Teachers leave NASA program with new skills

This year's crop of K-12 students have 22 new reasons to get excited about space exploration. Twenty-two award-winning teachers have attended NASA's newly created Airspace Systems Education Cohort (ASEC) and will impart their newly gained scientific knowledge scientific on fields from electrical engineering to complex aeronautics, reports eSchool News.

The professional development workshop held July 19-22 at the NASA Ames Research Center near San Jose, Calif. was designed to train teachers to engage students in scientific inquiry at the leading edge of education and technology. The program is currently in its second year.

"After attending tours, lectures, and workshops at the ASEC Summer Institute, the 20 teachers [returned] to their educational communities to train others in the use of NASA-developed classroom materials," said Liza Coe of the Education Division at NASA Ames.

The workshop includes interaction with program scientists, engineers, and associated educational programming in airspace systems and aeronautics. The teachers also learned the basics of aeronautics, toured NASA aeronautics facilities, and held discussions with NASA scientists and engineers. "[We] try to help them establish a relationship that continues past the actual event," Coe explained. Teachers have year-long access to NASA educator guides, stickers, posters, and CD-ROMs for classroom and workshop distribution.

Some of these multimedia guides can be found online at www.quest.nasa.gov

"The teachers selected for the program have an impressive array of skills, interests, and backgrounds that will serve NASA well as they return to their districts," Coe said. In addition to their own students, the teachers will strive to inform 75 of their colleagues about the new NASA research and educational technology."