Learning from the Challenger Tragedy
Posted on January 30th, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
Twenty five years ago, on January 28, Americans watched in horror as the space shuttle Challenger exploded, barely a minute after takeoff, killing all seven crew members. Schools nationwide still honor the memory of Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high school social studies teacher who was aboard the ill-fated flight that morning as NASA’s first Teacher in Space Project participant.
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Tags: Aeronautics, Aerospace, Events, History, NASA
The No Boundaries National Competition gives students the chance to learn about opportunities at NASA, explore careers in STEM, and win prizes that are out of this world. After completing the project and presenting their work to peers, student groups are encouraged to enter their project in the competition.
NASA’s Web site “Native American Connections” focuses on images and activities that have been used by Native Americans for generations to explore Sun-Earth science. The site includes biographies of Native American members of the NASA community who represent a variety of expertise and cultural backgrounds.
NASA’s Website Ancient Observatories, Timeless Knowledge contains a rich bank of material to help students, educators, and others explore the astronomical activities of pre-modern cultures. With separate sections for students and educators, the site contains lesson plans, web resources and links, interactive games, a timeline, and a photo gallery, as well as a showcase of Native Americans involved with NASA.
Google has partnered with NASA, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), National Geographic, Scientific American, and LEGO to create a science fair that is intended to be open, inclusive, and global.
Clearly, Abby Ardis is an exceptional student. Still, the path taken by this senior at Snow Hill High School in Salisbury, Md. shows where an early interest in engineering and science can lead: internships at a NASA research facility and attendance at a bio-engineering conference.
NASA’s “Kids in Micro-g” challenge calls for students in grades five through eight to design a classroom experiment that can also be performed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The “Kids in Micro-g” challenge calls for the experiments to examine the effect of weightlessness on various subjects.
NASA’s “Kids in Micro-g” student experiment design challenge for grades 5-8, is aimed at giving students a hands-on opportunity to design an experiment or simple demonstration that could be performed both in the classroom and by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
As part of its 2010-2011 Spaced Out Sports Design Challenge, NASA has produced student and educator resources, including posters, bookmarks, curriculum guides, a career video, and Digital Learning Network Modules.
