NASA Puts Education on the Fast Track with the Help of NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon

NASA has decided to take students out for a spin, riding four-
wide at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, has teamed with
NASCAR racing champion Jeff Gordon in a unique effort to get young
minds interested in math and science education.

Gordon, who will start in the 13th position in Sunday’s Daytona 500,
knows it takes more than skilled driving to win races. It takes a team
with a vast field of knowledge, including technology, engineering, as
well as math and science.

The three-time Winston Cup Champion agreed to work with the Agency and
appear in a special education video “Patterns, Functions and Algebra:
Wired for Space” – an installment of the NASA CONNECT series of
instructional television programs available to educators and
classrooms across the country.

“That’s why Gordon wanted to do this video, because he appreciates the
importance of reaching young minds,” said Frank C. Owens, Education
Division Director, Office of Human Resources and Education, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, DC. “He can use the excitement of auto-
racing to help demonstrate these important subjects, and hopefully
inspire students to see that the principles of basic math and science
extend far beyond the classroom.”

“NASA CONNECT is an award-winning educational video series which
enhances the teaching of math, science and technology concepts in
grades 5 through 8,” added Jim Pruitt, Manager of Marshall’s
Education Programs Department. “We also help teachers by giving them
corresponding standards-based lesson plans to create a more
interesting learning environment.”

NASA CONNECT, managed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton,
VA, provides five instructional videos to classrooms each year. More
than 141,000 teachers are registered to receive the lesson plans,
serving more than 7 million students in approximately 7,600 schools
across the country.

“Patterns, Functions and Algebra: Wired for Space” is the second NASA
CONNECT episode produced by Marshall.

Additional information about the NASA CONNECT series is available on
the Internet at: http://connect.larc.nasa.gov