Spotlight


Space Discovery Institute Launches New Programs

Written by: developer

The Space Foundation has a very full schedule this summer for its Space Discovery Institutes, including several new programs and delivery styles. The summer begins June 1 with two weeks of the new "two-classrooms" concept Space Discovery Institute for Omaha Public Schools in Omaha, Neb. (See related Space Watch story)

The Space Foundation will then conduct six classes over five weeks at Regis University in Colorado Springs. The intense week-long programs for PreK-12 teachers feature space-related curriculum based on national standards and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) principles. Each of the concepts are experiential, hands-on, and immediately transferable to the classroom.

One of the highlights will be the new Lunar/Mars Exploration and Base Construction Space Discovery Institute class July 13-17, which will teach how to incorporate the science concepts and engineering design challenges that go into surviving on the moon or Mars into the classroom. The culminating activity of that course will have the participants in teams building a model of a theoretically functioning Lunar or Mars base.

The five other Space Discovery Institutes being offered in Colorado Springs are:
• Biological and Physical Research: International Space Station Science and Space Law, June 15-19;
• Astronomy Principles for the Classroom: Exploring the Universe and the Search for Life, June 22-26;
• Space Technologies in the Classroom: Nanotechnology and Space Spin-Offs, July 6-10;
• Earth Systems Science: Planetary Geology, July 13-17;
• Rocketry: Space History, July 20-24.

After the Colorado classes, the Space Foundation will teach the same six Space Discovery Institute classes over a three-week period in Charles County, Md., with two classes taught simultaneously each week. Highlights include a trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, a star gazing party, and a trip to Calvert Cliffs State Park

The Space Foundation summer education programs wrap up with a new partnership with Colorado Springs School District #11 for an Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed course during the week of August 3-7. Highlights include field trips to the Garden of the Gods and a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak where participants will relate this adventure to a long-duration space mission.

This article is part of Space Watch: May 2009 (Volume: 8, Issue: 5).


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