Saturday, February 5, 2011

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Video Webchat With Astronaut Ron Garan on Feb. 8
 Posted on Feb 04, 2011 11:02:08 AM | John Entwistle  0 Comments | |
Astronaut Ron GaranOn Feb. 8, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. EST, a special Digital Learning Network event with astronaut Ron Garan will be held. Garan is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in March of this year. During the special webcast event, Garan will discuss his upcoming mission and answer questions from students. Students across the country will be able to watch the DLiNfo Channel’s webcast, and they will be able to e-mail their questions for Garan to answer during the program.
Join the webcast by following the link in the DLiNfo Channel Webcasts portion of the page at the DLN website.
Potlatch Students Recycle Water for the Moon!
 Posted on Feb 03, 2011 03:06:36 PM | John Entwistle  0 Comments | |
Are you looking for a classroom project that helps students learn about water purification as they work in groups? Like NES educator Laura Wommack, you should check out the Water Limitation Management Water Recycling activity, an extension of the Engineering Design Challenge, Water Filtration.
Laura Wommack, NES educator at Potlatch Junior-Senior High School, completed the Waste Limitation Management Water Recycling Design Challenge with her eighth-grade students. This NASA project challenges students build a water purification system that could be used on the moon. Learn how she used this contest to motivate her students. 
Read about Wommack’s experiences in the NES NEON forum, Engineering Design Challenge: Plant Growth Chamber. Look for the title “Eighth Grade Students Complete Waste Limitation Management Water Recycling Activity.”
Learn more about the Waste Limitation Management Water Recycling Design Challenge at the Teachers Corner.
Balloonsat High Altitude Flight Student Competition
 Posted on Feb 02, 2011 11:56:21 AM | John Entwistle  0 Comments | |
Balloon Sat LogoThe BHALF competition is open to teams of four or more students in grades 9 to 12 from high schools and community groups throughout the United States, District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Teams develop a flight experiment or technology demonstration and submit a proposal for consideration by a panel of NASA scientists and engineers. The panel will select eight teams to design and construct their project for competition. The eight projects will be sent to the near space environment of the stratosphere, or nearly 100,000 feet (~ 50.5 km) above Earth, during several NASA weather balloon launches in Northeastern, Ohio. Proposals are due February 11, 2011. 
For more information, check out the BHALF website. Link to the NES Virtual Campus.
Watch Out for Solar Sail Flares!
 Posted on Feb 01, 2011 03:45:37 PM | John Entwistle  0 Comments | |
Artist concept of a solar sail in space.On Jan. 21st, NanoSail-D unfurled a 10 m2 sail 650 km above Earth's surface, becoming the first solar sail to orbit our planet. For the next few months it will skim the top of the atmosphere, slowly descending in a test of 'drag sails' as a means of de-orbiting space junk. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will disintegrate like a meteor in April or May of 2011, dispersing harmlessly more than 1100 km high. Meanwhile, sky watchers should be alert for flares lasting 5 to 10 seconds outshining the brightest stars in the sky, mimicking a supernova, perhaps even casting faint shadows at your feet.
For more information about NanoSail-D click here.
(Full article located at Science@NASA, by Dr. Tony Phillips)
Students Modify Lunar Plant Growth Chamber Activity
 Posted on Feb 01, 2011 09:19:00 AM | John Entwistle 1 Comments | |
Lunar Plant Growth Chamber lesson cover pageDo you want to learn how NASA Explorer Schools educator April Bidwell’s class at Wewahitchka Elementary School turned the Lunar Plant Growth Chamber into a full classroom experiment? 
Students planted basil seeds, which had flown on the International Space Station, in three different everyday items. The items included diapers, an old tennis shoe and a wasp nest. Which do you think grew seeds the best? Find out in NEON
Read more about this exciting activity at http://neon.intronetworks.com/#. Register, log in, join the NES group and navigate to the Engineering Design Challenge: Water Filtration forum. Look for Bidwell’s complete write-up, entitled “Fifth-Grade Class Carries out Lunar Plant Growth Chamber Challenge.”
Do this NES activity in your classroom to find out how creative your own students can be. Log it, and you’ll be on your way to an all-expenses-paid NASA summer research experience as part of our Recognition Program!
Remember to Complete On-line Surveys
 Posted on Jan 31, 2011 11:28:34 AM | John Entwistle 2 Comments | |
Have you filled out the online surveys for all of the NASA Explorer Schools activities you have completed? It is important to fill out the surveys for each one, as filling out the surveys is the only way to receive credit for that activity. The surveys ask no more than ten questions and should take less than five minutes to complete.
Completing the surveys counts towards your eligibility for the NES Recognition Program. To become eligible to apply for NES Recognition and have the opportunity to participate in a unique NASA event, you must complete one of each of the core NES activities:
  Use of Teaching Materials.
  Participate in Electronic Professional Development (Live or On-Demand).
  View a NASA Now Event.
If you fill out the surveys, we will know that you have used the NES Resources and you become eligible for NASA recognition.
Additionally, the surveys offer you the opportunity to give us feedback on NES resources. We place great value on the comments we receive from teachers and will use this information to make improvements to the NES selection of resources. 
 
Are you unsure of where to find the surveys? Each Virtual Campus page for the Teaching Materials, Electronic Professional Development videos, and NASA Now events has a unique survey button located on the bottom right-hand of the page, indicated by an easy-to-spot yellow clipboard symbol.
Log onto the NES Virtual Campus today and fill out surveys for any activities you already have completed. Also remember to do so for all activities now and in the future. We are looking forward to receiving your feedback!
Message From the Administrator-Day of Remembrance
 Posted on Jan 27, 2011 11:48:32 AM | John Entwistle  0 Comments | |
The last week of January every year brings us the opportunity to reflect on the sobering realities of our space exploration enterprise. Each time men and women board a spacecraft, their actions carry great risk along with the opportunity for great discoveries and the chance to push the envelope of our human achievement. Today, we honor the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia crews, as well as other members of the NASA Family who lost their lives supporting NASA’s mission of exploration. We thank them and their families for their extraordinary sacrifices in the service of our nation.
 
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the loss of Challenger -- a tragedy that caused us to completely re-think our systems and processes as we worked to make the shuttle safer. The nation will never forget Jan. 28, 1986, nor its indelible images. The astronauts in that crew were personal friends of mine, as were the astronauts aboard Columbia when it was lost. The Apollo I crew perished while I was studying at the Naval Academy, and I mourned their loss in the line of duty with the nation. These brave men and women will always be a part of us, and we are still building on their legacies.
 
NASA has learned hard lessons from each of our tragedies, and they are lessons that we will continue to keep at the forefront of our work as we continuously strive for a culture of safety that will help us avoid our past mistakes and heed warnings while corrective measures are possible. In memory of our colleagues, I ask the NASA Family once again to always make its opinions known and to be unafraid to speak up to those in authority, so that safety can always be our guiding principle and the sacrifices of our friends and colleagues will not be in vain.
 
On this Day of Remembrance, as we honor our fallen heroes with tributes and public ceremonies, I will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Across the country, flags at NASA Headquarters and the NASA centers will be flown at half-mast in memory of our colleagues lost in the cause of exploration.
 
The legacy of those who have perished is present every day in our work and inspires generations of new space explorers. Every day, with each new challenge we overcome and every discovery we make, we honor these remarkable men and women. Please join me in working to fulfill their dreams for the future.

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