NASA Education Express Message — June 9, 2016
New This Week!
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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center “NASA in the Park” Event
Audience: All Educators and Students
Event Date: June 18, 2015, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. CDT
Live Broadcast of Space Launch System Booster Test Firing
Audience: All Educators and Students
Event Date: June 28, 2016, at 10:05 a.m. EDT
Access NASA Data to Analyze Astronaut Radiation Exposure in Space
Audience: Educators and Students, Ages 14 to 18
Entry Deadline: Dec. 3, 2016
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PREVIOUSLY PROMOTED OPPORTUNITIES…
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Free NASA Educator Professional Development Webinars
Audience: In-service, Pre-service, Home School and Informal Educators
Next Event Date: June 9, 2016, at 6 p.m. EDT
Smithsonian TechQuest: Astronaut Academy
Audience: Designed for Families With Children Ages 10 to 14, but Open to All
Next Event Date: June 10, 2016, 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT
Arizona State University Mars Education Symposium and Field Trip — NASA’s Search for Habitable Environments: Instilling Curiosity Into Student Learning
Audience: Informal and Formal Educators of Grades 5-Higher Education
Application Deadline: June 10, 2016
Symposium Dates: June 20-24, 2016
Free Tours of Facilities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center
Audience: All Educators and Students
Next Event Date: June 11, 2016
GLOBE El Niño Field Campaign and Webinar Series
Audience: K-12 Educators
Next Webinar Date: June 13, 2016, at 8 p.m. EDT
Call for Proposals: Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2)
Audience: Universities and Nonprofit Organizations
Proposal Deadline: June 15, 2016
2016 von Kármán Lecture Series — Attend in Person or View Online
Audience: All Educators; Students in Grades 9-12 and Higher Education
Next Lecture Date: June 16, 2016, at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT)
Student Spaceflight Experiments Program — Mission 11 to the International Space Station
Audience: School Districts Serving Grades 5-12, Informal Education Institutions, Colleges and Universities
Inquiry Deadline: June 17, 2016
Attention Kid Scientists! — The President Wants Your Ideas on Science and Technology
Audience: K-12 Students
Submission Deadline: June 17, 2016
Call for Proposals — 2016 NASA Education Aeronautics Scholarship and Advanced STEM Training and Research (AS&ASTAR) Fellowship
Audience: First-year Master’s or Doctoral Students
Proposal Deadline: June 17, 2016
Space Shuttle Thermal Protective Tiles and Blankets Available for Educational Use
Audience: Educational Institutions, Museums and Other Education Organizations
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowships
Audience: Graduate Students and Ph.D. Scientists
Next Application Deadline: July 1, 2016
National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers
Audience: Organizations Interested in Implementing Pre-K-12 STEM Education Programs
Full Proposal Deadline: Aug. 10, 2016
National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program
Audience: Organizations Interested in Advancing STEM Learning in Informal Environments
Full Proposal Deadline: Nov. 8, 2016
Call for Submissions — NASA Announcement for High Impact / Broad Implementation STEM Education Partnerships (EDUCATION01SP16)
Audience: Education Institutions and Organizations
Applications Accepted on a Rolling Basis Through Dec. 31, 2017
‘ISS: Science on Orbit’ Exhibit at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
Audience: All Educators and Students
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Don’t miss out on upcoming NASA education opportunities.
For a full list of events, opportunities and more, visit the Educator and Student Current Opportunity pages on NASA’s website:
— Educators http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/current-opps-index.html
— Students http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/current-opps-index.html
Are you looking for NASA educational materials to support your STEM curriculum?
Search hundreds of resources by subject, grade level, type and keyword at http://www.nasa.gov/education/resources/.
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NEW THIS WEEK!
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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center “NASA in the Park” Event
Join NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the “NASA in the Park” event! This open-house-style event will take place at Big Spring Park East in downtown Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday, June 18, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT.
Throughout the day, Marshall researchers, scientists and other team members will present short talks about their work. Bands featuring Marshall musicians will perform, and visitors can have their picture taken in a spacesuit. The Marshall Exchange shop will have science-related kids’ games for sale, as well as caps, T-shirts, tote bags, space shuttle mission coins and other NASA-logo merchandise. There will be many educational activities for children and adults alike.
For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2016/16-065.html.
If you have questions about the NASA in the Park event, please email your inquiries to Dan Moulton at daniel.f.moulton@nasa.gov.
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Live Broadcast of Space Launch System Booster Test Firing
Did you know that NASA is building the largest solid propellant rocket booster in the world? NASA will test a full-scale, test version of the booster, designated Qualification Motor-2, or QM-2, on June 28, 2016, at the Orbital ATK test facility in Promontory, Utah. The test is scheduled for 10:05 a.m. EDT.
QM-2 is a five-segment solid propellant booster that will help power the Space Launch System, or SLS. The two-minute, full-duration static test is a huge milestone for the SLS Program and will measure the booster’s performance at a cold motor conditioning target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit — the colder end of its accepted propellant temperature range.
The solid rocket boosters — measuring 177 feet long and producing 3.6 million pounds of thrust — operate in parallel with the main engines for the first two minutes of flight. The boosters provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the launch vehicle to escape the gravitational pull of Earth.
SLS is an advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power the world’s most powerful rocket, with the Orion spacecraft atop, to achieve human exploration to deep-space destinations, including our journey to Mars.
The test will be streamed at http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv and broadcast on NASA TV. Please make plans to watch with your students and colleagues.
To learn more about the Space Launch System, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/.
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Access NASA Data to Analyze Astronaut Radiation Exposure in Space
Imagine what it would be like to live in space. What kind of shelter would you live in? What kind of protection would you have from the elements? How long could you stay there?
On Earth, humans are protected from radiation by the atmosphere and Earth’s magnetic field. Astronauts on the space station are above the atmosphere and receive a higher dose of radiation than when they are on the ground. The harmful effects of radiation that come from the sun and other sources outside the solar system pose danger to humans living and working in space.
Radiation is one of the top concerns for humans living in deep space for long durations. A NASA group called RadWorks is using radiation detectors the size of USB thumb drives to collect data inside the International Space Station. Together with the University of Houston and the Institute for Research in Schools, RadWorks is sharing the data with high school students who are helping to analyze the radiation that astronaut Tim Peake is exposed to during his time aboard the International Space Station.
NASA is making this same data available to teachers and students through the TimPix project administered by the Institute for Research in Schools, with funding from the European Space Agency and the United Kingdom Space Agency. During European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake’s time aboard the station, data is taken many times a minute while in orbit. A variety of data sets are currently available, and others are being added as the mission progresses. Aimed at high school physics classes, the TimPix project allows students ages 14-18 to access and analyze radiation data during Peake’s mission. They are able to take part in authentic research occurring aboard the station. What type of radiation is present? What impact do different altitudes or locations around the world have on the number and types of particles detected? What happens during a solar flare? Join us in helping NASA answer these questions!
For more information about NASA’s Radworks project, visit http://techport.nasa.gov/view/10581.
For more information or to register for the TimPix project, email timpix@researchinschools.org.
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PREVIOUSLY PROMOTED OPPORTUNITIES…
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Free Education Webinars From NASA Educator Professional Development
The NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University is presenting a series of free webinars open to all educators. Join NASA education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources that bring NASA into your classroom. Registration is required to participate. To register, simply click on the link provided beneath the webinar description.
Planetary Missions — NASA, We’re Out There: Is There Any Life Out There? Extremophiles
Audience: Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades 6-12
Event Date: June 9, 2016, at 6 p.m. EDT
Students come to class filled with questions about life on other worlds. They have seen fantastic scenarios presented on television and in films; they have read and heard about exploring and the expansion of human presence in the solar system; they have followed the drama of space missions involving astronauts and robots. The answers to the questions that arise out of these experiences are often complex and multidimensional. How can teachers meaningfully address such questions? Register online to participate. https://www.etouches.com/137580
Space Launch System QM-2 Test Question-and-Answer Session
Audience: Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades K-12
Event Date: June 16, 2016, at 4:30 p.m. EDT
Participants in this webinar will get an overview of the solid rocket boosters for the Space Launch System and the QM-2 (Qualification Motor-2) test firing scheduled for June 28, 2016. A question-and-answer session with an expert about the SLS and its boosters will be an integral part of this experience. Register online to participate. https://www.etouches.com/181163
Planetary Missions — NASA, We’re Out There: Modeling Our Solar System
Audience: Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades 5-8
Event Date: June 16, 2016, at 6 p.m. EDT
Explore our solar system with NASA STEM activities and missions. This webinar will investigate classifying, graphing and scale models to help participants better understand and visualize our sun, planets, asteroids and other objects as a true system. Register online to participate. https://www.etouches.com/181689
For a full schedule of upcoming webinars, visit http://www.txstate-epdc.net/events/.
Please direct questions about this series of webinars to Steve Culivan at stephen.p.culivan@nasa.gov.
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Smithsonian TechQuest: Astronaut Academy
Smithsonian TechQuest: Astronaut Academy, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, is a free alternate-reality game that will challenge you to become an astronaut-in-training for a future trip to Mars. Choose what role you will play on the mission; engage in fun interactive activities; and explore the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills you will need as a next-generation space traveler. Along the way, you’ll learn about some of the museum’s fascinating artifacts.
Instructions and guidance are given via a special webpage accessed on your mobile device. Players should bring their own phones or devices equipped with an internet browser and a camera. Having a digital picture-taking device (smartphone, tablet, camera) is highly recommended but not required.
The game is aimed at upper elementary and middle school visitors and their families. Do you want to bring a group? Reservations are required for groups larger than 15.
The next offering of the Astronaut Academy is on June 10, 2016. Begin your training with Astronaut Orientation in the Claude Moore Education Center Classroom 1 located on the first level across from the restrooms. Astronaut Orientation is offered at regular intervals between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The last opportunity to start the game is at 2:30 p.m. A self-guided activity, the game should take between 60 and 90 minutes, and staff will help you along the way.
For more information, including a full list of upcoming Astronaut Academy dates, visit http://airandspace.si.edu/events/techquest/.
Please direct questions about the Smithsonian TechQuest: Astronaut Academy to the visitor service line at 202-633-2214.
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Arizona State University Mars Education Symposium and Field Trip — NASA’s Search for Habitable Environments: Instilling Curiosity Into Student Learning
How do scientists search for habitable environments beyond Earth? What makes an environment habitable? Are the criteria for life the same or different beyond Earth? The science of astrobiology is at the forefront addressing these types of challenging questions, including “Where can life exist?”
Currently, NASA’s Curiosity Rover is exploring Gale Crater on Mars to investigate a site that has a very interesting history that could include habitability! Join the Mars rover scientists as they lead a five-day interdisciplinary, immersive educator field experience to explore areas on Earth similar to environments on Mars. Learn how to expand your students’ understanding of how biology, geology and chemistry are essential to this fascinating search for life elsewhere.
The symposium will take place June 20-24, 2016. Participants will start and finish at the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, Arizona. Participants will be responsible for transportation to and from Arizona State University, lodging, and meals. Transportation between campus and the field trip sites will be provided. Some hiking will be required to participate in this field experience.
Participants will be trained using Next-Generation Science Standards-designed/aligned lessons and will receive a certificate after completing 45 professional development hours.
Space is limited to 30 participants. Applications are due June 10, 2016.
For more information, visit http://marsed.asu.edu/Curiosity2016.
Questions about the symposium should be directed to Sheri Klug Boonstra at sklug@asu.edu or call 480-215-0410.
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Free Tours of Facilities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, is offering tours that take visitors behind the scenes and inside certain research facilities. Glenn scientists and engineers serve as guides. Tours and open house events will be held each month through October 2016. Tours are free for groups and individuals, but to guarantee admission, reservations are required. Visitor parking is also free.
On the days of the tours, a bus departs from Glenn’s main gate every hour, beginning at 10 a.m. The last tour departs at 1 p.m. Each tour lasts about 45 minutes and is followed by a stop at Glenn’s Gift Shop.
Glenn’s 2016 Tour Schedule
June 11-12, 2016 — Open House at NASA’s Plum Brook Station: NASA Glenn is opening the doors of Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, to the public for a weekend open house. Visitors will be able to tour the station’s world-class facilities and step inside the world’s largest vacuum chamber, which has tested parts of rockets, Mars landers and Orion hardware. Visitors also will be able to meet an astronaut and talk with engineers, scientists and technicians. Registration for this event is not required.
July 9, 2016: Radioisotope Power System, Systems Integration Laboratory: See how NASA emulates the electrical characteristics of a spacecraft system in the Radioisotope Power System, Systems Integration Laboratory. RPS is a source of electricity for NASA space missions from the surface of Mars to the realm of the outer planets.
Aug. 6, 2016 — See Things a Different Way: Check out Glenn’s Graphics and Visualization, or GVIS, and the Reconfigurable User-interface and Virtual Reality Exploration, or GRUVE, Laboratories. The GVIS lab uses advanced computer input and output devices paired with a variety of natural user interface devices and 3-D displays. The GRUVE lab is used to analyze data obtained either by computer simulation or from research test facilities.
Sept. 10, 2016 — Vibration Testing: Join us on a tour of Glenn’s Structural Dynamics Laboratory, where things get shaken to verify their survivability. Several experiments that currently are operating on the International Space Station were tested in this lab.
Oct. 1, 2016 — Prepare for Impact: Come explore Glenn’s Ballistic Impact Facility. See the laboratory that helped to identify the cause of the space shuttle Columbia accident and return NASA’s shuttle fleet to flight.
Tours are open to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. To guarantee admission, reservations are required. For more information on tours and how to make reservations, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/events/tours.html.
Please direct questions about the tours to Sheila Reese at sheila.d.reese@nasa.gov.
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GLOBE El Niño Field Campaign and Webinar Series
El Niño and La Niña are important phenomena that can impact the climate by causing global flooding and droughts as well as changes in seasonal weather. These interactions around the world are called teleconnections. Because of the importance of this issue, a GLOBE ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) Campaign has been formulated to engage students in determining where and how much El Niño affects local places and to put students in contact with their local environment.
To learn more about the campaign and how to participate, visit http://www.globe.gov/web/el-nino/el-nino-campaign.
To help educators prepare for the El Niño Campaign, GLOBE is hosting a series of free education webinars to discuss the mechanics of the campaign, give updates on data collection, and give participants the opportunity to learn science content from experts.
The hourlong webinars will take place on the following dates at 8 p.m. EDT.
June 13, 2016: Using El Niño GLOBE Data for Scientific Research
Sept. 19, 2016: El Niño Student Campaign Refresher and Update
For more information, including log-in instructions for the webinars and recordings of previous webinars in the series, visit http://www.globe.gov/web/el-nino/el-nino-campaign/webinars.
Please direct questions about this opportunity and series of webinars to http://www.globe.gov/support/contact.
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Call for Proposals: Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2)
NASA is soliciting proposals for the development of prototypes for deep space habitats that will give astronauts a place to call home during long-duration missions supporting the agency’s Journey to Mars.
The solicitation, Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2), is a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human spaceflight missions in the proving ground of space around the moon, known as cislunar space, and to enable transit to Mars. This partnership model enables NASA to obtain innovative concepts and support private industry commercialization plans for low-Earth orbit.
Eligible applicants from U.S. companies, universities and nonprofit organizations must submit proposals electronically by 5 p.m. EDT, June 15, 2016.
For more information about this solicitation, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nextstep.
Please submit questions about this opportunity to Jason Crusan at HQ-NextSTEP-BAA@mail.nasa.gov.
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2016 von Kármán Lecture Series — Attend in Person or View Online
The Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, named after the founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and presented by JPL’s Office of Communication and Education, shares the excitement of the space program’s missions, instruments and other technologies.
Lectures take place twice per month, on consecutive Thursdays and Fridays. The Thursday lectures take place in JPL’s Theodore von Kármán Auditorium, and Friday lectures take place at Pasadena City College’s Vosloh Forum. Both start at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT). Admission and parking are free for all lectures. No reservations are required, but seating is limited. The Thursday evening lectures are streamed live for viewing online. Archives of past lectures are also available online.
Next Lecture in the Series:
2015-2016 El Niño Winter and California Water
Event Date: June 16 and June 17, 2016, at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.php?year=2016&month=6
El Niño and La Niña refer to changes in the patterns of sea surface temperatures across the Equatorial Pacific Ocean west of Peru. These changes can significantly influence ocean conditions and weather patterns by creating extreme events from floods along the U.S. Pacific Coast to droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia. A panel of experts will be on hand to discuss NASA observations of groundwater and mountain snowpack in California over the past season and what these measurements might tell us of the future.
For more information about the Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, including a complete list of upcoming lectures, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures.php.
Questions about this series should be directed to http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/contact_JPL.php.
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Student Spaceflight Experiments Program — Mission 11 to the International Space Station
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, in partnership with NanoRacks LLC, announce a science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, opportunity for school districts across the U.S. and space station partner nations. The newest flight opportunity, Mission 11 to the International Space Station, gives students across a community the ability to design and propose real experiments to fly in low-Earth orbit on the space station. This opportunity is part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, or SSEP.
Each participating community will receive a real microgravity research mini-laboratory capable of supporting a single microgravity experiment and all launch services to fly the minilab to the space station in spring 2017 and return it to Earth. An experiment design competition in each community — engaging typically 300+ students — allows student teams to design and propose real experiments vying for their community′s reserved minilab.
Content resources for teachers and students support foundational instruction on science in microgravity and experimental design. Additional SSEP programming uses the experiment design competition to engage the community in embracing a learning-community model for STEM education.
This competition is open to students in grades 5-12 and college. Informal education groups and organizations also are encouraged to participate. Interested communities must inquire about the program no later than June 17, 2016. The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is available to help interested communities in the U.S. secure the needed funding.
To learn more about this opportunity, visit the SSEP Mission 11 to International Space Station National Announcement of Opportunity at http://ssep.ncesse.org/2016/03/new-flight-opportunity-for-school-districts-announcing-student-spaceflight-experiments-program-ssep-mission-11-to-the-international-space-station-starting-september-2016/.
SSEP is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks LLC working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the use of the International Space Station as a national laboratory. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (http://www.iss-casis.org/) is a national partner on SSEP. To view a list of all SSEP national partners, visit http://ssep.ncesse.org/national-partners/.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please email SSEP National Program Director Jeff Goldstein at jeffgoldstein@ncesse.org.
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Attention Kid Scientists! — The President Wants Your Ideas on Science and Technology
At the White House Science Fair in April, President Obama met nine-year-old inventor Jacob Leggette, who made a recommendation that the President should have a kid science advisor. The President loved the idea and wants to hear from kid scientists and innovators across the country about what can be done to help shape the future of science, discovery and exploration. Whether you care about tackling climate change, finding a cure to cancer, using technology to help make people’s lives better, or sending a human to Mars, President Obama can’t wait to get your input!
To share your ideas on important science, innovation and technology issues, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/19/attention-kid-scientists-president-wants-your-ideas-science-and-technology. Submissions are due June 17, 2016!
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Call for Proposals — 2016 NASA Education Aeronautics Scholarship and Advanced STEM Training and Research (AS&ASTAR) Fellowship
NASA Education is seeking proposals for a NASA Education Aeronautics Scholarship and Advanced STEM Training and Research, or AS&ASTAR, Fellowship opportunity. The NASA Education AS&ASTAR Fellowship provides funding for fellowship candidates to perform graduate research at their respective campuses during the academic year under the guidance of their faculty adviser and a NASA researcher.
To be eligible to submit a proposal, candidates must be U.S. citizens or naturalized citizens who hold a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field earned prior to Aug. 31, 2016. Candidates must be enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program no later than September 2016 and intend to pursue a research-based master’s or Ph.D. program in a NASA-relevant field.
Proposals are due June 17, 2016.
For full program details, visit https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId=%7b87B17E76-1FDD-A38A-6A69-050E4EB3C8A4%7d&path=open.
Questions concerning this program element may be directed to Elizabeth Cartier at elizabeth.a.cartier@nasa.gov.
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Space Shuttle Thermal Protective Tiles and Blankets Available for Educational Use
NASA invites U.S. educational institutions to request space shuttle thermal protective tiles, space shuttle thermal protective blankets, and other special items offered on a first-come, first-serve basis while quantities last. Organizations previously allocated thermal protective tiles may request an additional three tiles.
Nonprofit museums, libraries and planetariums (sponsored through their respective State Agency Surplus Property, or SASP, organization) are also eligible to make requests. Visit the link below for special instructions to request items. To find the contact information for the SASP representative for your area, visit http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/100851.
A nominal shipping fee must be paid online with a credit card. To make a request for special items online, visit http://gsaxcess.gov/htm/nasa/userguide/Special_Item_Request_Procedure.pdf.
Please direct questions about this opportunity to GSAXcessHelp@gsa.gov.
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NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowships
The NASA Postdoctoral Program provides early-career and more senior scientists the opportunity to share in NASA’s mission. NPP Fellows work on one- to three-year assignments with NASA scientists and engineers at NASA centers and institutes to advance NASA’s missions in Earth science, heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics, space bioscience, aeronautics, engineering, human exploration and space operations, astrobiology, and science management.
U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and foreign nationals eligible for J-1 status as a research scholar may apply. Applicants must have completed a doctorate or equivalent degree before beginning the fellowship, but they may apply while completing degree requirements. Applicants who earned the Ph.D. more than five years before the deadline date are categorized as senior fellows; all applicants, no matter their category, must apply and become eligible for an NPP award via the same process.
Interested applicants may apply by one of three annual application deadlines: March 1, July 1 and November 1.
For more information and application procedures, go to https://npp.usra.edu/.
Please direct questions about this fellowship opportunity to npphelp@usra.edu.
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National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers
The National Science Foundation is accepting proposals for the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers, or ITEST, program. This program supports the development, implementation and selective spread of innovative strategies for engaging students in experiences that do the following:
— Increase student awareness of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and ICT (information and communications technology) careers
— Motivate students to pursue the education necessary to participate in those careers
— And/or provide students with technology-rich experiences that develop their knowledge of related content and skills (including critical thinking skills) needed for entering the STEM workforce.
ITEST projects must involve students but may also include teachers. The ITEST program is especially focused on broadening participation of students from traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM fields and related education and workforce domains. ITEST strongly encourages projects that actively engage business and industry partners. The resulting relationships better ensure that the students’ experiences foster the knowledge and skill sets needed for emerging STEM-related occupations.
Proposals are due Aug. 10, 2016.
For additional information about the program, including anticipated awards, visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15599/nsf15599.htm.
Please direct questions about this opportunity to DRLITEST@NSF.gov.
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National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program
The National Science Foundation is accepting proposals for the Advancing Informal STEM Learning, or AISL, program. This program seeks to advance new approaches to evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning opportunities for the public in informal environments; to provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; and to advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments.
Proposals are due Nov. 8, 2016.
For additional information about the program, including anticipated awards, visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15593/nsf15593.htm.
Please direct questions about this opportunity to DRLAISL@NSF.gov.
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Call for Submissions — NASA Announcement for High Impact / Broad Implementation STEM Education Partnerships (EDUCATION01SP16)
The NASA Headquarters Office of Education, in cooperation with the agency’s four mission directorates, nine center education offices, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) education office, announces this competition to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Responses must be submitted electronically via the NASA data system NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com).
NASA Education seeks to partner with eligible domestic or international organizations on a no-exchange-of-funds basis to reach wider and more diverse audiences and to achieve mutually beneficial objectives. The Announcement places a priority on collaboration involving the following: digital learning; engaging underrepresented groups in STEM; NASA-themed STEM challenges; and youth-serving organizations. NASA also is receptive to other creative ideas including, for example, investigations or application of science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics and design (STEAMD); or activities culturally relevant to or focused on unrepresented in STEM careers populations, such as women, ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities. The announcement explains the criteria used to review responses and NASA’s partnership mechanism known as a no-exchange-of-funds or non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement.
NASA will accept responses on a rolling basis through Dec. 31. 2017.
For more information about this opportunity, visit NSPIRES at http://go.nasa.gov/1RZwWCi.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please direct your questions to the Points of Contact listed within the NASA Announcement.
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‘ISS: Science on Orbit’ Exhibit at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s “ISS: Science on Orbit” exhibit provides visitors with a true sense of what it’s like to live and work in space. This NASA grant-funded exhibit begins with a model of NASA’s Payload Operations Integration Center, where scientists and engineers on Earth manage the complex, international science experiments that astronauts conduct on the International Space Station.
Two mockups of space station modules contain 20 full-scale replica racks that illustrate the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems, the astronauts’ food, and a sleeping berth, among other necessary aspects of life and work aboard the station. A connecting node contains a full-scale replica of the Cupola Observation Module, which provides space station crew members with a view of Earth and space.
For more information, visit http://rocketcenter.com/.
Questions about the exhibit can be directed to Dr. Kay Taylor at kay.taylor@spacecamp.com.
