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34 records · Page 2

Computer program for the automated attendance accounting system

The automated attendance accounting system (AAAS) was developed under the auspices of the Space Technology Applications Program. The task is basically the adaptation of a small digital computer, coupled with specially developed pushbutton terminals located in school classrooms and offices for the purpose of taking daily attendance, maintaining complete attendance records, and producing partial and summary reports. Especially developed for high schools, the system is intended to relieve both teachers and office personnel from the time-consuming and dreary task of recording and analyzing the myriad classroom attendance data collected throughout the semester. In addition, since many school district budgets are related to student attendance, the increase in accounting accuracy is expected to augment district income. A major component of this system is the real-time AAAS software system, which is described.

Poulson, P.↗

Spaceship Earth: A partnership in curriculum writing

As the Apollo astronauts left Earth to venture onto the surface of another planetary body, they saw their home planet in a new global perspective. Unmanned NASA missions have given us a closer look at all the other planets in our solar system and emphasized the uniqueness of Earth as the only place in our solar system that can sustain life as we know it. Spaceship Earth is a new science curriculum which was developed to help students and teachers to explore the Earth, to see it in the global perspective, and to understand the relationships among life, the planet, and the sun. Astronaut photographs, especially shuttle pictures, are used as groundbased studies to help students to understand global Earth Science and integrate various aspects of physical, life, and social science. The Spaceship Earth curriculum was developed at by a team of JSC scientists working in collaboration with teachers from local school districts. This project was done under the auspices of Partner-In-Space, a local non-profit organization dedicated to improving science education and our general knowledge of space. The team met once a month for a year then assembled the curriculum during the summer. The project is now in the testing stage as the teachers try it out in their classrooms. It was supported by the Texas Education Agency and will be offered by the State of Texas as a supplemental curriculum for statewide use. Because the curriculum was developed by teachers, it is self contained and the lessons are easy to implement and give students concrete experiences. The three sub-units follow in a logical order, but may be used independently. If they are used separately, they may be tied together by the teacher returning to the basic theme of the global Earth as each unit is completed.

Lindstrom, Marilyn M.↗

Virtual reality in medical education and assessment

The NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC)/LinCom Corporation, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), and the Galveston Independent School District (GISD) have teamed up to develop a virtual visual environment display (VIVED) that provides a unique educational experience using virtual reality (VR) technologies. The VIVED end product will be a self-contained educational experience allowing students a new method of learning as they interact with the subject matter through VR. This type of interface is intuitive and utilizes spatial and psychomotor abilities which are now constrained or reduced by the current two dimensional terminals and keyboards. The perpetual challenge to educators remains the identification and development of methodologies which conform the learners abilities and preferences. The unique aspects of VR provide an opportunity to explore a new educational experience. Endowing medical students with an understanding of the human body poses some difficulty challenges. One of the most difficult is to convey the three dimensional nature of anatomical structures. The ideal environment for addressing this problem would be one that allows students to become small enough to enter the body and travel through it - much like a person walks through a building. By using VR technology, this effect can be achieved; when VR is combined with multimedia technologies, the effect can be spectacular.

Sprague, Laurie A.↗

Photographing the Earth G324: The Can Do GeoCam payload

The flight of the Charleston County School District Can Do Project GeoCam payload on STS-57 was the climax of a decade long endeavor to bring the promise and excitement of the space program directly into the classroom. The payload carried four cameras designed to take high resolution photographs of the Earth under the direction of children operating the first ever student control room. During the course of the flight, the students followed the Shuttle's orbital tract, satellite weather images and selected a target list that was sent up to the crew each night as part of the execute package. Targets from this list, as well as ones chosen by the crew visually, resulted in the successful collection of photographic runs at many interesting sites on three on three continents.

Nicholson, James H.↗

Increasing Mathematics and Science Achievement for Culturally Diverse Students through Teaching Training

The purpose of this proposal was to field test and evaluate a Teacher Training program that would prepare teachers to increase the motivation and achievement of culturally diverse students in the areas of science and mathematics. Designed as a three year program, this report covers the first two years of the training program at the Ronald McNair School in the Ravenswood School district, using the resources of the NASA Ames Research Center and the California Framework for Mathematics and Science.

Mahon, Lee↗

Using Science and the Internet as Everyday Classroom Tools

The Everyday Classroom Tools project developed a K-6 inquiry-based curriculum to bring the tools of scientific inquiry, together with the Internet, into the elementary school classroom. Our curriculum encourages students and teachers to experience the adventure of science through investigation of the world around us. In this project, experts in computer science and astronomy at SAO worked closely with teachers and students in Massachusetts elementary schools to design and model activities which are developmentally appropriate, fulfill the needs of the curriculum standards of the school district, and provide students with a chance to experience for themselves the joy and excitement of scientific inquiry. The results of our efforts are embodied in the Threads of Inquiry, a series of free-flowing dialogues about inquiry-inspiring investigations that maintain a solid connection with our experience and with one another. These investigations are concerned with topics such as the motion of the Earth, shadows, light, and time. Our work emphasizes a direct hands-on approach through concrete experience, rather than memorization of facts.

Mandel, Eric↗

Enhancing Science Teacher Training Using Water Resources and GLOBE

Heritage College, located on the Yakama Indian Reservation in south central Washington state, serves a multicultural, underserved, rural population and trains teachers to staff the disadvantaged school districts on and surrounding the reservation. In-service teachers and pre-service teachers in the area show strength in biology but have weak backgrounds in chemistry and mathematics. We are addressing this problem by providing a 2-year core of courses for 3 groups of 25 students (15 pre-service and 10 in-service teachers) using GLOBE to teach integrated physical science and mathematics. At the conclusion of the program, the students will qualify for science certification by Washington State. Water resources are the focal point of the curriculum because it is central to life in our desert area. The lack or excess of water, its uses, quality and distribution is being studied by using GIS, remote sensing and historical records. Students are learning the methodology to incorporate scientific protocols and data into all aspects of their future teaching curriculum. In addition, in each of the three years of the project, pre-service teachers attended a seminar series during the fall semester with presentations by collaborators from industry, agriculture, education and government agencies. Students used NASA educational materials in the presentations that they gave at the conclusion of the seminar series. All pre- and in-service teachers continue to have support via a local web site for Heritage College GLOBE participants.

Falco, James W.↗

Electrostatics of Granular Materials

The purpose of the research was to continue developing an understanding of electrostatic phenomena in preparation for any future flight opportunities of the EGM experiment, originally slated for a 2004 Space Station deployment. Work would be based on theoretical assessments, ground-based lab experiments, and reduced-gravity experiments. The ability to examine dipoles in the lab proved to be elusive, and thus, effort was concentrated on monopoles -how materials become charged, the fate of the charge, the role of material type, and so forth. Several significant milestones were achieved in this regard. In regard of the dipoles, experiments were designed in collaboration with the University of Chicago school district who had access to reduced gravity on the KC-135 aircraft. Two experiments were slated to fly last year but were cancelled after the Columbia accident. One of the experiments has been given a second life and will fly sometime in 2005 if the Shuttle flights resume. There remains active interest in the question of electrostatic dipoles within the educational community, and experiments using magnetic dipoles as a substitute are to be examined. The KC-135 experiments will also examine dispersion methods for particles as a verification of possible future techniques in microgravity. Both laboratory and theoretical work established a number of breakthroughs in our understanding of electrostatic phenomena. These breakthroughs are listed in this paper.

Marshall, John↗

ARES Education and Public Outreach

The ARES Directorate education team is charged with translating the work of ARES scientists into content that can be used in formal and informal K-12 education settings and assisting with public outreach. This is accomplished through local efforts and national partnerships. Local efforts include partnerships with universities, school districts, museums, and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) to share the content and excitement of space science research. Sharing astromaterials and exploration science with the public is an essential part of the Directorate's work. As a small enclave of physical scientists at a NASA Center that otherwise emphasizes human space operations and engineering, the ARES staff is frequently called upon by the JSC Public Affairs and Education offices to provide presentations and interviews. Scientists and staff actively volunteer with the JSC Speaker's Bureau, Digital Learning Network, and National Engineers Week programs as well as at Space Center Houston activities and events. The education team also participates in many JSC educator and student workshops, including the Pre-Service Teacher Institute and the Texas Aerospace Scholars program, with workshop presentations, speakers, and printed materials.

Allen, Jaclyn↗

The Effects of Using Space to Teach Standard Elementary School Curriculum

This brief report and recommendation for further research brings to a formal close this effort, the original purpose of which is described in detail in The effects of using space to teach standard elementary school curriculum, Volume 1, included here as the Appendix. Volume 1 describes the project as a 3-year research program to determine the effectiveness of using space to teach. The research design is quasi experimental using standardized test data on students from Aldrin Elementary School and a District-identified 'control' school, which shall be referred to as 'School B.' Students now in fourth through sixth grades will be compared now (after one year at Aldrin) and tracked at least until the present sixth graders are through the eighth grade. Appropriate statistical tests will be applied to standardized test scores to see if Aldrin students are 'better' than School B students in areas such as: Overall academic performance; Performance in math/science; and Enrollments in math/science in middle school.

Ewell, Robert N.↗

Using the Process and Excitement of Science and Technology to Empower Teachers and Engage their Students

Students United with NASA Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science (SUNBEAMS) is a Partnership between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). It empowers teachers and inspires students with the process and excitement of science and technology. SUNBEAMS is being developed as a model urban intervention program for sixth grade teachers and their students. The teachers come to Goddard for five weeks during the summer. They partner with Goddard mentors and work much the same way that summer students do. In addition, the teachers are responsible for developing lesson plans that they pilot at their schools and post on the SUNBEAMS web site. During the school year, each teacher brings one class to Goddard for a full week of total immersion in math and science.

Crannell, Carol Jo↗

High-school Student Teams in a National NASA Microgravity Science Competition

The Dropping In a Microgravity Environment or DIME competition for high-school-aged student teams has completed the first year for nationwide eligibility after two regional pilot years. With the expanded geographic participation and increased complexity of experiments, new lessons were learned by the DIME staff. A team participating in DIME will research the field of microgravity, develop a hypothesis, and prepare a proposal for an experiment to be conducted in a NASA microgravity drop tower. A team of NASA scientists and engineers will select the top proposals and then the selected teams will design and build their experiment apparatus. When completed, team representatives will visit NASA Glenn in Cleveland, Ohio to operate their experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower and participate in workshops and center tours. NASA participates in a wide variety of educational activities including competitive events. There are competitive events sponsored by NASA (e.g. NASA Student Involvement Program) and student teams mentored by NASA centers (e.g. For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics Competition). This participation by NASA in these public forums serves to bring the excitement of aerospace science to students and educators.Researchers from academic institutions, NASA, and industry utilize the 2.2 Second Drop Tower at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio for microgravity research. The researcher may be able to complete the suite of experiments in the drop tower but many experiments are precursor experiments for spaceflight experiments. The short turnaround time for an experiment's operations (45 minutes) and ready access to experiment carriers makes the facility amenable for use in a student program. The pilot year for DIME was conducted during the 2000-2001 school year with invitations sent out to Ohio- based schools and organizations. A second pilot year was conducted during the 2001-2002 school year for teams in the six-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The third year for DIME was conducted during the 2002-2003 school year for teams from the fifty United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. An annual national DIME program is planned for the foreseeable future. Presented in this paper will be a description of DIME, an overview of the planning and execution of such a program, results from the first three years, and lessons learned from the first national competition.

DeLombard, Richard↗

Climate Science for Decision-Making in the New York Metropolitan Region

New York City is one of the world's most vulnerable cities to coastal flooding, due to a high concentration of population and assets near a coastline exposed to warm-season tropical storms and cold -season Nor'easter storms. Among U.S. cities, New York City is second only to New Orleans in population living less than 4 ft above the local high tide. By the 2050s, average annual losses due to coastal flooding alone could exceed $2 billion for the combined New York City-Newark region. Perhaps the most iconic example of a vulnerable New York City asset is the financial district located at the southern tip of Manhattan, however low-lying coastal assets include the full complement of major highways, subways and tunnels, hospitals, schools, wastewater treatment plants, food distribution centers, and people's homes. Given the magnitude of the assets at risk, a compelling case can be made that long-term adaptation makes economic sense for New York City. Given New York's access to economic, human, and technological resources for resilience measures, the City may be able to achieve this resilience. The city's political environment-New York City is a place where climate science is generally not a partisan issue-and the city's experience with uncertainty and overall risk framing (e.g., financing of bond issues for multi-billion dollar infrastructure with multidecade expected lifetimes), encourage climate risk framing.

Horton, Radley↗

Adventures in Technology = Options in Math and Science

All five school systems on the Virginia Peninsula participate with a total of 21 middle schools in the ATOMS program. More than 20,000 students have participated in the pipeline programs since 1989. The focus has been on creating a diverse pool of academically-prepared students. The number of minority students participating has steadily increased, reaching 49.1 % in 1997. Female participation has remained steady at 55.4%. Female and minority participation will continue to receive high priority. The programs were evaluated by means of student, teacher, and counselor surveys. Questionnaires are distributed immediately after each intervention. The respondents are asked questions concerning the appropriateness of the activity, their interest level and change in opinion after the intervention. More than 90% of all students rate each activity as "Interesting" to "Very Interesting." Almost 70 % of students indicate they intend to take additional higher level mathematics courses in high school after participating in the Site and Campus Visits. Between 70 and 80 % (79.3 % after the Career Awareness Activity, 72.0 % after the Industry Site Visit) of students indicated they have a better understanding of why math and science are important school subjects after participation in each ATOMS activity. Comparisons in scores from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills have been made between the ATOMS students and the remainder of the seventh and eighth grade populations. ATOMS students' math and science achievement scores from the fifth grade were near the district average. After participating in ATOMS, students scored significantly higher than their peers. ATOMS students enrolled at TNCC have been identified and are being tracked further for achievement.

Quanty, Michael↗

Research project for increasing pool of minority engineers

The Tennessee State University (TSU) Research Project for Increasing the Pool of Minority Engineers is designed to develop engineers who have academic and research experiences in technical areas of interest to NASA. These engineers will also have some degree of familiarity with NASA Lewis Research Center as a result of interaction with Lewis engineers, field trips and internships at Lewis. The Research Project has four components, which are: (1) Minority Introduction to Engineering (MITE), a high school precollege program, (2) engineering and technology previews, (3) the NASA LeRC Scholars program which includes scholarships and summer internships, and (4) undergraduate research experiences on NASA sponsored research. MITE is a two-week summer engineering camp designed to introduce minority high school students to engineering by exposing them to: (1) engineering role models (engineering students and NASA engineer), (2) field trips to engineering firms, (3) in addition to introducing youth to the language of the engineer (i.e., science, mathematics, technical writing, computers, and the engineering laboratory). Three MITE camps are held on the campus of TSU with an average of 40 participants. MITE has grown from 25 participants at its inception in 1990 to 118 participants in 1994 with participants from 17 states, including the District of Columbia, and 51 percent of the participants were female. Over the four-year period, 77 percent of the seniors who participated in MITE have gone to college, while 53 percent of those seniors in college are majoring in science, engineering or mathematics (SEM). This first Engineering and Technology Previews held in 1993 brought 23 youths from Cleveland, Ohio to TSU for a two-day preview of engineering and college life. Two previews are scheduled for 1994-1995. The NASA LeRC Scholars program provides scholarships and summer internships for minority engineering students majoring in electrical or mechanical engineering. Presently six (6) engineering students are in the Scholars program. The average GPA for the scholars is 3.239. Each scholar must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.000/4.000. NASA LeRC Fred Higgs has been awarded a GEM Fellowship. In addition, he will be presenting a paper entitled 'Design of Helical Spring Using Probabilistic Design Methodology' at the Middle Tennessee Section ASME Student Design Presentations in Nashville on March 23rd and at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research to be held at Union College, Schenectady, New York on April 20-22, 1995. Each of the scholars is working on one of the three NASA sponsored research projects in the college.

Rogers, Decatur B.↗

Providing Housing, Food and Medical Support for 25,000 Katrina Evacuees with 12 Hours Notice: The Harris County Medical Support of the Superdome Evacuees

Hurricane Katrina was responsible for trapping 25,000 people in the New Orleans Superdome and isolating many others throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. The transport of these evacuees to the Reliant Park (Houston, Texas) used 500 buses each containing about 55 people. Processing the arriving evacuees included addressing their health status and medical needs as follows: an initial triage at disembarkation, a secondary triage in the Reliant Astrodome and Center, and definitive clinical care in the Reliant Arena "Katrina" Clinic. Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) physicians boarded buses and identified the sickest for emergency transport to Harris County Hospital District (HCHD) hospitals. BCM departments represented included pediatrics, family and community medicine, internal medicine, radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, surgery, and psychiatry. Astrodome and Center triage was managed by BCM physicians and staffed by HCHD Nurses and volunteers from Texas and beyond. The Reliant Astrodome, Center and Arena reached peak headcounts of 15,000,4500, and 2500, respectively Most evacuees visiting the triage sites in the Astrodome and Center were treated using "over-the-counter" medications with the remaining being transported to the "Katrina" clinic. The clinic was equipped with a lab, pharmacy, digital X-ray, and ultrasound machines in addition to electronic patient records created using 80 computer terminals. The Katrina clinic saw more than 15,000 patients during 15 days of operations (2,000 on the first full day), administered 10,000 tetanus shots, and filled thousands of prescriptions. At the peak of operations, the clinic saw 150 patients/hour with 25 physicians scheduled for each 12-hour shift. Approximately 900 people were transported to hospital emergency rooms. Within 3 weeks of arriving at the Reliant Park facilities, more than 90% of the families found permanent housing, enrolled children in schools, and found work. Using data obtained from manual and electronic medical records, this presentation will document the major milestones and lessons learned from this extraordinary project to help the Katrina evacuees.

Hamilton, Douglas↗