Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium Newsletter for Teachers

[Irene Svete]

The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium's electronic newsletter for
teachers provides curriculum ideas, Internet links and other resources to
help you better meet the Washington EALRs and the National Science Education
Standards.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

-- WANT TO BE AN ASTRONAUT? (K-12)
-- BECOME A MESSENGER FELLOW (K-12)
-- EXPLORE THE WORLD'S OCEANS ONLINE
-- JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE
-- GOOD INFO ON BAD ASTRONOMY

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WANT TO BE AN ASTRONAUT? (K-12)

NASA is recruiting K-12 educators to join NASA's Astronaut Corps and become
the first class of educator astronauts. These pioneers will help NASA to
explore the bold frontiers in science, technology,  engineering, and
mathematics in ways never done before.  The men and women selected for these
unique positions will be a key element of NASA's direct  connection to
classrooms by sharing with their fellow educators and  students the talents
and disciplines necessary to make history, break  barriers, and explore
frontiers.

The application deadline is April 30, 2003. Those selected will begin
training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to join the astronaut corps..
After graduation, new educator astronauts will be eligible for a Space
Shuttle  flight  assignment as fully trained mission specialists. Students,
educators, parents, and anyone interested in participating in the program
are also invited to join the "Earth Crew," an interactive initiative linking
audiences with education  activities and programs, astronaut profiles, and
more. For information and an application, visit

http://edspace.nasa.gov

BECOME A MESSENGER FELLOW (K-12)

Organizers for the MESSENGER mission to Mercury are planning to train 30
master K-12 science teachers as fellows who will conduct workshops on the
project during the mission. Fellows will be sent to an all-expenses-paid,
five-day intensive workshop at the Challenger Center in Virginia and
provided with necessary materials to conduct teacher training sessions.
Fellows commit to conducting educator training workshops for a minimum of
120 teachers annually. For more information on the mission, see

http://MESSENGER.jhuapl.edu/

To receive an application or ask questions contact Elizabeth Taylor at the
Challenger Center, 1-800-969-5747, or by e-mail at

etaylor at challenger.org

EXPLORE THE WORLD'S OCEANS ONLINE

The National Geographic Society and NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration are
launching a series of virtual teacher workshops on ocean topics. Teachers
will gain research findings, lesson plans, news stories, magazine articles,
video clips and Internet links to ensure that their students become ocean
literate. The series will introduce a wide array of topics that are linked
to the Society¹s Ocean Atlas Teacher¹s Guide and the new ³Oceans Scope and
Sequence² for K-12 Teachers. Registration for the series begins March 3. For
more information, go to

http://coexploration.org/ceo/

JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE

How would you like to take your community on a journey from spaceship
Earth to places unknown?  Each year, Challenger Center's Journey Through the
Universe program launches thousands of everyday people‹teachers and
students, moms, dads, and caregivers‹on a fantastic journey through our
universe. 

The program offers educator workshops for more than 100 K-12 teachers,
powerful K-12 educational materials mated to the national science standards,
a national team of researchers visiting thousands of students in classrooms,
and family science events. The goal is to celebrate the joy of learning, and
bring science and exploration alive for an entire community. The deadline
for applications is March 3. For details, call 703-683-9740 or click on Find
Out More at 

http://challenger.org/journey

GOOD INFO ON BAD ASTRONOMY

Bad Astronomy from Philip Plait, Sonoma State University astronomer and
lecturer, aims to debunk myths and misconceptions in astronomy and related
topics. Find reviews of popular movies, TV, news, and news briefs. Check out
rumors of flying saucers in SOHO images. Find out whether an egg stands on
end during the vernal equinox. For more information, go to

http://www.badastronomy.com/

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FEEDBACK

Ideas, comments and Web sites of interest to other teachers should be sent
to Irene Svete, newsletter editor, at

isvete at ess.washington.edu

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