Coming Soon: ITEEA's New Association Management Software...

...and an Improved Member Experience

The process is under way. The ITEEA staff is hard at work and will be introducing “MemberPoint™” software this fall. MemberPoint is on-demand association management software with enterprise-class member management tools and a powerful self-service member community platform—the tools needed to create engaging, memorable experiences for our members.

The MemberPoint™ online self-service solution helps members easily manage all aspects of their interactions with the association—anywhere, anytime—without the need for staff assistance, including membership renewals, member profile updates, conference registrations, professional development, and publications orders. At their convenience, members can edit their own member record, including name, address, phone, email, and other demographic information 24/7. They’ll also have the ability to access and print receipts, manage opt-in/opt-out communication preferences, and join other groups within the organization at any time. Members will also be able to find each other with premier membership directory services, including the ability to give different types of professionals in the association a peer networking and collaboration site.

ITEEA is very excited about this improvement in how we interact with our members—and with how our members will interact with one another. More information will be forthcoming soon, so stay tuned!

Congressman Sarbanes Reintroduces No Child Left Inside Act

Congressman John Sarbanes recently reintroduced the No Child Left Inside (NCLI) Act, which will strengthen environmental education in our nation’s schools. The No Child Left Inside Act is supported by a national grassroots coalition of more than 2,000 organizations, representing nearly 50 million Americans that include environmental advocates, wildlife and sportsmen organizations, and educators.

“By creating an environmental education grant program and providing teacher training for environmental education across the curriculum, we can prepare our children for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics jobs that will be the cornerstone of the United States’ 21st century economy,” said Congressman John Sarbanes. “Research shows that hands-on, outdoor environmental education has a measurably positive impact not only on student achievement in science, but also in reading, math, and social studies.”

NCLI authorizes new funding for states to provide high-quality, environmental instruction. Funds would support outdoor learning activities both at school and in nonformal environmental education centers, teacher professional development, and the creation of state environmental literacy plans.

“Environmental education is facing a national crisis,” Sarbanes added. “Many schools are being forced to scale back or eliminate environmental education programs. The No Child Left Inside Act seeks to give schools and teachers the resources and flexibility to spark the imagination of our nation’s children.”

International STEM Conference to Take Place at Purdue in October

Transforming Education: From Innovation to Implementation will be held October 10-12, 2011 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. Hosted by the Discovery Learning Research Center, this international conference will focus on developing strategies for the effective transition of STEM educational research to classroom practice across higher education. Conference participants will contribute in real time, through online collaboration, to a working position paper on effective practices for transforming education. Carl E. Wieman, Ph.D., Associate Director for Science, The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will be the special guest. The registration deadline is August 29, 2011. Register now at www.eduinnovatepurdue.com.

Triangle Coalition Annual STEM Education Conference

The Triangle Coalition will host its Annual STEM Education Conference, "Advancing STEM Education Through Innovation" at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Alexandria, Virginia October 3-4, 2011. Triangle Coalition members receive a 20% discount on registration. Register by September 8, 2011 to receive the early-bird rate! For more information or to register online, visit www.trianglecoalition.org/conference.

About the Conference:
This year's conference will explore innovative practices for the advancement of STEM education. Session topics will include:

• STEM Education, Innovation, and America's Economic Success
• Business Education Partnerships
• Engaging Underserved Populations in STEM
• Models for Innovating Change in STEM Education
• A First Look at the New Science Framework

New STEM Education Book Offering From Harry Roman

STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education for Gifted Students: Designing a Powerful Approach to Real-World Problem Solving for Gifted Students in Middle and High School Grades

TET contributer Harry Roman discusses planning and implementing STEM education programs for gifted students. This is an essential book for parents and educators that contains many specific suggestions for use by teachers of the gifted in presenting an integrated STEM program. The book covers numerous topics such as the roots of STEM, the study of engineering, importance of math and math activities for the gifted, employee skills, creativity and imagination in the lab, STEM challenge problems, technology education, and applications to the business world.

The book identification number is: ISBN 0-910609-60-8, and the cost is: $20.00. Customers may order via Amazon.com. Contact mfisher345@comcast.net or telephone 703-369-5017 for additional information.

Real World Design Challenge Registration Open

Sign Up Now!

Sign up now for the Real World Design Challenge. It is an annual aviation design competition for teams of 3-7 high school students. The Challenge is FREE for students and teachers. And each teacher who signs up a team will receive $1 million in professional engineering software as well as access to mentors from industry, government, and academia. 

The Real World Challenge will create many opportunities for your students. Every state champion team receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC. Students have earned paid internships through their participation. And last year’s National Champions got to present their work to President Obama at the White House. 

Sign up today and take advantage of our summer teacher training. You can sign up as many teams as you want, and if you are not sure which students will participate, you can change the team members between now and the beginning of the competition. 

Just go to www.realworlddesignchallenge.org and click the link to register a team. 

Preregistration Open to Enter 2011-2012 Future City® Competition

The National Engineers Week Future City® Competition is an example of problem-based learning with computer simulation. It is an integrated, multidisciplinary, holistic approach to relevant issues and is a strong example of STEM education that addresses national and state academic content standards. The program asks 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students from around the nation to team with engineer-volunteer mentors to create—first on computer and then in large, three-dimensional models—their visions of the city of tomorrow. Preregistration for the competition is now open, and the nationwide deadline for schools to register is October 31, 2011. Future City is also looking for engineering and technical professionals who may be interested in serving as mentors. This year’s Future City theme is “Fuel Your Future: Imagine new ways to meet our energy needs and maintain a healthy planet.” As students address alternative energy solutions, they will consider the safety, cost, efficiency, and appearance of their ideas. For information, school registration, or to volunteer in the Future City Competition, visit www.futurecity.org.

SkillsUSA Championship Winners Announced

ITEEA Partners with intelitek for Engineering Technology Challenge

The winners of the annual SkillsUSA Championships in Engineering Technology were announced June 24, 2011 at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City, MO. Over 5,600 students competed in the Championship.

ITEEA is very pleased to be a partner with intelitek in the leadership of the SKILLS Engineering Technology Challenge. The Challenge is another way for ITEEA to promote technology and engineering within the career and technical education community. Many of the Challenge students are former technology and engineering students who are currently pursuing career and technical education. ITEEA serves as one of the Challenge content leaders by providing expertise in line with the focus of Engineering byDesign™. Engineering byDesign™ (EbD™) is ITEEA’s major effort to provide quality curriculum and professional development to the technology and engineering education community. This STEM-based standards work is content-driven using Standards for Technological Literacy. EbD™ is a complete K-12 curriculum designed by teachers for teachers in most school laboratory settings.  
    
In the Engineering Technology Challenge, a team of three students demonstrated the ability to design an innovative engineering project and present those ideas along with a display and live model. During the presentation, students were judged on their performance as a professional team, presentation of their project to a panel of judges from the engineering field, their storyboard presentation model, and the overall effect of the presentation. Fifty-one students comprised the 17 teams that competed in the Challenge.

ITEEA member and Past President, Gary Wynn, DTE, served as Chair of the national technical committee for the Engineering Technology Challenge.

Top finishers in the High School Division were:

• Gold – Christopher Vaughn, Addison Mullins, and Elliot Butcher from the Academy of Careers and Technology, Beckley, WV.
• Silver – Sean Varela, Caston Casey, and Logan Hanson from Sequin High School, Sequin, TX.
• Bronze – Khadar Mohamed, Katherine Rucker, and Kyle McLaughlin from South-Western Career Academy, Columbus, OH.

Top finishers in the College/Postsecondary Division were:

• Steven Schmitt, Brooks McAllister, and Matthew Mele from Florida’s Manatee Technical Institute.

For more information about ITEEA or the SkillsUSA Championship, go to www.iteea.org.   

Winners of 2011 Christopher Columbus Awards Selected

Three student teams were recently selected as winners in the Christopher Columbus Awards science and technology competition. The Christopher Columbus Awards program, now in its 15th year, challenges middleschool students to explore opportunities for positive change in their communities. It is sponsored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation (www.columbusfdn.org). This year’s winning teams are:

• $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community Grant Winner: “River Rangers” (Myrtle Beach, SC)
• Gold Medal Winner: “Solar Solution” (Los Angeles, CA)
• Gold Medal Winner: “Pickup Patrol” (Mount Vernon, NH)

Please direct all inquiries about the Christopher Columbus Awards program to Stephanie Hallman at 800-291-6020 or shallman@mmseducation.com.

New Interactive Online Resource Offers Tools for Engineering Exploration

My Discover-E
My Discover-e is the first public website to aggregate and promote local opportunities across the U.S. These organizations are part of a coalition of organizations dedicated to providing opportunities for improving our children’s interest and abilities in science, engineering, math, and technology. With its various interactive and easy-to-use features, the My Discover-E site connects users to engineering-related resources in their area through maps, event calendars, event searches, and an engineer network. It also encourages exploration of professional engineering achievements and activities inside and outside the classroom, demonstrating engineering as a creative career choice that impacts and shapes our past, present, and future. The coalition is organized by the National Engineers Week Foundation. Go to www.mydiscover-e.org for additional information.

Get More Women in the Picture!

WomenTech Educators Workshop:  
More female students in just one year  
October 13-14, 2011 Emeryville, CA (San Francisco Bay Area) 

Increase the number of women in your science, technology, engineering, and math classrooms with the strategies you'll learn at the WomenTech Educators Workshop with the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Sciences (IWITTS). 

Who should attend: Instructors, professors, and teachers from high schools, community colleges, and four-year universities, administrators, guidance counselors, outreach and recruitment staff. YOU! 
  
Come to the training as a team:  The more people you can get involved in this campaign, the more lasting change you're going to have. Yes, one teacher on his/her own can make some change, but the schools that have been the most effective and had lasting institutional change, have had more people involved. 
  
Bring a team of instructors, administrators, counselors, and outreach and recruitment staff from each program. You'll work together to develop an action plan and provide support to each other as you implement it.   

What You'll Learn:   

• The #1 secret to increasing the number of women in your classes
• The top three recruitment strategies—according to the women themselves
• Why changing your thinking isn't enough, and what you can do about it
• The critical thing women want to hear up front that will keep them engaged throughout your course
• Three simple techniques you can implement tomorrow so your female students will excel in the lab

Here's what's new this year: the Full Implementation Package, where you'll receive group coaching and long-term support so you'll never be on your own. Our external evaluators found that the group coaching and WomenTech Educators training were the top two things that helped schools in our CalWomenTech Project achieve remarkable success in increasing the number of women in their programs.

News from the Triangle Coalition

• Thinkfinity Selected as a Top Website for Free Educational Resources
Thinkfinity.org has been selected as one of the top five websites for free online classroom resources by members of the WeAreTeachers online community. Thinkfinity, the Verizon Foundation's free educational platform, received the Teachers Select award in EdNET's Best for 2011, a new recognition program developed by education research company MDR, with the support of Educational Systemics, a strategic planning and product development company. The program recognizes leaders and innovators in the education marketplace. Thinkfinity.org provides thousands of free educational resources to teachers, parents, and students to use in and out of the classroom.

In addition to providing standards-based resources from the nation's leading educational organizations, Thinkfinity also offers a comprehensive professional-development program that allows teachers to sign up for free online or face-to-face training to learn how to make the most of Thinkfinity tools. It also includes the Thinkfinity Community, an online spot for teachers, administrators, and parents to ask questions, share ideas, and discuss the education topics of today.

Source: Triangle Coalition Electronic Bulletin, June 23, 2011 - Volume 17, Number 24 Online Version

• American Students Win International Rocket Contest Fly-Off
Student rocketeers from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States competed recently in the Fourth Annual Transatlantic Rocketry Challenge. The four-member team from Rockwall-Heath High School in Heath, TX, posted the best score to win the international fly-off. Worksop College from Nottinghamshire, England placed second. Collège Léonard de Vinci-St Aubin from Bordeaux, France placed third. The international rocketry challenge is the culmination of three separate competitions: the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), UKAYRoC, and the French Rocketry Challenge. Each contest brings together teams of middle and high school students to design, build, and launch model rockets. This year the challenge was to launch a rocket that launched to exactly 750 feet during a 40- to 45-second flight. The payload, a raw egg, had to return to the ground by parachute undamaged. As part of their score, teams also had to give an eight-minute presentation on their rocket design to a panel of international judges. The winning score represented a height of 745 feet and a duration of 43 seconds.

Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the National Association of Rocketry in the U.S.; ADS, Tri Polus Ltd, Space Connections, and the Royal Aeronautical Society in the UK; and GIFAS and Planéte Sciences in France, the programs are designed to encourage students to pursue careers in aerospace. Raytheon Company, a major event sponsor, has sent the TARC winning team to air shows at Farnborough and Paris for the past six years. The company is hosting all three teams as they tour the air show and Paris. AIA created the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of flight and to generate interest in aerospace careers among young people. The success of the program encouraged UK aerospace industry leaders to create the UKAYRoC in 2007 with similar goals in mind. France joined the international rocketry challenge at the 2010 International Airshow at Farnborough.

• STEM Teachers Thrive in Professional Learning Communities
With the support of the National Science Foundation and in collaboration with WestEd, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) has released "STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities: From Good Teachers to Great Teaching." NCTAF and WestEd conducted a two-year analysis of research studies that document what happens when science, technology, engineering, and math teachers work together in professional learning communities to improve teaching and increase student achievement. This report summarizes that work and provides examples of projects building on that model.

According to the report, participating in learning teams can successfully engage STEM teachers in discussions about the subjects that they teach. This seemingly basic finding is more important than it may appear… The report concludes that improving teaching quality is the single most important investment we can make to prepare today's students for college and career success. But this need comes as states and school districts are struggling with dire reductions in funding. In the face of this fiscal reality, we need innovative ways to organize STEM teachers for better learning outcomes with a more cost-effective deployment of existing resources. The report says that we can achieve this objective by enabling STEM teachers to team up for more effective teaching and learning. The report is available online. 

Source: Triangle Coalition Electronic Bulletin, June 30, 2011 - Volume 17, Number 25 Online Version

From Museum of Science - Boston

• The Nation's First Comprehensive Elementary Engineering Curriculum
The Museum of Science's National Center for Technological Literacy® has completed the first edition of its Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®) curriculum. The nation's largest elementary engineering curriculum, EiE is the first to focus on engineering and technology, to reinforce science concepts, and to collect data on student and teacher learning.
Learn More

• President Obama's Call for Engineers Makes Engineering Education Act More Relevant
In May 2011 Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Engineering Education (E2) for Innovation Act. Ask your federal legislators to cosponsor the House and Senate bills intended to help integrate engineering into K-12 curricula and instruction.
Learn More

• Ioannis Miaoulis Receives ASME Engineering and Tufts University Awards
Museum of Science President and Director and National Center for Technological Literacy® founder Ioannis Miaoulis is the 2011 winner of the ASME Ralph Coats Roe Medal for "helping people of all ages enhance their knowledge of engineering and technology." The former dean of Tufts University School of Engineering also received the highest tribute bestowed on a Tufts graduate by the student body, the 2011 Light on the Hill Award.
Learn More

• NCTL Middle School Engineering Units to Feature PBS's Design Squad
The Museum of Science's National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®) is collaborating with the PBS kids TV show and website Design Squad, produced by WGBH Boston, to create engineering units, featuring hands-on design challenges and short Lab TV "webisodes" of real engineers, for students engaged by show episodes.
Learn More

Source: NCTL ENEWS – July 2011

NASA News

• 2011 SPHERES Zero Robotics Challenge
NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and MIT's Space Systems Laboratory are offering high school students the opportunity to design experiments that will be tested in space. The 2011 Zero Robotics challenge is a continuation and expansion of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education program using bowling ball-sized spherical satellites aboard the International Space Station.

The Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites—or SPHERES—are used inside the station to test maneuvers for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking. The three satellites that make up SPHERES fly in formation inside the station's cabin. Each is self-contained with power, propulsion, computing, and navigation equipment. Test results support satellite servicing, vehicle assembly, and spacecraft that fly in formation.

The SPHERES Zero Robotics Challenge requires high school student teams to write their own algorithm to fly the satellites in the station. Teams must register before September 5, 2011, at http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/.

The Zero Robotics challenge, facilitated by MIT, continues the STEM focus of the SPHERES program. The 2011 challenge expands on a pilot program performed in 2009 and 2010. By making the benefits and resources of the space program tangible to high school students, Zero Robotics is designed to inspire future scientists and engineers. Students will have the opportunity to push their limits and develop skills in STEM. This program builds critical engineering skills for students such as problem solving, design thought process, operations training, teamwork, and presentation skills.

For additional information about NASA and MIT's Zero Robotics program, visit
http://go.nasa.gov/zero-robotics.

Please email any questions about this opportunity to Jason Crusan at Jason.Crusan@nasa.gov.

• NASA Reveals New Batch of Space Program Artifacts for Loan
NASA is inviting eligible education institutions, museums, and other organizations to examine and request space program artifacts online. This is a limited opportunity for entities eligible to apply to the General Services Administration.

The items represent significant human spaceflight technologies, processes, and accomplishments from NASA's past and present space exploration programs. On June 15, 2011, NASA posted a new batch of artifacts. These artifacts are from the Space Shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, and Apollo and International Space Station Programs. Examples of artifacts include a space shuttle payload bay mock-up, cockpit seats, and Apollo-era glove assemblies.

Each artifact will be available for 42 days. For the first 21 days, internal organizations such as NASA visitor centers, agency exhibit managers, and the Smithsonian Institution may request artifacts. Eligible external organizations, including museums, schools, universities, libraries, and planetariums, may request artifacts the following 21 days. After the screening period closes, and at the completion of the request process, organizations will be notified about the status of their request.

Artifacts will be released incrementally when they no longer are needed by NASA and in accordance with export control laws and regulations. Artifacts are provided free of charge; however, requesting organizations must pay for shipping and any special handling costs.

For information about NASA's space shuttle transition and artifacts, visit www.nasa.gov/transition.

Please email any questions about this opportunity to Tony Springer at Tony.Springer@nasa.gov.

• NASA Kids’ Club Games and Activities
Have you visited the NASA Kids’ Club recently? Games and activities have been added just in time for summer!

Check out the new “Why Do We Explore?” storybook. Kids can read this animated online story about exploration or have it read aloud to them as they follow along.
www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/clubhouse/Why_Do_We_Explore.html

Looking for a fun hands-on activity for a summer afternoon? Check out the “Let’s Fly Away” activity. Children can interact online with an aircraft-covered dodecahedron or print out the activity pages to learn about 12 different aircraft and build their own 3-D dodecahedron!
www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/clubhouse/Lets_Fly_Away.html

Ever wonder how much you’d weigh on other planets and moons? Play the “Astro-Matic 3000” game to find out!
www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/clubhouse/Astro-Matic_3000.html

Do you know a child who likes puzzles? Check out the “Put It Together” game to solve puzzles of NASA images. Choose from four different levels of difficulty.
www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/clubhouse/Put_It_Together.html

For these fun activities and more, visit www.nasa.gov/kidsclub.

Source: NASA Education Express Message – June 23, 2011

• New Educational Materials Available at NASA.gov
The Educational Materials section of NASA's website offers classroom activities, educator guides, posters, and other types of resources that are available for use in the classroom. Materials are listed by type, grade level, and subject. The following items are now available for downloading:

• High Flyers Alphabet Activity Book – Grades K-2: NASA conducts aeronautics research. The High Flyers Alphabet Activity Book introduces basic aeronautics terms. Students can color and practice letter writing, learn new words, solve simple addition problems, and more. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/High_Flyers.html
• Why Do We Explore? Storybook – Grades K-4: Read along with this animated storybook about exploration, or allow the storybook to read to you. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/ Why_Do_We_
  Explore.html
• Blue Marble Matches – Grades 3-12: This 5-E lesson connects the shape of Earth’s surface to the processes that form them and introduces students to how scientists use Earth to gain a better understanding of other planetary bodies in the solar system. Includes students' pages and adaptations for younger students. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/ Blue_Marble_
  Matches.html
• New Horizons Mission Student Dust Counter Lessons – Grades 8-10: The Student Dust Counter is an instrument aboard the NASA New Horizons mission to Pluto, launched in 2006. As it travels to Pluto and beyond, SDC will provide information on the dust that strikes the spacecraft during its fourteen-year journey across the solar system. These observations will advance our understanding of the origin and evolution of our own solar system, as well as help scientists study planet formation in dust disks around other stars.
  • Speaking Volumes About Dust: Students explore the concept of density before using the online Student Dust Counter interface to determine the density of dust grains in a volume of space in the solar system. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/
    Speaking_Volumes_About_Dust.html
  • The White Glove Test: Discovering Dust in the Solar System: Students explore the SDC data interface to establish any trends in the dust distribution in the solar system. Students record the number of dust particles—"hits"—recorded by the instrument and the average mass of the particles in a given region. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/ listbytype/
    White_Glove_Test.html
• Flight Testing Newton’s Laws – Grades 9-12: "Flight Testing Newton's Laws" uses aircraft to stimulate students' interest in the physical sciences and mathematics during the course of ten lessons with corresponding videos. The main emphasis lies in showing how Newton's three Laws of Motion and the four forces of flight apply to flight testing an aircraft. Includes an educator's guide presented in the format of a flight instructor's manual to help guide teachers and students through each lesson. www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/ Flight_Testing_
  Newtons_Laws.html
  

Source: NASA Education Express Message – June 30, 2011

• New NASA Education Website: Space Shuttle – A Mighty Machine
You might say that education on the space shuttle began April 12, 1981. Even though no official education payload was aboard Columbia, astronauts Robert Crippen and John Young ignited a spirit of exploration in young people around the globe as the shuttle lifted off on STS-1. Visit the commemorative NASA space shuttle education site and read about some of the education projects that flew on Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavour. Learn about educators who became astronauts. Trace the history of the shuttle and learn about the resources created during 30 years of space shuttle missions. To check out the new website, visit www.nasa.gov/education/shuttle.

• Desert Research and Technology Studies Education Webinar
Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS) education engages classrooms in real-time exploration science and engineering during field tests through activities where students create maps and astronaut traverses from satellite images. Join the webinar workshop for instruction on activities and background. For more information, contact Annaiza Ramirez at annaiza.ramirez@nasa.gov.

• International Space Station EarthKAM Summer 2011 Mission
Middle school educators are invited to join NASA for the International Space Station EarthKAM Summer 2011 Mission from July 26-29, 2011. Find out more about this exciting opportunity that allows students to take pictures of Earth from a digital camera aboard the International Space Station. This NASA-sponsored project provides stunning, high-quality photographs of Earth taken from the space shuttle and the space station. Since 1996, EarthKAM students have taken thousands of photographs of Earth by using the World Wide Web to direct a digital camera on select spaceflights and, currently, on the space station. For more information about the project and to register for the upcoming mission, visit the EarthKAM home page www.EarthKAM.ucsd.edu.
If you have questions about the EarthKAM project, please e-mail ek-help@earthkam.ucsd.edu.

Source: NASA Education Express Message – July 7, 2011

• NASA LEARN and NES Offering Webinars
NASA Learning Environments and Research Network, or LEARN, and NASA Explorer Schools have teamed up to offer exciting webinars featuring NASA educational resources for educators. Below are two offerings in August 2011. The webinars are presented from 4-5 p.m. EST. And, don’t worry about the technology. If you have questions, tech support is ready to assist with viewing and participating in the webinars. You can register for each of the webinars by clicking on these website links:

• Engineering Design Challenge: Water Filtration – August 11, 2011, 4 pm, EST
  This webinar will highlight the water recovery and management function of the Environmental Control and Life Support System, or ECLSS, on the International Space Station. Students will design, build, test, and measure the performance of a water filtration device, analyze the data collected, and use this information to work toward an improved filtration design.
  https://digitalmedia.wufoo.com/forms/nes-webinar-registration-water-filtration/
• Smart Skies – August 16, 2011, 4 pm, EST
  Learn how to use an innovative air traffic control simulator to engage your students as they explore the mathematics involved in being an air traffic controller.
  https://digitalmedia.wufoo.com/forms/nes-webinar-registration-smart-skies/

Source: NASA Education Express Message -- July 21, 2011

• Because It Flew – Education Activities and Space Shuttle Art Competition
“Because It Flew” is a free educational program that introduces students in Grades 4-12 (ages 9-17) to the impact of the Space Shuttle Program on our planet and people. This engaging and informative project commemorates the 30-year history of the shuttle program. Four activities engage and introduce students to the history of NASA’s space shuttle missions. The activities can be adapted easily to both formal and informal educational settings. Activities are aligned with national standards and support efforts to integrate science, technology, engineering, and math with language arts. For more information, visit www.usatodayeducate.com/becauseitflew.

• Electronic Professional Development Network Courses
NASA’s Learning Environments and Research Network and the Georgia Institute of Technology have teamed up to create the Electronic Professional Development Network, or e-PDN, an initiative dedicated to preparing K-12 teachers to engage their students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through the use of NASA-developed learning materials and resources. If you are looking for a way to enhance your instructional skills, meet your professional development goals, or find new and exciting resources to use in your learning environments, apply to one of our free courses today! Applications are now open for the following courses starting in September:

• Don’t Just Show Me the Numbers; Make Sense of the Information – September 14-October 18, 2011
  Participants will use the four-step investigative approach for problem solving using statistics. Learn to use online interactive applications, NASA data sets, and electronic collaborative tools for data collection.
• Using Robotics to Enhance STEM Learning – August 31-October 11, 2011
  Learn how to build and program LEGO Mindstorm robots and use them to promote student engagement and conceptual understanding of mathematics, science, and engineering. Explore robotic manipulators and end effectors like NASA uses on the International Space Station, and integrate multiple sensors into your robot to allow for systematic control. Join your colleagues in the Grand Challenge to design, build, and program a robot to explore an environment and return with a sample for investigation.
• Technology Integration – Podcasts in the Classroom – October 5-November 8, 2011
  For instructors interested in teaching online, the Technology Integration Certificate series introduces you to best practices of online learning. Examine how podcasts can be integrated into the STEM classroom. In this course, the benefits as well as obstacles to podcasts will be discussed, and you will be introduced to the tools and techniques of creating podcasts.
• Technology Integration – 3-D Visualization – October 12-November 15, 2011
  For instructors interested in teaching online, the Technology Integration Certificate series introduces you to best practices of online learning and helps get you started on designing your own online course. Learn how to create models of complex objects and bring visual creations to your students to teach them how mathematics, science, and communication skills are vital in bringing ideas from imagination to reality.
• Technology Integration – Turn Your Classroom Digital – November 2-December 13, 2011
  For instructors interested in teaching online, the Technology Integration Certificate series introduces you to best practices of online learning. Learn how to create your own online course from start to finish. Participants will get an overview of online teaching models, learning management systems, instructional design models, Web 2.0 collaborative tools, and online assessments.
  
  To learn more about these free courses and to apply online, visit http://nasaepdn.gatech.edu/nasa_certificates.php. Questions about these courses should be directed to fran.sponsler@dlpe.gatech.edu.

Source: NASA Education Express Message – July 14, 2011