LPSC 2008 Education Opportunities

Education/Public Outreach Forum
Reaching the Moonimage of the Moon rising over Earth

Our Moon is easily seen by people of all cultures, everywhere around the world. 2008 will see the launch of three new missions to the Moon: LRO, LCROSS, and Chandrayaan-1. These will join Kaguya and Chang'e I, ushering in an unparalleled period of lunar discovery. These missions will characterize surface materials to identify potential resources, photograph and map the lunar landscape to determine future landing sites, define the lunar environment, and search for water in permanently shadowed polar regions, in preparation for future human exploration. How should educators and scientists leverage their efforts and the upcoming missions, to share the Moon with their audiences?

The Education / Public Outreach LPSC Forum for scientists and space science educators took place on Sunday, March 9, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Participants, the agenda, resources, notes, and evaluations will be posted to this Web site in the next two months.

logo for Sky-Skan

Lunch was provided for the 2008 Education Forum courtesy of Sky-Skan, Inc.



Space Science Mission Workshops

The Lunar and Planetary Institute hosted educator workshops, conducted by planetary mission education specialists, during the 2008 LPSC conference.

logo for Phoenix Mars missionMonday, March 10, 9 am - 5 pm CDT
Touching Water on Mars
Join the Phoenix Mars Mission's E/PO team to learn what it takes to touch water on Mars. Phoenix will land on May 25th, 2008 and this workshop will take participants through a history of Mars missions via hands-on STEM activities that can be used in your classroom or science museum. Join us for landing site selection activities courtesy of the latest HIRISE images, make Dirty Ice Icy Dirt snowcones, play Mars Match and discover just how much fun robot landers that dig in the Martian Arctic can be. This is a great opportunity to learn about NASA's current mission to Mars and receive teacher resources and interactive software for you and your students. Lunch will be provided.

 

ASU Mars programTuesday, March 11, 9 am - 5 pm CDT
Send your Students to Mars!
Join the education team from Arizona State University's Mars Education Program and NASA's Mars Public Engagement Program as they present a workshop that will focus on ways to integrate STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and inquiry into the classroom using real-world applications. Through the use of activities, research, and role models that focus on the exciting ongoing exploration of the solar system, learn how to tie these themes into your curriculum in new ways while infusing more inquiry based learning into your classroom. Find out how you can use NASA-based materials to enhance the content and concepts you are already teaching - scientific process, critical thinking, and analysis - while helping to provide tools to prepare the technical workforce of tomorrow! In addition to many hands-on activities, learn about unique student and teacher opportunities! Lunch will be provided.

 

Artist's depiction of LCROSS mission approaching the MoonWednesday, March 12, 9 am -12 pm CDT
Crater the Moon
Learn about NASA’s next mission to the Moon and the search for water ice.  Participants will be given an overview of the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission that is scheduled to launch in Fall 2008.  Real-world connections will be tied to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, with particular focus given to the engineering design process and the calculation of the area and volume of impact craters.  Hands-on activities will center on spectroscopy, lunar impactors, and lunar geology.   All educators are welcome; however, content is geared primarily for middle school students.

 

logo for MESSENGER missionWednesday, March 12, 1 - 4pm CDT
Fire and Ice
Join us on a trip from one end of the solar system to the other as we follow the MESSENGER Mission to Mercury and the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Participate in hands on activities especially developed for the mission and learn about the latest results of MESSENGER's first Mercury Flyby (Jan 14, 2008) and New Horizons' February 2007 encounter with Jupiter.

 

DAWN mission logoThursday, March 13, 1 - 4 pm CDT
DAWN Educator Workshop
Capture student interest by using the Dawn mission to asteroids as a real-world link. Aligned with the NRC content, instruction, and assessment guidelines, Dawn educational materials can be easily inserted in place of traditional units within a typical secondary school science, math, social studies and language arts curricula. Dawn is “A Journey to the beginning of the Solar System” that will orbit two asteroids in the asteroid belt, Vesta (the size of Arizona) and Ceres (the size of Texas) to provide information about the earliest epoch of our solar system.  Ceres was recently in the news as being designated a dwarf planet with Pluto.  Participate in hands-on activities as you learn about the discovery of the asteroid belt, the role of meteorites, dwarf planets, how an ion thruster works, and more.

Educators who attend these workshops will be provided with free registration for the LPSC conference, and opportunities to attend science presentations and poster sessions. All educators are welcome.

For more information, contact Christine Shupla ([email protected]; 281-486-2135).

 

Displays of Space Science Education Programs and Products cartoon of a display

On Sunday evening, March 9, in conjunction with LPSC's open house and registration, the LPI hosted displays of educational outreach products and programs, presented by space science educators.

 

Education Posters

cartoon of a stick figure holding a poster LPSC attendees are invited to view a variety of Education posters, among others, which will be displayed on Tuesday evening from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the LPSC conference. The deadline for submitting abstracts for posters has passed. For more information, contact Christine Shupla ([email protected]; 281-486-2135).