Report from Headquarters


STEM Lessons in the Mars Yard

Written by: developer

STEM Lessons in the Mars Yard The Mars Yard at the Space Foundation Discovery Institute in Colorado Springs was well used this summer, including a visit by young student members of Shades of Blue. The Space Foundation provided an afternoon of robotics and rocketry for the students, who ranged in age from 7 to 18, with the goal of accelerating their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Colorado-based Shades of Blue is a non-profit educational organization designed to help identify and prepare students for careers in aviation and aerospace. See more photos of the visit here.

The Space Foundation opened the Mars Yard this past spring and it has been used since then by students at the adjacent Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy and by teachers from across the country who traveled to Colorado Springs this summer to attend Space Foundation Space Across the Curriculum courses.

The Mars Yard, along with Space Foundation education programs, are critical to the Space Foundation’s mission to build a better, stronger workforce for the future to support space exploration and utilization. The Space Foundation Discovery Institute, which opened in 2009, provides space-themed professional development and support for teachers and students from around the world. It serves as the base location for the Space Foundation’s education programs and houses classrooms, a conference center, an Educator Resource Center, the AGI Space Missions Simulator and now a Mars Yard.

Pictured: Shades of Blue Students learn robotics in the Mars Yard at the Space Foundation Discovery Institute in Colorado Springs.

 

This article is part of Space Watch: September 2011 (Volume: 10, Issue: 9).


Posted in Report from Headquarters