Space Across the Curriculum Provided to Maryland Educators

For the seventh consecutive year, the Space Foundation provided Space Across the Curriculum professional development courses for Charles County (Md.) Public Schools teachers during July. This year, four courses were offered through a partnership with the district.

The courses and the number of teachers enrolled included:

PreK-2 Early Childhood Space Exploration (21 teachers)
This course provides the educators with age-appropriate, hands-on STEM activities to engage very young children. During the week, they took part in more than 30 hands-on activities and each day featured a different theme: Astronomy, Earth Science, Life Science, Space Technology/Weather and Rocketry.

Meteorology and Space Weather (35 teachers)
This course covers weather basics, severe weather, weather prediction including how to read charts and graphs, space weather and satellites that monitor our weather. Guest speakers included Erica Grow (pictured at right), meteorologist from WUSA Channel 9, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.

Rocketry: Space History and the Future of Space Flight (15 teachers)
This course examines the history of rocketry, U.S. space policy and space programs of other countries. It also teaches principles of rocketry, and shows the educators how to incorporate it across their curriculum. The highlight of the week was when the teachers designed, built and launched a variety of rockets made from household materials to learn the principles of flight and aerodynamics.

Space Technologies in the Classroom: Robotics and Nanotechnology (19 teachers)
This course covers various space technologies, how we use them and how space spin-offs impact everyday life on Earth. The teachers had fun learning about the history, evolution and uses of robots in everyday life and in space. The highlight of the week was when the teachers constructed a model of a robotic hand that mimics the functions of a human hand.

Pictured below: A Charles County, Md., teacher has fun with a hands-on activity during the Meteorology and Space Weather class in July.

Every summer, the Space Foundation offers Space Across the Curriculum teacher professional development courses. These intensive week-long graduate-level courses for PreK-12 educators provide space-related science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content that is instantly transferable to the classroom. All courses are hands-on and focus on national standards and STEM principles. Although the underlying concentration is on STEM, the courses are structured to adapt lessons to all grade levels and all curriculum areas. Participants do not need to be science or math teachers, and public, private and homeschool teachers from around the globe are welcome.

Click here for more information about all of the Space Foundation’s education programs.

This article is part of Space Watch: August 2013 (Volume: 12, Issue: 8).