Education & Public Outreach

Math Day on Campus

NASA RECOMMENDS DISCONTINUATION OF STUDENT ROCKET ACTIVITY

Recently, an air pressurized paper rocket launcher being used by an educator failed. This launcher is described in NASA’s Rockets Educator Guide, publications EG-2011-11-223-KSC, pp. 86-90 and EG-2008-05-060-KSC, pp. 86-90. NASA completed an engineering investigation into the failure and determined that the launcher, or design equivalents, should not be used. NASA has removed the launcher design from its website and its education curriculum. Individuals and organizations should immediately discontinue use of the launcher published in the referenced NASA publications. The point of contact for additional information is James Stofan, Deputy Associate Administrator for Education Integration at nasaedpartners@nasa.gov.

2011 Pre College Projects

PROJECT: ESCAPE to Alaska Summer Camp

CONTACT: Robert Parsons, UAF

The Alaska Space Grant Program (ASGP) in partnership with NASA will introduce in 2011 an engineering summer camp for both students and teachers. ASGP/NASA will provide training and experiences for students and teachers in STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

PROJECT: Way Out Workshops (WOW)

PI: Summer Lazenby, Program Director, Challenger Learning Center of Alaska

Utilizing the latest educational technology, this program focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math by adapting existing on-site workshops including Living in Space, Rocketry, Light & Energy and Astronomy into a format that permits distance delivery into the formal classroom setting.

PROJECT: RobotC Training for CLCA Summer Teachers Institute

PI: Luke Mese, Technology Director, Challenger Learning Center of Alaska

The Challenger Learning Center of Alaska (CLCA) will send its Technology Director, Luke Mese to the
Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy RobotC Programming for VEX PIC and CORTEX training course in
Pittsburgh, PA. After attending this course, Luke will travel back to Alaska and use this newly gained
knowledge to instruct Alaskan teachers during our week long Summer Teachers Institute for VEX
Robotics Professional Development Program which in turn leads into a High School Advanced Robotics
Elective. An overview and syllabus for the course has been attached for reference.