NAI’s Education and Public Outreach Program

Daniella Scalice

NAI Education, Outreach, and Communications Lead

25 July 2007

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Education and Public Outreach

“To the first Earthlings on Mars, who may be reading this book.

Are you one of them?”

-dedication from the new children’s book “Astrobiology” by Fred Bortz

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NAI’s E/PO Program

• WHAT IS E/PO?

Formal Education, Informal Education, and Public Outreach; NASA defines E/PO - originally only included K-12 and the public, now expanded to include undergraduate and graduate student training

• STRUCTURE OF NAI’S E/PO PROGRAM: E/PO LEADS + NAI CENTRAL

E/PO Leads seated at the teams; each has a unique E/PO plan; specializations and projects vary by team (teacher professional development, exhibit design, K-4 product development, etc.)

NAI Central is a nexus for support and collaboration across the NAI E/PO program, the broader astrobiology community, and NASA-wide.

supports the teams by facilitating communication, coordinating activities, providing supplemental funding for projects, leveraging partnerships, supporting their professional development

provides leadership and direction for the program, interfaces with and reports to NASA on team activities, serves as main POC for collaborative projects with the broader astrobiology

community, and external partners

• E/PO LEADS - EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS

Most are PhD-level, many are former classroom teachers, each has unique expertise; leaders in their field: pioneered programs; conduct educational research on how to teach/learn astrobiology (UA/CAPER); input to NRC and congressional review committees on NASA’s E/PO programs

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NAI’s E/PO Program Best Practices...Better E/PO

• Leverage, leverage, leverage

A wide range of partners: universities, national parks, museums, planetaria, filmmakers, etc.

E/PO leads for NAI are also E/PO leads for other NASA missions: Kepler, SOFIA, MESSENGER, Stardust, Deep Impact, LRO, other Earth Science and Astrophysics missions/instruments, etc.

• Employ diverse mechanisms to serve diverse “end-users” and populations: teachers, museum exhibit developers, journalists, Native Americans, rural and inner-city students

Design and deliver programs based on end-user needs!

• ‘Train the trainers’ for highest impact• Provide a range of experiences from exposure to in-depth training• Improve through extensive evaluation

• Cross-team collaboration • Scientist involvement

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramThen and Now…From Investment to Coordination

• E/PO Program has evolved as the Institute has grown; shift in philosophy:

THEN NOW

Blank Slate Thriving Program

Central investing in product development Central coordination helps teams leverage investments

Central conducts outreach Central Funds support team’s work

Focused on getting word out Partners approach NAI for content; productsare often no cost to NAI

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NAI’s E/PO Program Regional StrengthBuilds Community

• Strong regional focus is the foundation:

E/PO leads and scientists on every team are engaged in sharing astrobiology with their community

Local public outreach events (Astrofest, Space Day, Sally Ride Festivals), science fair judging, Girl Scouts, Elderhostel, adult education classes, public lecture

series, local school district teacher days

IPTAI’s ShAdES

PSU’s Space Day

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramFocus on Teachers…to Reach StudentsTraining the Trainers

• Teacher Professional Development is the Cornerstone of NAI’s E/PO program:

One- to several-hour long interactions: professional educator conferences (NSTA, NABT, AAPT); local school districts; science conferences (NAI General Meetings, Bioastronomy)

Several days to week-long, intensive teacher trainings: lectures, field and lab studies, pedagogy, training with classroom materials (SI, UH, CIW, PSU, MBL, GSFC/IPTAI)

Semester-long, online course for teachers: UA’s “Astrobiology for Teachers” and “Advanced Astrobiology for Teachers 1 + 2”

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramCoordinating and Leveraging Assets

• Going Beyond Products…To Training and Implementation:

• SETI Institute’s “Voyages Through Time” curriculum + ASSET teacher workshop

high quality product and flagship workshop; NAI Central supported E/PO leads to participate and replicate experience in their own programs; E/PO leads support their local teachers to attend as well

• Coordinating “astroMICROBIOLOGY” materials into topically focused teacher training workshops

highly specialized materials; teachers having difficulty and need context and training; join forces to create unifying context and design effective workshop experience

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NAI’s E/PO Program Cross Team Collaboration

• DePaul University Collaboration

2006 - NASA SMD Broker/Facilitator; “Astrobiology Symposium” for Chicago Public School District teachers; NAI Central funds supported 4 E/PO leads and a scientist to participate (SI, UCLA, CIW, MBL); train teachers with astrobiology materials

2007 - DePaul University Master of Science in Science Education course “Astrobiology;” MBL team participated via videoconferece/Webex

 “It's very cool for me as the course instructor to be able to just go to the computer lab and have my teachers be able to interact with top notch researchers 1,000 miles away.”

“The teachers loved that they could see [the speakers] on the big screen, follow the Powerpoint on their terminals, and ask questions via the Webex chat function.”

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NAI’s E/PO Program The Power of Partners

• Minority Institution Astrobiology Collaborative (MIAC)/ Astrobiology in Secondary Classrooms Project

A collaborative project led by the GSFC team involving secondary school teachers and HBCU

faculty from MIAC, and GSFC team scientists

Two years of curriculum development and field testing (workshops at GSFC and South Carolina

State University), followed by three years of teacher training workshops (Tennessee State

University, Miami-Dade County, TBD year 5)

IPTAI E/PO leads supported workshop, and CIW teams supported local teachers to attend

workshops and field test the curriculum

Project is now the subject of a newly selected NSF grant for educational research

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramExhibits Interpret Astrobiology

• Traveling Astrobiology Exhibit: “Alien Earths”

NSF-funded traveling exhibit; NAI Central supported the development of supplementary educational programs for the exhibit; most NAI E/PO Leads participated in PD experience with the exhibit; IPTAI, MBL, SI teams participated in museum staff/docent and local teacher trainings at different exhibit venues

• Astrobiology Exhibits at the New York Hall of Science: “The Search for Life Beyond our Planet”

NSF-funded permanent exhibit; contributions from IPTAI, ARC, MBL teams; funding from NASA HQ, NAI Central; museum provides local teacher professional development with NAI materials

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramInnovative Ideas Reaching Diverse Audiences

• Astrobiology Workshops for Journalists

Led by Colorado team; annual event; provides framework of understanding for newspaper journalists

and writers for other popular periodicals; supports their ability to interpret mission news, science, and

discoveries for their readers

2003: NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission

2005: Astrobiology of Yellowstone (collaborated with ARC team)

2006: Extrasolar planets

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramServing Diverse PopulationsNASA and the Navajo Nation Project

• Started with results from NASA-funded focus group with Navajo educators and politicians

Navajo leaders desire their youth to become fully contributing members of society but not at the

expense of their cultural identity; science and culture knowledge presented equally; community based

education is key

• Grant from NASA’s Office of Education at HQ

• Collaborative project including NAI Central, UCLA and UA teams, ASU Mars Education Program, ArtReach

International, Navajo Nation Division of Diné Education

• Included local teachers on the reservation, community leaders, Medicine Men

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NAI’s E/PO ProgramServing Diverse PopulationsNASA and the Navajo Nation Project

• Collaboratively drafted, field tested, and finalized a workbook with 6 hands-on activities and a short film

weaving together astrobiology/origins science with Navajo cultural knowledge

• Products internally distributed to all schools on the reservation (~300); project represented by Navajo

partners at Indian education conferences; film screened at Native American Film Festival

• New proposal in to SMD to continue the relationship and expand the project to include new activities and

new content

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NAI’s E/PO Program

BACK UP CHARTS

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NAI’s E/PO Program External PartnersHigh Quality Products

• “Aliens of the Deep” IMAX Film

Disney production; NAI Central, UW, ARC, and MBL teams consulted on the companion educator

guide; NAI Central supported the UCLA, IPTAI, SI, and ARC teams organized and supported events to

bring the film and its “scientist stars” to teachers, and doing outreach at film screenings

• “Looking for Life” Astrobiology PBS Program

NASA-funded, Independently produced; NAI Central consulted on concept and content; IPTAI, SI, CAB,

ACA and ASTEP scientists participated; NAI Central funded production of 4000 DVD’s for distribution

within the NAI E/PO community

• “Origins” PBS Series

NOVA production featuring NAI scientists; NAI Central provided coordination support and helped

produce activities for the companion website

• “Astrobiology”

A new book for middle grade readers from Lerner Publishing Group; NAI Central was contacted by the

authors and given free copies for the teams

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NAI’s E/PO Program A Range of Informal EducationPrograms

• Astrobiology: Discovering New Worlds of Life Kiosk

Led by CIW team; free-standing kiosk with interactive video about hydrothermal vents; companion

Poster; leveraged by UH, PSU, MBL Teams and others to complement existing programs

• Astrobiology Portable Planetarium Show

NAI Central-funded project through UW team; currently in development at the Pacific Science Center in

Seattle; collaborations with NASA Kepler mission; content will focus on extrasolar planets; field tests

will be with Project Astrobio schools in Puget Sound area

• Life on Other Planets: Searching for ET Summer Camp

Led by PSU team; PSU scientists provided instruction, content expertise, and resources for the week-

long event; funds from NAI Central supported 20 under-represented 4-8th grade students to attend

• “Live from the field” interactions

webcasts/webchats, blogging (CIW, UH), ship-to-shore classroom interactions (UH); reaching the

public as well as making specific connections to classrooms/students

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NAI’s E/PO Program Engaging the Public

• micro*scope

Led by MBL team; online catalogue of microbial life displaying images and info on 10,000 microbes;

numerous contributors now; leveraged into Microbial Life Educational Resources website, uBio,

Encyclopedia of Life..

• “Are We Alone?” SETI Institute Radio Show

Led by SI team; NAI Central support funding; weekly radio show featuring astrobiology research and

latest news; many NAI team researchers and other community members participate