Teachers Receive NASA Moon Materials Training

In September, the Space Foundation Discovery Institute at the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy in Colorado Springs conducted a workshop for about 15 Colorado Springs School District 11 teachers so they could become certified to borrow lunar and meteorite samples from NASA.

Colorado Springs educators from the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy, Galileo School of Mathematics and Science, and Howbert Elementary School received training for lifetime certification to handle and use moon rocks and meteorites on loan from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The teachers learned how to properly handle the materials and the procedure for requesting and returning the rocks and meteorites. The class was conducted by NASA Aerospace Education Services Project Specialist Lisa Brown  from the Johnson Space Center.

For the session, which also explained the origins of the program that permits educators to use the NASA-owned materials, the teachers earned a lifetime certification required for borrowing the samples.

NASA aerospace education services project specialists periodically conduct National Lunar/Meteorite Certification Workshops and provide collateral materials, including slides, notebooks, lessons, and videos.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for teachers to bring a part of history into their classrooms and their schools to get students excited about space. To have an actual piece of the solar system that they can show to their students, and to be able to tell them that they could be walking on the moon someday is extremely exciting,” said Bryan DeBates, Space Foundation senior aerospace education specialist.

The Space Foundation holds three to four certification workshops per year for educators in Colorado. Visit the Space Foundation education website for information on future classes.

This article is part of Space Watch: October 2009 (Volume: 8, Issue: 10).