Check out the following NASA opportunities for the education community. Full descriptions are listed below.
Temperature and Earth Climate: Modeling Hot and Cold Planets Web Seminar
Audience: 7-9 and Informal Educators
Event Date: Sept. 26, 2011
NASA Explorer Schools Live Video Chat: Active Response Gravity Offload System, or ARGOS
Audience: 9-12 Educators and Students
Event Date: Sept. 27, 2011
Quadratic Functions: Exploring Space Through Math -- Weightless Wonder Web Seminar
Audience: 9-12 and Informal Educators
Event Date: Sept. 27, 2011
Educator Resource Showcase Webcast -- MY NASA DATA
Audience: K-12 Educators
Event Date: Sept. 28, 2011
Engineering Design Challenge: Thermal Protection System Web Seminar
Audience: 8-12 and Informal Educators
Event Date: Sept. 28, 2011
Solar System Ambassadors Program Accepting Applications
Audience: All Educators
Application Deadline: Sept. 30, 2011
2012 Team America Rocketry Challenge
Audience: U.S. Students in Grades 7-12
Registration Deadline: Nov. 30, 2011
Plants in Space Student Research Project on the Space Station
Audience: All Educators
Additional Frequently Asked Questions -- NASA Research Announcement (NRA) Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums Plus Opportunities for NASA Visitor Centers and Other Informal Education Institutions (CP4SMP+) (Announcement Number: NNH11ZHA004N, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 43.008) -- Available For Download
Audience: Informal Education Institutions
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Temperature and Earth Climate: Modeling Hot and Cold Planets Web Seminar
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences for educators, the NASA Explorer Schools project is hosting a 90-minute Web seminar on Sept. 26, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Use NASA mission data collected from NASA satellites to see how a planet’s climate is determined. Attend this session and discover how you can incorporate authentic NASA data into your classroom to provide a real-world connection for your students.
For more information and to register online, visit
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar9.aspx.To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit
http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.Email any questions about this opportunity to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
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Live Video Chat: Active Response Gravity Offload System, or ARGOS
NASA Explorer Schools invites students in grades 9-12 from across the U.S. and Departments of Defense and State schools to participate in a special live video web chat with Larry Dungan, project manager and electrical engineer designer for the Active Response Gravity Offload System. Dungan will answer student questions about ARGOS, a computer-controlled overhead crane system that allows a human test subject to move in a simulated reduced-gravity environment, such as the moon, Mars or space.
This hourlong video webchat begins at 2 p.m. EDT on Sept 27, 2011.
You do not need to be a participant of the NASA Explorer Schools project to participate in the chat.
For background information about ARGOS, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson...ents/active_response_gravity/index.html.To learn more about NES, please visit the explorerschools.nasa.gov website.
For more information about this NES live video chat, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/argos-chat.html.If you have any questions about the webcast, contact NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
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Quadratic Functions: Exploring Space Through Math -- Weightless Wonder Web Seminar
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences for educators, the NASA Explorer Schools project is hosting a 60-minute Web seminar on Sept. 27, 2011, at 8 p.m. EDT. Investigate the characteristics of quadratic functions to solve real-world problems involving the parabolic flight path of NASA's Weightless Wonder C-9 jet. Get an overview of a student investigation, solve related quadratic equations and evaluate and graph quadratic functions. A graphing calculator will be used to demonstrate concepts; however, you do not need a calculator for this professional development seminar.
For more information and to register online, visit
https://digitalmedia.wufoo.com/forms/nes-webinar-registration-quadratic-functions/.To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit
http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.Email any questions about this opportunity to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
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Educator Resource Showcase Webcast -- MY NASA DATA
Join host Renee Elias from the Central Operation of Resources for Educators and special guests Preston Lewis and Susan Moore from MY NASA DATA for an hour-long, free webcast on Sept. 28, 2011, at 3 p.m. EDT. This webcast will focus on how the MY NASA DATA website can be used as a resource in formal and informal education.
The MY NASA DATA website works to make NASA earth science data accessible to the K-12 community. A growing collection of lesson plans on the site helps teachers to incorporate authentic data use in their classrooms. This webcast will focus on how teachers can use the MY NASA DATA website to connect to the Live Access Server and manipulate data parameters from Earth-observing satellites. With visualization options, students can look at data in a whole new light.
For more information and to view the webcast, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/dln/index.html. Visit the MY NASA DATA website at
http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/. If you have any questions about the webcast, please email them to Renee Elias at RElias@lcjvs.net .
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Engineering Design Challenge: Thermal Protection System Web Seminar
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences for educators, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute live professional development Web seminar for educators on Sept. 28, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Learn about the science of heat transfer and heat dissipation related to NASA vehicles, and receive an introduction to the associated engineering design challenge, Thermal Protection System. Students are challenged to design a thermal protection system and test it using a propane torch.
For more information and to register online, visit
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar10.aspx .
To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit
http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.Email any questions about this opportunity to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
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Solar System Ambassadors Program Accepting Applications
The NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassadors, or SSA, Program, a nationwide network of space enthusiast volunteers, is accepting applications through Sept. 30, 2011.
Highly motivated individuals will be given the opportunity to represent NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as volunteer Solar System Ambassadors to the public for a one-year, renewable term beginning Jan. 1, 2012.
While applications are being sought nationwide, interested parties from the following states are especially encouraged to apply: Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii (Kauai), Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
To learn more about the Solar System Ambassador program and to apply online, visit
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/.If you have questions about this opportunity, contact Kay Ferrari, SSA Coordinator, by email at ambassad@jpl.nasa.gov.
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2012 Team America Rocketry Challenge
Registration is open for the Team America Rocketry Challenge 2012, a national model rocket competition for U.S. students in grades 7-12. Thousands of students compete each year, making TARC the world’s largest model rocket contest.
Teams of three to 10 students are challenged to design, build and fly a model rocket that will climb to 800 feet with a payload of two raw eggs and stay aloft for 43 to 47 seconds. The payload must then return to earth unbroken. Cash prizes are awarded to the top finishers. NASA invites top teams to participate in their Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program.
Participation is limited to the first 1,000 teams who register by Nov. 30, 2011. For more information, visit
http://www.rocketcontest.org/. Questions about this contest should be sent to rocketcontest@aia-aerospace.org.
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Plants in Space Student Research Project on the Space Station
You and your students can participate in an exciting investigation taking place in space and on Earth. The Plants in Space project will examine plant-root growth in microgravity. You and your students can grow ground-based control plants in your classroom, download hourly photographs from the International Space Station and design your own experiments using the data from space. The live experiments began on Sept. 19, 2011. However, all images will be archived on this site, so you can conduct your investigation whenever, and as often, as you like.
To learn more and register for the free teacher guide, visit
http://www.bioedonline.org/space/STS_Mission_134P.cfm.Plants in Space is a collaboration of NASA with the National Space Biomedical Research Foundation, BioServe Space Technologies and the Center for Educational Outreach at Baylor College of Medicine. Additional support comes from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Houston Endowment Inc.
Questions about the Plants in Space module should be directed to Greg Vogt at vogt@bcm.edu.
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Additional Frequently Asked Questions -- NASA Research Announcement (NRA) Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums Plus Opportunities for NASA Visitor Centers and Other Informal Education Institutions (CP4SMP+) (Announcement Number: NNH11ZHA004N, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 43.008) -- Available For Download
Two Frequently Asked Questions received after the proposal due date of June 29, 2011, have been added to the CP4SMP+ portal page on NSPIRES at the following URL:
Visit: http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId={75AAC7BF-2F69-6C73-2980-B1DCF25EA665}&path=closed
