ. Through the center, NASA will provide educators with resources to foster learning opportunities and educational excellence, encourage family involvement and establish links with businesses and groups in the community.

Meanwhile, 340 high-achieving students representing nearly every state in the nation and the US territories of Puerto Rico and St. Croix participated in NASA’s Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program (SHARP). In June 2003, SHARP participants became apprentices to scientists and engineers at NASA Centers and universities around the country. NASA SHARP is a research-based program that focuses on NASA’s mission, facilities, human resources and programs. The effort advances the Agency’s goals of involving underrepresented students in academic, workplace and social experiences.

In another partnership, NASA and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District will facilitate the development of an academic center in NASA Research Park at Ames Research Center. The academic center will be for first-generation college students interested in science, technology and engineering. This agreement will give community college students access to classrooms and laboratories at NASA Ames.

During NASA Amusement Park Physics Days, the Agency engages in many activities in microgravity at Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH, and Six Flags World of Adventure in Aurora, OH. NASA scientists, engineers and educators volunteer in a variety of ways at the parks for this event. In 2003, a total of 14 multimedia presentations were given to approximately 2,700 participants inside theaters at Cedar Point and Six Flags. NASA character Microgravity Man and his assistants engaged more than 1,500 student, teacher and adult visitors in demonstrations. More than 800 teachers and students attended talks given by astronaut Leland Melvin at special presentations on May 21 at Six Flags and May 22 at Cedar Point.

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ historic first flight, NASA conducted a “Centennial of Flight National Tour,” offering NASA exhibits at air shows, expositions and fairs throughout the country. A centerpiece of the NASA exhibit has been the Aerospace Technology Education Booth, which has featured a wide range of information for educators and students. The tour has reached more than 7.3 million students, educators and families. The tour culminates at the First Flight Celebration in Kitty Hawk, NC, December 12–17, exactly 100 years after the first flight of a powered, controlled aircraft.

As students prepare to visit a NASA Field Center, their teachers are becoming members of the permanent Astronaut Corps. NASA received more than 8,800 teacher nominations during the three-month recruitment phase, and the Educator Astronaut Program Office received more than 1,600 applications. NASA plans to review the applications and select Educator Astronaut candidates to begin training at NASA Johnson Space Center in 2004. Upon completion of training, Educator Astronauts will be eligible for space shuttle flights as Mission Specialists. These teachers will help NASA link classrooms on the ground directly to the research and science under way in orbit.

Through NASA’s Earth crew, now more than 40,000 members strong, teachers as well as parents and students, who may not have the opportunity to board a space shuttle, can pursue activities that enable them to interact with astronauts, scientists and engineers in projects and missions. Earth crew mission activities are Web-based and are accessible through NASA’s Educator Astronaut Web site at http://edspace.nasa.gov

Finally, in an effort to attract and maintain a workforce that captures the full potential of this nation’s diversity, and to address the national need for a new generation of people skilled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, NASA has recently created the Corporate Recruitment Initiative (CRI). NASA has initiated a five-year plan for the CRI, a joint effort of NASA’s Education Enterprise, Office of Human Resources and Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, which includes recruitment campus visits nationwide by teams of NASA officials.

From mid-September through mid-November 2003, teams of NASA representatives, including NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, Deputy Administrator Frederick D. Gregory and Associate Deputy Administrator for Institutions and Asset Management James Jennings, have met with countless students from nearly 40 institutions during on-campus NASA Awareness Days.

From walking on the moon to examining distant planets using new technologies, NASA has led some of the most unique missions ever imagined and has worked to share its discoveries and adventures with the nation’s students, educators and families along the way. NASA-sponsored education programs open the door for students from all walks of life and encourage them to pursue their interests in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. NASA continues to develop educational programs incorporating Agency-related research and innovations as an essential undertaking, with an eye toward inspiring the next generation of explorers . . . as only NASA can. *

For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov and http://www.hq.nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

NASA Official: Jonathan Root • Web Design: Printing & Design Office, NASA Headquarters • Credits