Teaching From Space Office Seeks Educators to Experience Microgravity

Teaching From Space, a NASA Education office, in partnership with the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program announces the opportunity for students and educators across the country to collaborate on an experiment to be tested aboard a microgravity aircraft. This incredible opportunity is open to any current K-12 classroom educator in the United States. Educators must also be U.S. citizens.

The Microgravity Experience begins with students and educators developing and proposing a reduced gravity experiment. Selected educator teams will then be engaged in a suite of activities that include online professional development on classroom resources for microgravity, collaboration with a NASA mentor and a reduced-gravity flight. With combined input from their students and mentor, educator teams will design and fabricate their experiments to be tested and evaluated aboard an aircraft that flies approximately 30 roller-coaster-like climbs and dips to produce periods of micro and hyper gravity, ranging from zero gravity to 2 g.

Seven teams of four to five educators will be selected from this application process to travel to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Educators will participate in Reduced Gravity Flight Week Feb. 6-11, 2012, and fly their own experiments aboard NASA’s Reduced Gravity Aircraft (Note: This opportunity is contingent upon the NASA Education budget).

Educator teams interested in participating in this unique Microgravity Experience need to submit a proposal no later than Sept. 21, 2011. For more information, check out http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/tfs or send an e-mail to jsc-rgeducator@nasa.gov.