Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmed21d..04g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #ED21D-04
Other
[0815] Education / Informal Education, [0855] Education / Diversity
Scientific paper
NASA Space Science Days (NSSD) was established in 2004 to bring the story of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) to a community far removed from areas NASA traditionally served. The original NSSD invited 400 5th and 8th graders from the Texas Rio Grande Valley area to the University of Texas Brownsville (UTB) campus to participate in a one day Saturday event filled with information about MER with related hands on activities. Currently the yearly NSSD at UTB has grown to over 700 5th and 8th grade participants who are mentored by NASA trained university students. The NSSD program has expanded to other universities and community colleges and will soon include universities from throughout the U.S. A collaboration between three major institutions: 1) NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate (ARES); 2) The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers/Advancing Hispanic Excellence in Technology Engineering, Math, and Science, (SHPE/AHETEMS); and 3) The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) has been established to enable the dissemination of NASA Space Science related education materials throughout the U.S. Already in its 8th year, UTB developed and tested a NSSD model that has successfully engaged students throughout South Texas Rio Grande Valley in space science activities. With this newly formed collaboration of NASA JSC, SHPE/AHETEMS, and UTB the expansion of the NSSD model will allow trained SHPE students and professionals to conduct events throughout SHPE’s established nation-wide delivery systems. Each year a new NSSD site will be established through an application process solicited from SHPE student and professional chapters. Once a chapter is awarded to conduct a NSSD, upper-level high school and university students will travel to NASA-JSC for a two day workshop where students learn about the current year’s science theme and are trained to present hands-on activities related to the theme. In each NSSD community, an additional mentor training by ARES and UTB occurs one month before the new event, which gives the mentors time to decide which activity they feel comfortable leading. In addition, the NSSD collaboration team will conduct a professional development workshop for local middle school teachers highlighting the science content and activities of the NSSD. This allows teachers time to prepare their students with the background material for NSSD. In addition to the yearly events at UTB, several events using this NSSD process have already been successful in El Paso, TX and Stockton, CA. Through the SHPE National Institute for Leadership Advancement, several SHPE Chapters have indicated a high level of interest in establishing their own event even without NSSD funding. This process successfully shares space science and related careers with students and their families in communities where students have limited access to scientists and successful mentors from underrepresented populations. Students leave NASA Space Science Days with a new excitement about their own potential.
Allen Jeffrey S.
Galindo Carlos
Garcia Javier
Martinez Daniel
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