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L. F. Ruberg, A. Tarnoff, S. P. Jones (Mid-Atlantic Region Space Science Broker)
This session highlights two examples of ways that the NASA Office of Space Science broker/facilitator program can assist members of the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) who want to be involved in education and public outreach (E/PO) activities. The suggestions are designed to match the unique potential of the planetary science community with NASA's efforts to improve science and mathematics education. The two E/PO activities highlighted here show ways that DPS E/PO activities can involve teachers in space science research and point to the unique needs of minority-serving preservice teacher faculty and students. Both activities describe the role of the Mid-Atlantic Region Space Science Broker (MARSSB) in bringing together scientists and educators and identifying community needs. Example1: Involve teachers in actively investigating phenomena that can be studied scientifically. A useful way for K-12 teachers to learn science content is to participate in research at a scientific laboratory in the context of activities that are sustained, contextual, and that require participation and reflection. The example here comes from Anne Arundel County School system and describes their collaboration with Goddard Space Flight Center planetary scientists to study the materials and processes that shape a planet. In this case, the broker/facilitator contact helps match teachers' educational interests with scientific experts. Example 2: Consider the barriers that preclude preservice teaching programs from using space science as a context to enhance math and science teaching and learning. The MARSSB team developed a survey for use with the NASA-Norfolk State University Preservice Teacher Conference (PSTC). The PSTC hosts an annual conference that draws preservice faculty from a national network of more than 100 institutions. Results of this survey research suggest how the resources, services, and expertise of the DPS can offer professional development services to enhance science and mathematics education for minority-serving preservice teacher programs.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://marssb.cet.edu. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: lruberg@cet.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.