Rocky Mountain PBS is Now Space Foundation Educational Product Partner

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 1, 2012) -- The Space Foundation welcomes Rocky Mountain PBS (RMPBS) as its newest Certified Educational Product partner. Over the past months, the Space Foundation has provided the scripting and talent for video vignettes featured on two RMPBS educational programs for students - Matchwits and Homework Hotline.

The Matchwits segments pose video questions for student competitors and the Homework Hotline pieces explain scientific principles with space examples. Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates and Space Education Specialist Bobby Gagnon wrote and starred in the segments. In addition to being broadcast during children's programming, the segments are posted on the RMPBS and the Space Foundation website.

Watch the videos:

Foundations of Science: Density
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates uses balloons to explain density

Foundations of Science: Velocity
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates uses rockets to explain velocity

Foundations of Science: Newton's Third Law of Motion
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates uses rockets to explain Newton's Third Law of Motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction

Foundations of Science: Microgravity
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates explains microgravity.

Foundations of Science: GPS
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates explains how the Global Positioning System (GPS) triangulates position.

Foundations of Science: Microgravity and the Human Body
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates talks about how the human body reacts to microgravity.

Foundations of Science: Newton's Laws of Motion
Space Foundation Director - Education Bryan DeBates talks about inertia; the relationship between force, mass and acceleration; and actions and reactions.

About Matchwits
Now in its 27th season, Matchwits is a weekly high school academic quiz program produced by Rocky Mountain PBS station KTSC-TV in Pueblo, Colo. It is a single-elimination tournament involving public and private high schools from southern and southeastern Colorado. The on-air tournament is made up of five rounds of competition including the championship game. The game is made up of three rounds including toss-up questions allowing individual players to answer for their school and speed round questions where each school works as a team to answer as many questions as possible in a short period of time. As the rounds progress, the difficulty of the questions increases. Questions include, but are not limited to, English, history, geography, science, current events and math.

About Homework Hotline
Homework Hotline is a call-in program on KTSC Channel 8 in Pueblo, which airs live each weekday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. during the school year. Designed to help students with their math and science homework, the program is hosted by two Pueblo School District 60 teachers.

About Rocky Mountain PBS
RMPBS is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member non-commercial educational public television station in Colorado. Headquartered in downtown Denver, the station reaches one million viewers in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico each week with provocative and inspiring local, national and international programming. Founded in 1956 as Colorado's first public television station, Rocky Mountain PBS is now Colorado's only statewide television network, with stations in Denver (KRMA), Pueblo/Colorado Springs (KTSC), Steamboat Springs (KRMZ), Grand Junction (KRMJ) and Durango (KRMU).

About Certified Educational Products
Certified Educational Products are selected by the Space Foundation and identified as those used in educational environments to stimulate interest and knowledge about space. Education is key to the mission of the Space Foundation and supporting these products inspires each new generation.

For more information, go to www.SpaceConnection.org.

About Space Certification
Products and services that display the Space Certification™ seal are guaranteed to have stemmed from or been dramatically improved by technologies originally developed for space exploration or to have significant impact in teaching people about the value of space utilization. Developed and administered by the Space Foundation, the world's foremost advocate for all sectors of the space industry, the Space Certification program serves three purposes:

• Providing a unique marketing edge for Space Certification partners
• Demonstrating to the public how space technologies now improve life on Earth
• Making space knowledge more interesting and accessible to everyone

There are three classifications of Space Foundation Certified Products:

• Certified Technology Products - Products or services that directly result from space technology or space program development or advances in space technology
• Certified Educational Products - Products used in educational environments to stimulate interest in and knowledge about space
• Certified Imagination Products - Entertainment products, games or toys that increase interest in and excitement for space and inspire new generations to take an active interest in space

Space Certification products and services have been scrutinized by the Space Foundation, which works closely with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and other organizations engaged in space research and development to identify and validate that they are eligible for and deserving of recognition.

About the Space Foundation
The foremost advocate for all sectors of the space industry and an expert in all aspects of space, the Space Foundation is a global, nonprofit leader in space awareness, educational programs that bring space into the classroom and major industry events, including the National Space Symposium, all in support of its mission "to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity." The Space Foundation publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity and provides three indexes that track daily performance of the space industry. Through its Space Certification and Space Technology Hall of Fame® programs, the Space Foundation recognizes space-based technologies and innovations that have been adapted to improve life on Earth. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation conducts research and analysis and government affairs activities from its Washington, D.C., office and has a field office in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit www.SpaceFoundation.org. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and read about the latest space news and Space Foundation activities in Space Watch.