Space Foundation Supports STEM Education

In keeping with its mission to "advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable, and propel humanity," the Space Foundation believes that future success in space depends on an educated workforce, and now is the time to build that workforce through STEM education.

"We focus on teachers because by training teachers we reach a much larger audience year after year," said Space Foundation education vice president Iain Probert. "The lessons we teach educators are integrated into their classrooms for lasting effect on their students."

Lessons in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) can begin as early as preschool age and the Space Foundation is instructing teachers in delivering STEM lessons to children in preschool through grade 12. With an interdisciplinary approach that fortifies all content areas by linking lessons across the curriculum, the Space Foundation approach is highly replicable and a model for schools across the country.

This summer, the Space Foundation presented its Space Across the Curriculum classes at the Space Foundation Discovery Institute in its home city of Colorado Springs, Colo., and across the country in Charles County, Md., the suburban Chicago area, and, for the first time, at Colorado State University - Pueblo. Read news coverage of the new Pueblo class for PreK-2 teachers here.

The teacher professional development classes continue through mid-August. To plan ahead for next summer, see the 2011 Space Across the Curriculum course schedule on the Space Foundation education website after Labor Day.

See past articles on this summer's classes:

"Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed" at Space Foundation Discovery Institute

"Rocketry: Space History and the Future of Space Flight" in Charles County, Md.

"Lunar/Mars Exploration and Base Construction" in Charles County, Md.

"Space Technologies in the Classroom: Imagery and High-Tech Science" at Space Foundation Discovery Institute

Pictured:  Teachers in the Space Across the Curriculum class, "Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed," study rock formations at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The teachers did a survey and created a historical geologic map of the scenic park.

 

This article is part of Space Watch: August 2010 (Volume: 9, Issue: 8).