Panel Discussion: Precollege Education Activities in NASA Science Mission

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Panel Discussion Pre-college Education
Activities in NASA Science Mission

• Edna DeVore
• SETI Institute
• January 18, 2007

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SETI Institute

• The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore,
  understand and explain the origin, nature and
  prevalence of life in the universe.
• Center for SETI Research -radio and optical
  searches for evidence of ET -Allen Telescope
  Array with UC Berkeley RAL
• Carl Sagan Center -50 scientific projects in
  astrobiology -member, NASA Astrobiology
  Institute
• Center for Education and Outreach -NASA, NSF and
  privately funded E/PO -public affairs -publicati
  ons -Are We Alone? radio program
• Non-profit, 130 employees

SOFIA Short Course
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NASA SMD E/PO Programs

• Kepler Discovery Mission w/ LHS _at_ UC Berkeley
• SOFIA w/ ASP
• NASA Astrobiology Institute
• EPO Supplements to ROSES, HST grants
• SMD Broker, Western Region
• PD for Alien Earths exhibit
• Astrobiology Summer Science Experience for
  Teachers w/ SFSU, Cal Academy, NASA
• NSF REU astrobiology

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Kepler E/PO profile
Research Experiences Kepler-Net
-undergraduatesHands On Universe -high
school/college Curriculum -Space Science
Sequence -Space Place Website
lessonsinformationactivities...announcements.da
ta access
Science Center Exhibit - Alien
Earths Planetarium Programs - interactive/small
group - large dome show Public Talks -
scientists - engineers - educators
Public Outreach - broadcast programming -
StarDate radio - Are We Alone? radio Night
Sky Network - amateur astronomers Public Events
Formal education
Public Outreach
Program Duration 2003 - 2012
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E/PO Program Strengths

• Focus on general scientific literacy for the
  public, teachers and students (K-14), aka, the
  pipeline
• SMD E/PO Programs are embedded in science
  missions and scientific research environments
• Teachers students engaged in research programs
• Synergistic activities in formal and informal
  education
• Direct involvement of research scientists,
  engineers, technologists mission staff real
  people doing real work
• Leveraged partnerships to achieve best outcomes
  universities, non-profits, science centers,
  schools, media producers, and other NASA
  Missions/Research Programs
• Collaboration fostered and sustained by SSD Forum
• Attentive to national standards (STEM)
• Current exciting scientific research, exploration
  and discovery to motivate and inspire students
  and the public

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Challenges in SMD E/PO

• Generating the value proposition within NASA for
  E/PO, i.e., E/PO as a central activity, not an
  add-on to research missions
• Communicating NASAs complex scientific
  activities effectively relevant, engaging, at an
  appropriate level
• Crossing cultures NASAs STEM professionals and
  K-12 educators competitive vs. collaborative, a
  good lesson
• Gaining a foothold in formal K-12 education in
  our national era of No Child Left Behind
• Changeable NASA requirements guidelines,
  frameworks, reporting requirements, strategic
  plans redirect E/PO activities
• Funding instabilities, even in long-term
  programs, e.g. SOFIA, Kepler, NAI (in contrast to
  NSF funded projects)
• Protecting E/PO funding from becoming another
  reserve

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Lessons Learned/Evidence

• Flight Opportunities for Science Teacher
  Enrichment (FOSTER) 1992-1995 (two reports, 1995,
  2004)- training and engaging teachers in NASA
  scientific research missions has long-term
  impact- enhanced classroom practice- new
  courses, science clubs, science fair
  competitions- professional advancement Dept.
  Chair, Principals, State Science Coordinator,
  manager of teachers in Antarctic, director of
  RAFT - retained sustained science teachers in
  teaching careers
• Spitzer Teachers (Mercury article, private
  communication)- teachers gained research
  experience- HS students conducted research with
  Spitzer Space Telescope- science posters at AAS
  2005, 2006- requires significant content and
  skills training for teachers- prior experience
  in HOU valuable

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Lessons Learned/Evidence

• Astrobiology Summer Science Experience for
  Teachers (ASSET) NAI funded 2004-2008- 22 HS
  science teachers per summer- course credit via
  SFSU- implement Voyages through Time
  curriculum at home school, an inquiry
  standards based program- conduct professional
  development activities for others - highly
  positive formative evaluation (4.5 on scale of
  5)- on-going community across nation
• The Invisible Universe Online highly successful
  course as per evals.- SOFIA/Spitzer E/PO team
  work with Montana State University at Bozeman
  to develop and evaluate the course (2001-02)-
  offered as part of online masters in science
  education for teachers- part of NSTAs Teacher
  Education Network- taught every semester since
  (2002 to present)- Astronomy Education Review
  two papers by Keller and Slater

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Lessons Learned/Evidence

• Night Sky Network amateur astronomers as
  outreach professionals- more than 220 clubs in 2
  years, all states- more than 5,000 events,
  reaching 423,000 people, many at schools-
  provided training, kits developed by ASP
  (formative evaluation)- required to report
  activities to obtain kits- teleconference events
  for participants- evaluation report provided to
  you
• Advanced Strategies for Creating a
  Learner-Centered Introductory College Astronomy
  Course (with an astrobiology strand)- presented
  by Timothy Slater, Edward Prather, and Gina
  Brissenden (University of Arizona). It is
  cosponsored by the National Science
  Foundations Chautauqua Summer Program, and is
  being held in conjunction with Bioastronomy
  2007.- majority of K-8 teachers take science at
  community colleges this course aims to enhance
  general education astronomy/astrobiology
  instruction
• EM Spectrum Poster Origins Forum collaboration
  (STScI)- science standards grades 6-8 9-12-
  60,000 distributed to teachers via NSTA, AAPT,
  IPS magazines with articles- highly popular at
  science teacher conferences reprinted 2006-
  based upon evaluated lessons from SETI Institute,
  Spitzer, LHS at UC Berkeley

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• E/PO shares --NASAs peopleNASAs
  discoveriesNASAs explorationNASAs
  technologies
• E/PO communicates NASAs achievements to all of
  the public teachers, students, families and
  individuals
• E/PO is NASAs dividend to the taxpayer

ASSET inquiry field experience, 2006