March 1 through May 1, NASA Ames Educational Technology Team needs educators in grades 5-8 and their students to assist in testing an activity in which students do parallel research with NASA engineers, solving a real NASA “problem”.

If you're a grades 5-8 teacher looking for a way to capture your students' attention while teaching them science or technology concepts in the context of real research, then this is the project you've been searching for! Throughout the design challenge your students will acquire and employ decision-making skills and collaborative skills while applying principles of science and technology.

To learn more information and to apply, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/space/robotdesign
To register go to: http://128.102.86.28/robotics/design.htm

As an evaluator, you will be contributing to the development of an exciting quality educational curriculum supplement for which you will receive recognition in the product as well as a certificate of appreciation from NASA. This project will include several opportunities for students to interact live with NASA experts in the course of the design process. All activities correlate to the national standards in science and technology. Careers in engineering will be showcased as well as NASA research in robotic design.

As a part of this select group, you will be a part of an evaluation e-mail list that will provide technical support and suggestions from fellow educators. Finally, to show our appreciation, you will receive a packet of NASA educational materials such as CD’s, posters, lithographs, and classroom activities.

As an evaluator, you will participate in the activity with your classroom, researching and designing a robot, interacting with NASA experts and other classrooms, and submitting a design for publishing on the NASA website.

During the evaluation, you are expected to provide feedback from yourself and your students. This will require about 1.5 additional hours of classroom/instruction time. You will be a part of an evaluation e-mail list that will provide technical support and suggestions from fellow evaluating educators. Finally, to show our appreciation, you will receive a packet of NASA materials for use in your classroom.

The evaluation will occur in two phases:
Phase One (March, 2003):

Teacher and class demographics surveys (registration)
Student pre-questionnaire

Computer:

PC with Intel(r) Pentium(r) Processor or
Macintosh Power PC or better

RAM: 32 MB

Internet Browser: