Space Science in American Classrooms: The ...

5 downloads 8556 Views 187KB Size Report
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, 32746. We report ... techniques, and lesson plans are propagated to other teachers and schools.
1st Space Exploration Conference: Continuing the Voyage of Discovery 30 January - 1 February 2005, Orlando, Florida

AIAA 2005-2718

Space Science in the American Classrooms: the Teachspace Experience James Wanliss*, Rodney Piercey†, Joseph Mosca‡, and Christina Fredrick§ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, 32746

We report on the first year activities of TeachSpace, a NASA funded program to train and support high school teachers in integrating space exploration and human spaceflight topics into existing math, science and technology curricula. In response to our announcement, we received over 100 nominations for the two workshops conducted at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in July 2004. An independent committee selected 44 awardees. Of these, 37 attended and completed one of the two workshops. The program consisted of twelve, content-rich, interactive sessions developed by “Teaching Science and Technology Inc., (TSTI), a TeachSpace founding partner. Fully developed lesson plans were examined, hands-on exercises were provided, and low-cost/no-cost, space-related demonstrations were explored. The teachers were provided a set of materials to aid in the design and integration of lesson plans. A website and a Blackboard-based on-line classroom were established into which participants were enrolled. The first stage in program assessment, an exit survey, was administered and analyzed. By every measure, the first-year TeachSpace activities have been a great success. Follow-up assessment tools have been developed to determine the degree to which the material ends up in the classroom. A leadteacher, mentoring program has been initiated to insure that the TeachSpace skills, techniques, and lesson plans are propagated to other teachers and schools. The second year activities are being planned and longitudinal assessment is underway.

I.

Introduction

T

HE basic TeachSpace concept is to use existing science, math, and technology curricula as a forum to introduce U.S. high school students to the excitement of space exploration and human spaceflight; and to use the thrill of space exploration and human spaceflight to motivate high school students to study science, math and technology. In order to accomplish these fundamental goals we have designed the TeachSpace program to motivate, train and equip a core group of highly talented high school math, science and technology teachers to teach the basics of space exploration in their existing classes using lesson plans and demonstration modules provided in summer TeachSpace workshops. TeachSpace participants are selected for their teaching abilities and for their potential to return to their school districts and help Figure 1. NASA's space shuttle preparing to leave Earth's other teachers apply the TeachSpace materials and atmosphere. techniques. *

Assistant Professor, Physical Sciences Department, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, Florida, 32746. Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, Florida, 32746. ‡ Assistant Professor, Physical Sciences Department, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, Florida, 32746. § Assistant Provost, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, Florida, 32746. †

1 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Copyright © 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.

Teachers were selected for the program through a nomination and screening process. All nominees needed to have the endorsement of their principal (or other appropriate administrator) to be considered for the program. Program participants were trained to incorporate human spaceflight content into the SMET curricula of their schools and were charged with training at least two additional teachers in their school or community. After our phase III assessment, all participants are granted 1 hour of graduate academic credit from ERAU. With our teachers-teachingteachers (T3) approach, and with on-going ERAU support, the program is designed to reach 6000 - 8000 teachers over a five-year period with the result that 500,000 to 1,000,000 high school students will be exposed to the excitement of space exploration and human spaceflight. Over the next 4 years, we plan to deliver the program nation-wide through ERAU’s Extended Campus. In this paper we will briefly discuss the initiation of this project, results from the first year workshops, and our plans for succeeding years. Section II deals with the origins of TeachSpace, Section III with the results of the first year, and Section IV with our conclusions including future plans.

II.

The Origins of Teachspace

NASA has always been on the forefront of space exploration and education. The recognition of our increasing vulnerability to space related disturbances resulted in the initiation of NASA's Living with a Star program (LWS) with the goal of understanding the complex solar-terrestrial interaction on our space exploration activities. NASA leadership was further highlighted through the development in recent years of the interagency National Space Weather Program (NSWP). Both of these programs have stressed the shortage of scientific and technically trained U.S. citizens and thus the critical need to train U.S. citizens in these and related fields. Recent developments in the human spaceflight arena combined with a joint, ever-present concern over the education of our young, talented high school students in the U.S. prompted a team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) and Teaching Science and Technology, Inc. (TSTI) to submit a proposal to NASA in 2003. The proposal was funded for 2004 and our new program was dubbed TeachSpace. For many years NASA and the space community in general has tried to integrate space-related topics into the high school classroom, with limited success. Some summer programs take high school teachers out of the equation and try to attract high school students so they can be taught key space concepts. Upon inspection of the situation and deep discussions with high school teachers from various high schools around the country, we have created an opportunity to help high school teachers integrate human spaceflight-related concepts into their curriculum easily, with a minimum amount of effort. The ultimate goal for the TeachSpace Program is to foster a self-sustaining movement to teach human spaceflight by cultivating the top teachers in school districts around the country and providing them with the necessary resources to conduct the program. Our goal is to maintain the program until sufficient momentum has been built up so that by the end of the 5 year program the interest in introducing human space flight content will result in proposals to modify and reform curricula. The idea is to first attract inspiring teachers, provide them with the appropriate in-class materials and training, and support them Figure 2. Astronauts performing extra vehicular activities with resources obtained from various organizations, outside of NASA's space shuttle. like the local state education departments or Space Grant Consortia.

III.

The Teachspace Program

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University attracted outstanding teachers from the state of Florida for the first workshops that were run in the summer of 2004 in Daytona Beach. As mentioned above, the teachers were selected for the program through a nomination and screening process that included the endorsement of their principal. In this manner we were able to recruit outstanding teachers with great potential. 2 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

The first year workshops provide the proof of the usefulness of the TeachSpace concept. We provided two workshops for different groups of high school teachers. Each group of participants consisted of about 20 high school teachers selected for their potential to influence students and peer teachers. In response to our announcement, we received over 100 nominations for the two workshops conducted at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in July 2004. An independent committee selected 44 awardees. Of these, 37 attended and completed one of the two workshops. The teachers were housed on the campus of ERAU and most of the activities took place on the campus. ERAU also provided meals for the participants. The 3-day Human Spaceflight Workshop’s were designed to give them the processes, tools and information necessary to integrate human spaceflight concepts in their respective curricula. The program consisted of twelve, content-rich, interactive sessions regarding space exploration and spaceflight. The participating teachers were taught to use the processes, lesson plans and activities provided in the Workshop to teach selected space related lessons in their math, science or physics courses. In addition, they may actually create a for-credit course at their high school. Advanced placement courses may be possible. We also provided opportunities to train the teacher-participants in mentoring of other teachers in incorporating human spaceflight concepts into their lesson plans. One of means to monitor progress is for teachers to report back to the program office on problems and progress within their schools. A website and a Blackboard-based on-line classroom were established into which participants were enrolled. The first stage in program assessment, an exit survey, was administered and analyzed. By every measure, the first-year TeachSpace activities have been a great success. Follow-up assessment tools have been developed to determine the degree to which the material ends up in the classroom. A lead-teacher, mentoring program has been initiated to insure that the TeachSpace skills, techniques, and lesson plans are propagated to other teachers and schools. The second year activities are being planned and longitudinal assessment is underway. Another aspect in which the Human Spaceflight Workshop is unique is that the participating teachers each received a copy of the text, Aerospace Science: People Exploring Space, which is based on two books titled, Understanding Space by Jerry Sellers, et al., and Human Spaceflight by Larson and Pranke (both published by McGraw-Hill) which have been tailored specifically for application in the high school classroom. This new text is especially written for the high school arena, by a team of seasoned authors from Teaching Science and Technology, Inc. (TSTI). Understanding Space and Human Spaceflight were both sponsored, in part, by the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) organization at NASA Headquarters, and represent an incredible investment of over $500,000 and six years effort by a joint NASA, DOD and industry team of 82 authors. The results of these investments have been integrated into the new Aerospace Science: People Exploring Space for the sole purpose of helping high school teachers motivate and educate young high students. Teachers also received a complete set of instructor materials including 50-minute lecture plans, complete sets of slides for each lesson, as well as a set of questions and solutions for use with students in classroom environments. In addition the participating teachers received a recommended set of activities and associated props to facilitate a healthy and active classroom. A CD-rom that includes videos, figures and simulations demonstrating key concepts was provided along with access to a continuously-updated web site with additional projects, activities and information for their use. On the first day of each workshop the teachers were given a special tour of NASA's Kennedy Spaceflight Center which set the stage for the lectures that they would receive on the following days. The majority of the next two days involved intense immersion into different aspects of space exploration and spaceflight. Lectures and hands-on activities ran from 8 am in the morning till the middle of the afternoon. On each of two evenings the participants engaged in entertaining activities such as a GPS treasure hunt and a model rocket build and launch session. Expert teachers from TSTI presented the daytime materials and a team from ERAU conducted all evening activities during the workshop. All activities and materials were focused on the primary objectives—make it easy for high school teachers to excite and motivate talented students to learn about human spaceflight and remain active in physics, science, engineering and math. We believe that the most efficient approach for motivating high school students to study math, science, engineering and physics is to provide daily, continuous interaction between students and inspiring teachers that are excited about space!

IV.

Conclusions and Future Plans

In July 2004 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, one of the nation’s top aerospace universities, located in Daytona, Beach, Florida provided the administration, facilities and community infrastructure to attract, house, feed and provide general care of teachers participating in the NASA funded TeachSpace program. The ultimate goal for the program is to foster a self-sustaining movement to teach human spaceflight by cultivating the top teachers in 3 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

school districts around the country and providing them with the necessary resources to conduct the program. By the end of the 5 year program, we expect the interest in introducing human spaceflight content to result in proposals to modify and reform curricula. The idea is to first attract inspiring teachers, provide them with the appropriate in-class materials and training, and support them with resources obtained from various organizations. The first workshops were held in Florida, but in 2005 we plan to extend these workshops to the states of Florida and Arizona. In future years we hope to expand the program to more states. As part of our ongoing monitoring of the success of the program ERAU will foster the necessary communications to keep the growing numbers of program alumni in touch and motivated. Ongoing support is provided for the teachers through the TeachSpace website, and also allows us to maintain contact with the program alumni to assess program quality. Beyond the peer-mentoring activities, the alumni will be encouraged to further share their capabilities with other teachers in their high schools in their cities. This activity will amplify the impact of the program beyond the program participants and their students. ERAU is uniquely located to make this kind of national program a success. The university has residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida and Prescott, Arizona as well as a worldwide extended campus. Figure 3 shows the map indicating U.S. locations where ERAU has significant presence. We will be able to attract the appropriate teachers from various parts of the country using this vast network of extended campuses and contacts in communities around the United States. In future years we also have plans that the entire session will be professionally recorded in digital video format. Each participant will receive this “how-to” video as part of his or her teacher package. In conclusion, we have a dream that in several years time participant groups will gather at appropriate locations around the U.S. during summer break and participate in a 3-day Human Spaceflight Workshop that is designed to give them the processes, tools and information necessary to integrate human spaceflight Figure 3. Locations of ERAU campuses and learning concepts in their respective curricula. These teachers centers across the U.S. will fan out across the country and impart a growing excitement and knowledge to their students.

Acknowledgments The TeachSpace program is funded by NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space High School Teacher Program. The authors are grateful to provost J. Johnson for providing additional funding and facilities at the ERAU Daytona Beach campus.

4 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics