Education


Virtual Field Trip-Seoul, StellarXplorers, Community Events and Raspberry Pi

Written by: developer

The Space Foundation delivers its STEM and STEAM education outreach programs at its Discovery Center in Colorado Springs, through in-person school visits across the U.S. and virtually to schools around the world.

One of the education highlights during April was a Virtual Field Trip for the Dwight School in Seoul, South Korea. This is the second time the Space Foundation has done a Virtual Field Trip for a school in Seoul. The event was set up through the State Department and the U.S. Embassy. For this event, 7th and 8th graders from the school got a 40-minute tour of the Solar System on our Science On a Sphere®. That was followed by an almost hour-long Q&A period, where students asked extremely inquisitive questions such as, “How would a colony on Mars initially survive?” “How would they get the building materials for a colony there?” “How much of the science of Andy Weir’s The Martian is true?” “How would we develop technology on Mars?” “What would be the purpose of sending a colony there?” and “What are the ethical implications of sending a colony to Mars?” Both the U.S. Embassy and the Space Foundation continue to work together to develop relationships in the region.
 
For the third consecutive year, the Space Foundation Discovery Center was host to the national finals for the Air Force Association’s StellarXplorers program, (pictured left). Ten teams from around the world competed for the top prize which included a trophy and college scholarship money. The teams competed using Analytical Graphics, Incorporated’s Systems Tool Kit to launch a satellite and establish the optimal orbital path to observe ten volcanoes around the globe. The students were also able to visit the Boeing Exhibit Center at the 33rd Space Symposium, where they could see the real-world connection to the things there were learning for their competition. For more information on StellarXplorers visit http://www.stellarxplorers.org.
 
The Space Foundation education team has been participating in many community programs this spring. The biggest program was the Dream Big Eads event where dozens of STEM-centered organizations from around the state descended on Eads, Colo., and put on a fair that highlighted various STEM organizations and careers around the state that are available to Eads students. We also participated in many local events such as the D-49 Military Family Appreciation Day held at the D-49 Success Center, the Southeast YMCA Healthy Kids Day and the Odyssey Elementary School Family STEAM night.
 
In addition to thousands of students visiting the Discovery Center for field trips, we continue to conduct our monthly outreach activities like Tesla’s Toolbox. This past month, we conducted a Raspberry Pi coding workshop for Discovery Center visitors, (pictured at top). Attendees learned how to program their own mini computer. This is the second time the Discovery Center has conducted this workshop. We continue to conduct our other monthly programs, such as Family Star Party and Space After Dark, which will continue through the summer. Our other monthly programs, Star Days, Homeschool Days, Space Story Party and Tesla’s Toolbox, will take a break this summer and return in the fall. These programs will be replaced by our Summer of Discovery and Explore Space Experience during the summer months. See more on our Discovery Center website here.

This article is part of Space Watch: May 2017 (Volume: 16, Issue: 5).


Posted in Education