Explorations in K-12 Education and Public Outreach
S.S. Limaye, R.A. Pertzborn, L.A. Sromovsky (UW-Madison)
Space exploration remains a topic of immense interest and excitement
for children and the general public. A diverse approach has been
utilized at the Space Science and Engineering Center to initiate outreach and
K-12 education activities. The hands-on experience gained through a
working relationships with educators has been useful in understanding
the challenges, usefulness and limitations of scientists' involvement
in the education process. Our efforts have included school visits,
development of lesson plans (KidSat), internet based activities (Planet
Exploration Toolkit for Live from Mars, a Passport to Knowledge Project),
World Wide Web, Public Lectures, summer teacher enhancement workshops,
internships, and substitute teaching in science classes. The feedback
and comments from teachers and students has demonstrated the usefulness
and need for these efforts. The experience has also demonstrated that a
committed effort in outreach is ultimately satisfying although immensely
time consuming. Our outreach efforts have been partially supported by a
NASA/IDEA grant, Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium, NOAA and more
recently, the Evjue Foundation (Madison-Wisconsin).