Overall Approach – echoes that of the Community Health section:
Strengths
Concerns
Recommendations (more fleshed out than other 2 sections)
Education and Public Outreach will be section in the appendix – supposed to be about
5 pages
I. Strengths of E/PO associated with SEC community:
Articulate vigor of effort
Emphasize how current efforts are aligned with key priorities as articulated by
education office (promote diversity in pipeline, measurable objectives/evaluation
practices,…)
Showcase 1 – 2 specific examples of successful programs (SOHO, Sun-Earth Day
programming, other favorites?)
[This section will likely derive heavily from language in previous roadmap e/po section,
supplemented by key phrases from education enterprise documents]
2. Concerns about E/PO associated with SEC community
Challenges associated with mission-based education efforts
o On smaller scale - typically each PI has to invent education effort for
supplemental e/po funds – not viewed to be generally effective – many PIs
articulate that they don’t seek these funds because they don’t feel that (a)
the funds will cover the time/resources required; and (b) they will be
successful (broker/facilitators are supposed to assist with this – uneven in
success)
o For larger missions – concentration of effort results in fairly significant
resources – but uneven quality in design and implementation is troubling
o Target audiences – whether in schools (teachers) or in informal settings
(like Museums and Science Centers) need uniform product lines. Training
is a huge issue. Hard enough to do it well for one set of resources – really
difficult if resources change over time and across different NASA efforts
Related issue/challenge – while individual educators definitely
benefit from direct contact with individual NASA scientists and
engineers – they also need to experience NASA as ‘one NASA’ –
to take best advantage…..
o ‘If you build it they will come’ – distribution/dissemination an issue
schools – education resource centers supposed to reach teachers –
unevenly successful – and many efforts now web-based –
challenge of best practice dissemination on the web
Issues with Public Outreach (still awaiting input from Eric)
o Issues around inherent risks associated with NASA activity
Section 3. Recommendations
Strong opportunities exist to extend the power of Sun-Earth System science and related
mission activity to engage and inspire students in the formal setting of schools and
institutions of higher education, the audiences at informal learning centers (Museums,
Science Centers, etc.) and other informal venues; and general public audiences across the
nation via the press and other communication outlets.
Informal Education
Sun-Earth system science and exploration/engineering activities have tremendous
potential to engage and inspire audiences across the country in informal learning
institutions. For onsite exhibitions geared towards the general public, programs that
target various segments of the public including families, children, adults, etc.; as well as
school groups and educators, and high-production media programs, Sun-Earth System
science content has been an incredible tool for promoting public understanding of
science, science learning and teaching and building the nation’s scientific and
technological capacity.
Provide a consistent and coherent set of themed resources across NASA science and
related activities for informal settings. SEC and other NASA missions and activities
are a wonderful springboard for learning. But educators and exhibit planners in the
informal settings find each NASA opportunity requires a significant effort, simply to
ramp up, since there is little consistency in what NASA produces, from center to center,
from mission to mission. It would be tremendously helpful to know that for each NASA
activity, there will be a standard set of resources (e.g., an informational website, an
animated simulation, a set of opportunities to interact online and by video with scientists,
engineers and technicians, activities for out-of-school settings, regular updates, etc. ) with
common interfaces and similar formats that are fairly constant from activity to activity. It
is understood that flexibility is essential - unique opportunities and requirements of each
activity should be exploited, technologies will evolve, and evaluation inform revision –
however, to be able to count on a standard package would likely reduce the learning
curve for users and increase the usability and use of the resources.
Efforts should emphasize unique learning opportunities that SEC-related content
can provide, in particular, focused on the visualization of data, essential for
advancing science learning and the nation’s scientific capacity. Informal science
learning centers already create high-production value media programs around the
scientific assets of NASA, including SEC. Fully digital space shows; HD media
projections, etc. can be the basis for promoting public understanding of complex
phenomena and teaching students of all ages critical skills for 21st century science
involving collecting, analyzing, visualizing and communicating data and constructing,
manipulating and interpreting scientific models and simulations.
To maximize impact of Sun-Earth System science for E/PO, efforts should take
advantage of opportunities that exist in the intersection of the “formal” education
and “informal” education sectors. Too often in education policy and strategy, schools
and museums are viewed independent of one another with objectives and strands of
efforts, isolated from one another While there are clear differences between the two, there
are places where the two connect and overlap. Many informal science education
institutions operate at the intersection of the two sectors – offering substantial
professional development for teachers, providing learning experiences and field trips for
classes, delivering afterschool services and developing and distributing curriculum
materials and resources. NASA Education and Public Outreach should take advantage of
the existing connections and overlap between the formal and informal education arenas.
Formal Setting
Promote and support the integration of the Sun-Earth System-related content more
fully into the curriculum. National science education standards provide direct
opportunity to take advantage of Sun-Earth System Science. In this era of standards-
based curriculum and high stakes testing, what gets taught is what is required in the
curriculum and thus assessed on tests. Tremendous opportunity exists for current Sun-
Earth System science content to enrich and infuse standards-driven curricula. Influential
science education standards such as the 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy1 place
substantial emphasis on Sun-Earth system related science concepts from the earliest
grades through high school. These standards posit that in order to achieve scientific
literacy2(define science literacy) students in grades K-2, for example, master concepts such as
‘The Sun can be seen only in the daytime, but the moon can be seen sometimes in day
and sometimes in night’ (4A/2); students in grades 3-5 further expand this understanding
to ‘Stars are like the sun, some being smaller and some larger, but so far away they look
like points of light’ (4A/5); in grades 6-8 they learn that ‘The Sun is a medium-sized star
located near the edge of a disc-shaped galaxy of stars, ….’ (4A/1), and that ‘Telescopes
reveal that the Sun has dark spots’ (10A/2); and that by high school, that ‘Increasingly
sophisticated technology is used to learn about the universe. Visual, radio, and X-ray
telescopes collect information from across the entire spectrum of electromagnetic waves;
….’ (4A/3). This progression of understanding highlights the role of understanding the
Sun at many levels in developing scientific literacy.
Students also explore related Sun-Earth System science concepts as they master the
concept that ‘The sun warms the land, air, and water’ (4E/2) as a starting point for
developing their understanding of energy transformation; and ‘Magnets can be used to
make some things move without being touched’ (4G/2) as the beginning of their
comprehension of forces of nature and motion. By the time these students reach high
school they are coming to grips with concepts such as ‘Transformations of energy usually
produce some energy in the form of heat; and radiation and conduction (4E/3 – but need
to CHECK WORDING)’ and that ‘Magnetic forces are closely related to electric forces –
different aspects of single EM force’ (4G/5 but need to CHECK WORDING).
Sun-Earth System Science also relates well to additional aspects of the standards. The
Science Literacy Benchmark standards state, for example, that to develop understanding
of communications technology; K-2 graders must master the concept that ‘Devices can be
used to send and receive messages quickly and clearly’ (8D/2); and by high-school
students developing understanding that ‘Communication errors can be reduced by
boosting and focusing signals, shielding the signal from internal and external noise, and
repeating information, but all of these increase costs’ (8D/2 but need to CHECK
WORDING). For students to develop understanding about systems; K-2 graders are
introduced to the concept that ‘When parts are put together, they can do things that they
couldn’t do by themselves’ (11A/3), students in grade 6-8 learn that ‘Thinking about
things as systems means looking for how every part relates to others’ (11A/2); and high
school students grapple with the concept that ‘Most systems above the molecular level
involve so many parts and forces and are so sensitive to tiny differences in conditions that
their precise behavior is unpredictable, even if all the rules for change are known’
(11C/7).
And for students to develop understanding of scientific inquiry, which is central to
developing scientific literacy; K-2 graders learn that ‘Describing things as accurately as
possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations
with those of others’ (1B/3); and by middle and high school are learning about the
importance of hypotheses (12A/2 and 1B/2) and that evidence, logical reasoning and
imagination are key in the inquiry process (1B/1); as are either controlling variable
carefully and/or observing processes over as wide a range of natural occurrences as
possible to be able to discern patterns (1B/3).
Sun-Earth System scientific research provides vivid, authentic examples to promote
student mastery of these concepts.
[NOTE FROM RO: I WILL CREATE VISUAL(S) TO SUPPORT ABOVE AND
SHORTEN TEXT – CURRENTLY THIS SECTION IS TOO DETAILED]
Provide a consistent and coherent set of formal education resources and
professional development offerings across the NASA enterprise. For educators to take
advantage of Sun-Earth System science to engage their students from K-12 in the mastery
of these essential concepts, however, NASA needs to centralize its outreach to the formal
system. Sun-Earth System science is one aspect of the ongoing NASA enterprise. The
entire enterprise could, for example, be mapped to the Benchmarks for Scientific
Literacy. The result will be a roadmap for integrating NASA science and engineering
activities into science curricula across the nation. Standards-based educational resources
and professional development offerings created in the context of this roadmap, that tap
ongoing NASA missions, will provide a constant stream of fresh, current, authentic
scientific discovery and engineering practices that will ensure that educators will always
have NASA in their tool-kit for effective science education.
While NASA missions and activities are a wonderful springboard for learning, educators
in find each NASA opportunity requires a significant effort, simply to ramp up, since
there is little consistency in what NASA produces, from center to center, division to
division, mission to mission. To fully exploit NASA as a resource for improving science
education and scientific literacy nationwide it will be essential to know that for research
and engineering efforts associated with the NASA enterprise, there will be a standard set
of resources (e.g., an informational website, an animated simulation, a teaching guide, a
set of standards-based curriculum activities, a professional development seminar, online
course or videoconference, an interactive module, a poster, a set of opportunities to
interact online and by video with scientists, engineers and technicians, an opportunity for
student research, regular updates, etc. ) with common interfaces and similar formats that
are fairly constant from activity to activity. At the same time, of course there needs to be
flexibility to take advantage of unique opportunities and requirements - technologies
evolve, evaluation will inform revision. But as for the informal arena, to be able to count
on a standard package would likely reduce the learning curve for users and increase the
usability and effectiveness of the resources.
[Aspects of following still need to be articulated out for Formal setting:
o Centralize effort with professional cadre of educators who can
map NASA science (and engineering) enterprise to K-12 science
standards (including SEC, of course!) Use Project 2061’s
Benchmarks for Science Literacy – very highly respected approach
to reforming science education – aligned with the National Science
Standards but more clearly articulated in terms of development of
mastery of concepts across grade levels
use this map and best practice approaches to create product suites
that specific scientists can implement/infuse with their own active
research that will serve needs of K-12 educators at each level
Enhance existing and create new distribution channels so that
individual SEC PIs are not responsible for building these
relationships – (doesn’t mean individual PIs won’t go into
classrooms – if that is their ilk – but that it is understood that this is
one choice in a spectrum of choices of dissemination supported
and sanctioned/valued by NASA – and assistance is provided for
each choice as appropriate)
For smaller scale – still use model of supplements
individual PIs can apply for – to fund their participation in
above activities
For large mission scale – require that each mission select
from range of approved product suites, dissemination
strategies prior to approval/release of funds (don’t burden
folks putting proposal together with need to invent E/PO
program)
o While emphasis on K-12 is essential – range needs to be expanded to
higher ed – college professors need to be supported with strong SEC
resources to use for their introductory physics courses, etc. to maintain
flow of students into NASA related science and engineering careers.]
Public Outreach/Affairs [Still to come from Eric]