Participants, organizers and facilitators of the 2001 NEW are pictured in front of the world-famous X-1E. Row one includes Donna Tuttle, Dawn Warren, Deb Williams, Judy Lyttle, Lynne Shevinksy, Virginia Swenson, Kristi Fredrickson, Terry Shlaes, Linda Powers, Josephine Golcher, Laurie Hallisey, Cindy Acierto, Cathy Iwaoka, Lisa McClure, Crystal Ormsby, Marianne McCarthy and Ronnie Boghosian. Pictured in row two are Sergio Mora, Brenda Gardunia, Marilyn Quinn, Rita Vargas, Jill Parker, Loukea Kovanis, Joleen Retzer, Rob Lazarus, Wende Lestelle, Carol Warren, Ted Huetter, Jeannine Frock, Curt Kornhaus, Patrick Huth, Sondra Geddes and Michelle Davis. NASA Photo / Tom Tschida

NEW Outreach Success:

Teachers explore NASA, aeronautics as thematic approach to K-12 education

By Sylvia E. Pierson
X-Press Assistant Editor

Nineteen NASA Educational Workshops (NEW) were recently held at the 10 NASA Centers across the United States. A total of 250 K-12 teachers participated in the workshops held in June and July. Approximately 475 teachers had competed for the opportunity to attend the all-expense paid, two-week workshop and explore new thematic approaches for teaching mathematics, science, technology and geography. Dryden hosted 25 of the selected teachers during its July 9 - 20 workshop.

"I am anxious to learn ... and have already told my students that I will be returning with lots of new activities," noted Terry Shlaes, a biology/integrated science teacher at Century High School in Hillsboro, Ore., when she heard that she had been selected to participate in the NEW workshop.

"My daughter participated in a NEW workshop at Marshall Space Flight Center and she taught me what she learned, so I've always used her experience in my classroom. Now I'm eager to apply what I'll be learning at Dryden in my school and share it with her," said Virginia Swenson, echoing Shlaes' enthusiasm. Swenson is a high school mathematics teacher at Ames High School in Ames, Iowa.

The two-week workshop also provided an opportunity for teachers to work collaboratively, share ideas and tailor NEW knowledge, experience and materials into their own specific educational scenarios.

Educator teams study the efficient packaging of space food during an exercise in conserving volume and mass. This exercise was one aspect of a day-long module on living in space. NASA Photo / Tom Tschida

"Being an alumnus of the NEW program, I can tell you that [teachers] are truly in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Curt Kornhaus, a sixth-eighth grade technology education teacher at McPherson Middle School in McPherson, Kansas and the educator facilitator at the 2001 workshop. "It will be hard work, yet the information learned and the contacts made will be unforgettable. Teachers don't usually have much of a chance to interface with teachers outside their district. This workshop equips them with a whole new perspective and gives them a chance to get out of a rut. It sparks new energy and together they feed off of that. And... they also know the information has already been classroom tested."

"I have 35 students in our gifted K-12 pro-gram and I teach multidisciplinary units that aren't usually taught to elementary school level students - marine biology, archaeology and dissection," said Crystal Ormsby, a gifted education teacher in the East Carter County R-2 Schools in Elsinore, Mo. whose school has only 800 students and is located in a rural setting. "As you can imagine, my work is very challenging and it covers diverse subjects and ages. I have learned a tremendous amount from my colleagues at the workshop and heard about so many great things they've accomplished in the classroom."

"Many of the students at my school have had problems with the law or with their schools, some are teen parents and yet others do not have enough credits for their grade level," explained Brenda Gardunia, an 11th grade mathematics teacher at Mountain Cove High School in Boise, Idaho. Mountain Cove is an alternative school for at-risk high school students. "If only I can motivate one or two of them to see that they're not shut out from options. They honestly think that they're excluded from achieving their dreams. Something new has to happen - some of them have taken algebra three times and still they barely understand it. I have to present math differently to them in order to break through and reach them. If only I can pull in what I've learned at the NEW workshop and inspire them to think 'I want to do this or that and I need math to do it, to get where I want to be.' I will try to use these new approaches in the classroom first and then share them district-wide through our regular in-service programs. I believe the breakthrough will start with one person in one classroom and it will also show people in the community what our kids can achieve."

Judy Lyttle, Rob Lazarus and Carol Warren cut with precision as they create gliders out of styrofoam. The teachers later conducted test flights of their aircraft to learn more about the weight and balance needed to achieve straight and level flight. NASA Photo / Tom Tschida

The two-week invitation to NASA's premier Aeronautics center also proved to be a thrilling prospect for a number of teachers.

"I have always been fascinated by flight and am looking forward to the opportunity to see the Dryden Flight Research Center," commented Loukea Kovanis who teaches 10th-12th grade chemistry at Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Mich.

"I was an aerospace engineer for 13 years and although I had all of this aerospace knowledge, I didn't know how to apply it toward my students - especially the girls," observed Kristi Fredrickson, a mathematics and physics teacher at Williams High School in Williams, Ariz. "They often outperform the boys, but aren't going into engineering. I want to enlighten them and make sure they know what they're capable of doing. It's been contagious to see how excited people at Dryden are to be doing what they're doing. I look forward to all that I am going to learn and the many things I will be able to take back to use in my classroom."

Enthusiastic about implementing the information and teaching mechanisms learned during the summer workshop, educators know that participation in the program will also facilitate their efforts to meet national education standards for their science, mathematics, geography, and technology classes.

"Wow! What an opportunity to expand my technology education curriculum," said Jill Parker, an eighth grade technology education teacher at Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, Colo. "I hope to use NASA resources, tools, materials and information to teach our education standards and I know I will be using aeronautics as a theme in the classroom when I teach design aspects, lift, gravity, etc. This will be so cool!"

Patrick Huth, one of Dryden's Oklahoma State University aerospace education specialists, projects images of sunspots onto paper as NEW teachers watch. The activity enabled Huth to facilitate an activity in which teachers learned to track sunspots based on photos of the sun taken over a 10-day period. The data collected was used to calculate the rotation of the sun. Teachers will be able to use this same activity as part of the Sun-Earth Connection curriculum to teach students about sunspots and the magnetic poles of the sun. This curriculum is available at http://sec.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html. NASA Photo / Tom Tschida

During the two-week workshop, teachers were given a unique perspective on NASA's history and state-of-the-art research and development through direct interaction with Dryden scientists, engineers, technicians and educational specialists. Hands-on activities interspersed with tours of Dryden aircraft, a field trip to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., visits to Dryden project briefings and guest lectures by key Dryden personnel also helped teachers synthesize their new information, experiences and materials.

"This truly has been a dream come true!" proclaimed Rob Lazarus excitedly upon his arrival at Dryden. Lazarus - a fourth grade science, mathematics, social studies and language arts teacher at R.C. Simis Elementary School in Phoenix, Ariz., - went on to elaborate. "My participation is 30 years in the making. I remember looking at the movie poster for '2001: A Space Odyssey' in 1968... and I remember the Apollo program and I am now thinking how cool it is that I'm at a site where the X-38 is being researched and tested. Not only that, but I'm standing near an X-38 engineer during the airlaunch, can ask him questions and, hours later, sit in mission control!"

"We just received a grant from Toyota Tapestry and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)," said Dawn Warren, a K-12 science and technology teacher at the S.C.O.P.E. Science and Technology Center in Denton, Texas. "I was so excited about being selected... it will provide me with first-hand knowledge and experience to pass on to the students participating in the grant."

Warren is also the director of the grant project in which 880 fifth graders are working with 25 high school mentors, the American Radio Relay League, NASA and the astronauts aboard the ISS. The students are using state-of-the-art ham radios, satellites and GPS to communicate with astronauts aboard the ISS.

Teachers concentrate as Aerospace Education Specialist Michelle Davis leads them through the steps for constructing a Pathfinder paper airplane during a module on the forces of flight. Teachers assembled individual Pathfinders by stringing together a wing and a drinking straw. The paper airplanes were later used in a test flight exercise. NASA Photo / Tom Tschida

A key element of the NEW program included the introduction of a wide variety of free education products developed by NASA. These education products support the development of new classroom programs and the enhancement of existing programs. A number of the videos, slides, posters, printed materials, lithographs and web resources were demonstrated during the two-week workshop. The products are designed to use NASA's missions in aeronautics and space to facilitate teaching related subjects including the history of flight, space exploration, life and physical sciences, astronomy, energy, earth resources, the environment, mathematics, weather and career education.

"I've really come to appreciate the wealth of knowledge NASA has and that they make available to the public for free," remarked Kornhaus. "I tie in that information to various activities at my school. For example, we have Discovery Days at our school as well as a rocketry and space technology module... [and] I use the 'Living in Space' video series to help my students remember facts about microgravity. Astronauts present the information which makes it all the more credible."

Educators also learned about the availability of online NASA teaching resources accessible on the Internet at http://www/trc/Education/index.html and the national network of regional Educator Resource Centers (ERC). Each ERC contains a wealth of resources for educators such as publications, reference books, slides, audio and video cassettes, telecture programs, computer programs, CD-ROMs, lesson plans, activities, posters, and lists of publications from government and non-government sources.

By the end of the two weeks, enthusiasm for the value of the workshop experience proved hard to contain.

"At the end of the workshop, teachers presented action plans they had developed for using aeronautics as a thematic approach in their schools," noted Patrick Huth, aerospace education specialist (OSU). "I was really impressed with their plans and how they intend to incorporate the information they learned during these intense two weeks. Some teachers are designing their entire plans around NASA."

"When I return to my school I want to develop a classroom dynamic modeled on the agenda and hot-links paradigm used for [during the workshop] and invite an aerospace education specialist to my school," said Parker. "In addition, LIDAR, X-planes, the F-15 active and Helios can all be used as examples of the design process during my engineering design problem syllabus. Students can work to answer 'what was the need or problem? What were some solutions? How did the current model evolve?' When students start prototyping we can watch a video from the NASA modeling shop. Students could also make a wind tunnel and use it to demonstrate the flight principles of lift, weight, drag and thrust."

"All my subjects - especially math and science - are already integrated into each other," stated Lazarus. "For example, each year my students write a book on their perspectives on the future in technology or on earth or in space and that book is presented to Bob McCall - the world renowned space artist - during his regular visit to our school. In this way, students get to think of where mankind will be in the future. In addition, each week we have a Wonder Project activity in which students have to prepare 10 facts about a subject that fascinates them. The 10 facts are placed on a posterboard for all to see. Now that activity will be based on a NASA concept and we will do things based on that concept. I will also have an aerospace education specialist come out and help us amplify our topics and our learning."

Throughout the intense two-week workshop teachers were often heard commenting on their experience and how they planned to become ambassadors for NASA and for aeronautics among their peers and at their school districts.

"What a wonderful opportunity...to experience NASA and its aviation research," said Joleen Retzer, a middle school earth science teacher at the Tse Ho Tso Middle School located on a Navaho Indian Reservation in Fort Defiance, Ariz. "I see myself as a [NASA] ambassador to my school and to other teachers and I will share this information with them. What a gift to this teacher and... what a gift to my science students and our science department staff."

"I intend to spread the word to our 8th grade teaching teams, especially to our science teachers," promised Parker. "I'll also make presentations at our next district in-service meeting, to the Colorado Middle Level Education State Conference and the Colorado Technology Education Association. I hope to integrate the NEW information and materials into our 'Explore' elementary school program and with our math, science and technology education benchmarks."

"As you can imagine, I've been sifting through the workshop information and trying to determine what to use right away and what to develop for later," said Swenson pensively. "Students may not get to go up into Space, but they will fly. That's what makes aeronautics such a useful theme. What's more, NASA is an incredible resource on the Internet and through all of its well-designed resource materials. I'm confident that all of these things will help get our students, teachers and communities excited about NASA."

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