Space Day - Pulaski County, IN

NASA Education Initiative

• Barbara Morgan poster - explains how to become involved in NASA's standards-based education initiative for K-12
• Plant Growth Chamber Design Challenge - a year-long standards-based project for K-12 which is integrated with the STS-118 mission
• STS-118 website - information on the Shuttle Transportation System (STS) Mission 118, which involves Barbara Morgan, the first of NASA's Teacher Astronaut Corps
• STS-120 website - information on the STS Mission 120, which carries our Signatures
• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - information on the LRO mission, which carries the name database for the "Send Your Name to the Moon" project
• NASA Science - for teachers and students, information about the science behind NASA's missions
• NASA JSC education website - includes instructions for requesting astronaut speakers in schools
• NASA's education website - this is the main entry point for NASA's standards-based education initiative
• NASA For Educators - this is a main entry point for educators in general interested in NASA initiatives
• NASA Digital Learning Network - this is the main entry point for NASA's DLN, including teacher development materials
• NASA Television - this the main entry point for NASA's web-based video broadcasts
• Exploring the Moon Educator's Guide - over 150 pages of standards-based projects
• NASA Quest - many projects for students in K-12
• NASA Astronomy 2009 - international year of astronomy 2009
• NASA Central Operations of Resources for Educators (CORE) - materials available for little or no cost for educators (includes materials such as the Field Trip to the Moon DVD and educator guides)
• Space Camp - a wide variety of programs for students, educators, and adults

The United Nations and the World Space Week Initiative

World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology and its contribution to bettering the human condition.  The United Nations General Assembly declared

in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from 4-10 October. These events commemorate two historical events:

1. October 4, 1957 - the lanuch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1
2. October 10, 1967 - the signing of the Treaty on the Principles of Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

World Space Week is open to all govenment agencies, industry, non-profit organizations, schools, teachers, and individuals who are interested in organizing events in celebration of the world space programs and their accomplishments.  Activities are coordinated by the United Nations in collaboration with the World Space Week Association.  Groups from 50 countries are currently involved.

The benefits of World Space Week include, but are not limited to:

• Educating people around the world about the benefits they receive from the various space programs
• Encouraging greater use of space-oriented technology for sustainable economic development
• Demonstrating public support for space programs
• Exciting children about learning and their future
• Promoting institutions around the world that are involved in space programs
• Fostering international coorporation in space outreach and education

This event is ideal for teachers to foster student interest in science and math.  Click here for an activity guide for teachers.  To encourage participation, the World Space Week Association gives various awards each year.

The following organizations are backing the World Space Week initiative, at a minimum:

• United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
• United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
• World Space Week Association

Microsoft Activities and Resources - Includes Local Partners

• Channel 8 - Microsoft global student club (includes Microsoft DreamSpark - a program offering free software for students)
• Channel 9 - Microsoft insider site for professional/serious developers
• Channel 10 - Microsoft insider site for enthusiasts
• Imagine Cup - Microsoft's annual global competition for high school and college students
• DigiGirlz - free summer camps for girls age 9-12
• School of the Future - free teaching materials created by the School of the Future project in Philadelphia (the School of the Future Discovery Kit is now available for a minor cost)
• Microsoft in Education - home page for educators interested in incorporating Microsoft technologies into the classroom
• Visual Studio Express - free, lightweight, easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn tools for the hobbyist, novice, and student; supports software development under Windows, on the web, for games, for databases, and for embedded hardware
• Microsoft Robotics - support for education in robotics, including a Robot Developer's Studio (similar in concept to Visual Studio)
• Microsoft Patterns and Practices - Microsoft's proven recommendations based on real-world experiences for how to design, develop, deploy, and operate architecturally sound applications for the Microsoft client, server, web, and mobile platforms
• Microsoft Developer's Network and Library - the principal resource of software developers for the Microsoft client, server, web, and mobile platforms
• Microsoft Academic Alliance - a program to put professional development software in schools and universities
• Microsoft Live@EDU - a free communication system for schools and universities 
• The Learning Federation - established by Congress with multiple technology sponsors, including Microsoft
• Microsoft Certified Partner - AdaptaSoft in Francesville, IN
• Microsoft Certified Partner - New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Indianapolis, IN
• Indianapolis Website:  http://www.nhindy.com
• International Website:  http://www.newhorizons.com
• Indianapolis Contact (for Questions and to arranged Mentored Learning courses):  Anne Ridgway (mailto:aridgway@nhindy.com), 11611 N Meridian Suite 200, Carmel, IN 46032, 317-575-7612

Click the Image Above to Go to the Imagine Cup website

Microsoft Academic Alliance and Online Store

Overview

• The Microsoft Academic Alliance, which is already in place at over 4,000 universities in the United States and several hundred high schools, gives students and teachers access to a vast array of software products from Microsoft at little to no cost.
• This software, which includes versions of Windows XP and Vista as well as Office products such as OneNote 2007, Visio 2007, and Project 2007, may be installed on computers at the schools as well as at home so long as it is used for educational purposes.
• The Microsoft® Developer Network (MSDN®) is the premier resource for developers and users of applications on the Microsoft Windows® platform and products. The goal of MSDN is to provide the development and user community with the latest tools and information to enable the rapid creation of innovative new applications. The MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) is a special program to provide academic institutions, faculty, and students with leading-edge tools at a very low cost. The MSDNAA, which has ties to the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program of the National Science Foundation, includes a comprehensive package of resources useful in helping to create the next generation of software developers and users.
• Interested students, teachers, and community leaders should contact spacedaywin@fccwin.org to obtain access to the online store customized for Space Day in Pulaski County.  Find out more about the MSDN AA at http://www.msdnaa.net .

ExxonMobil Support for STEM

“Increasing student proficiency in math and science is essential," said Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. "Experts predict more than 80 percent of jobs in the next decade will require these skills. Through the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps[ and the Michelson ExxonMobil Teacher Academy], our company is taking positive steps to meet the demands of the future for the benefit of our nation and students, we are proud to support Dr. Harris[ and Mr. Michelson] in this endeavor.”

Studies have shown that the United States will face a critical shortage of engineers, scientists and other technically trained workers in the near future. To help address the nation’s math and science crisis, ExxonMobil is committed to supporting programs and organizations that focus on improving math and science education from pre-school through higher education. The Company supports programs to increase the numbers of newly-graduating highly effective science and math teachers, provide professional development and training opportunities for teachers, and attract bright, talented students to pursue science and math-related disciplines in middle school, high school and college.

Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps

Former astronaut Bernard Harris, NASA, and the ExxonMobil Foundation have announced the 23 university campus locations that will host the 2008 ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps this June through August. The two-week residential camps, which are expected to reach more than 1,200 middle school students, offer innovative programs to enhance their knowledge in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), while encouraging youth to stay in school and fostering leadership and citizenship. With the exception of the University of Houston and the University of New Orleans, which will host two camps, each university will host one camp for a combined total of 25 camps.

Michelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy

The Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy is a cool summer camp just for teachers! At the Academy, teachers do lots of fun math and science experiments to share with you in the classroom. The experiments seem like games, but really they help everyone learn about math and science!

The Academy was started by pro golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy. They worked with ExxonMobil to create a special learning environment for teachers.

They are joined by math and science experts from the National Science Teachers Association and Math Solutions who teach the teachers at the Academy. They come up with fun ways to learn math and science while playing with balloons, rocket cars and marbles. Anything is possible in math and science!

Team America Rocketry Challenge

Overview

• This event is an annual nataion-wide rocketry-based aerospace design and flying challenge competition for student teams of 7th-12th graders.  It is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) on behalf of America's aerospace industry and the National Association of Rocketry (NAR).
• Thousands of students compete each year in the Challenge, the world's largest model rocket contest.  Your school can compete against other schools and organizations from across the country for its share of the prizes!
• It is conducted during each school year starting in September, leading to a competitive face-to-face fly-off for the final prizes among the top 100 teams nationally.  The fly-off is held in late May at The Plains, VA, near Washington, DC.

Purpose

• The purpose of the Challenge is to teach students aerospace science by having them dessign and build a safe and stable model rocket that lifts a fragil payload to a given altitude for a given duration and return this payload safely and undamaged.
• Models must be made of non-metal materials such as balsa, paper, and plastic, must weigh no more than a few pounds at lift-off, and must use commercially-made, NAR safety-certified model rocket motors widely available at local hobby stores.
• Altitudes are determined by a small, accurate commercially-made electronic barometric altimeter carried within the rocket and read after the flight.

Click on Image to Visit Website

New Tech High

New Tech High educational model is a revolutionary, project-based approach endorsed by Governor Mitch Daniels and other Indiana state leaders as well as many leaders in the national educational initiatives.  It is currently in pilot implementation at Rochester High School in Rochester, IN.  For more information, visit:

• New Tech Foundation - heart of the national effort
• Rochester New Tech High - introduction to the initiatve at Rochester, IN
• Rochester Sentinel New Tech webpage - article collection from the Rochester Sentinel
• Indiana Education Technology Council - A digital-age learning plan for Indiana

FIRST and Other Robotics Opportunities

FIRST was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, NH, the 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit public charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.  The vision of FIRST is "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes."  Some of the activities of FIRST include the FIRST Robotics Competition, the FIRST Tech Challenge, the FIRST LEGO League, and FIRST Place.

Microsoft has released the Robotics Developers Studio for students and professionals. This robot development tool is similar in nature to its highly-successful Visual Studio and Expression Studio development tools, except, of course, that its domain is that of creating robots.  To find out more visit http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/robotics/.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology often includes robotics projects in its summer program for high school students, Operation Catapult: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/catapult/.

Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development and Ivy Tech have hosted teacher training workshops on robot construction in the past: http://www.wsbt.com/news/8814657.html.

Several local high schools and middle schools already have programs involving robotics. Some of them from the WSBT 22 website (article and video) are:
• Benton Harbor - http://www.wsbt.com/home/video/17365419.html
• Clay, Adams, Washington, and Riley High Schools as well as LaSalle Academy - http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/16977481.html (final tournaments at the University of Illinois in Chicago and Purdue)
• Memorial High School - http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/11536401.html  (tournament at IU/PU Fort Wayne)

Alice

Alice is a modern programming environment designed to be a student's first exposure to object-oriented programming.  It allows students to learn basic computer science while creating animated movies - simple video games - where students control the behavior of 3D objects and characters in a virtual world.

You do not need to be a programmer to use Alice.  The interface is designed to provide an easy, intuitive user experience for novice, experienced, and non-programmers alike.

In short:

• Learning to program a computer using conventional programming languages is hard
• Alice makes learning to program easier, and it's fun!
• Alice makes programming more accessible to girls as well as boys, being designed to address the specific needs of middle school girls.

Alice was created by the Stage 3 Research Group at Carnegie Mellon University.  Alice and the Stage 3 Research Group are sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Intel Corporation, Microsoft Research, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, Chevron, PIXAR Animation Studios, Electronic Arts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, and others.

KPL - Kid's Programming Language

KPL makes it easy for kids to learn computer programming.  Somewhat more sophisticated than Alice, KPL is closer to a conventional, text-based language backed by an extensive library of routines that take most of the work out of writing programs.  KPL makes it fun, too, by making it especially easy to program computer games, with cool graphics and sound.

KPL is not just for games - it can be used for teaching many different subjects.  KPL's emphasis on games is based on the belief that learning is best when learning is fun.  KPL's success around the world - which is substantial but still just getting started - is proof that this approach works.  Some of the KPL educational program examples teach algebra, spelling, and vocabulary.  One of the examples even encourages interest in Shakespeare in a fun way.

KPL is a freeware educational program developed by Morrison Schwartz, a software development and consulting company.  KPL is also a growing community of teachers, students, and parents from around the world who are learning and programming using KPL.

Example of a KPL Coding Screen

Space Day in Pulaski County

The Space Day in Pulaski County initiative offers local support for those people interested in utilizing the other resources listed above as well as the following:

• Coordination for the county-wide Signatures in Space activity
• Space Day in Pulaski County DVDs - available in the county libraries (see Goodies web page)
• Technical Insider Talks
• Insider news from Microsoft and Lockheed Martin, including event information
• Support for the Rocketry Teams
• Space Shuttle Exposure Experience (for nursery school and day care children)