Space Discovery Institute Classes Conclude with a Splash in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Jul. 24, 2009) -- The Space Foundation’s Space Discovery Institute classes wrapped up this week in Colorado Springs with a last day rocket launch at Manitou Springs High School. The rocketry class spent the week studying aerodynamics and design and then applying what they learned to building model rockets. On Thursday they launched water rockets made from 2-liter soda bottles. Pictured are class instructor Bobby Gagnon, Space Foundation aerospace education specialist, and class member Jessica Kamalu launching a water rocket. Kamalu is one of this year’s winners of the Lucy Enos Memorial Scholarship, awarded annually by Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham and his wife Cynthia.

The 140 elementary-school-through-high-school teachers who attended the classes in Colorado Springs this summer learned hands-on, minds-on activities and developed lesson plans to take back to the classroom. They also gained access to Space Foundation-provided teaching aids and additional lesson plans.

The classes can be applied to several master's degree programs through both Regis University and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The courses are developed and taught by Space Foundation educators, who are accredited teachers with additional space education credentials. The standards-based curriculum is designed to improve students' skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to motivate them to continue to study STEM topics.

The week-long programs covered six different topics:
• Biological and Physical Research: International Space Station Science & Space Law
• Astronomy Principles for the Classroom: Exploring our Universe/The Search for Life
• Space Technologies in the Classroom: Nanotechnology and Space Spinoffs
• Earth Systems Science: Planetary Geology
• Lunar/Mars Exploration and Base Construction
• Rocketry: Space History

For more information, go to www.spacefoundation.org/what-we-do/education