Grades: 6-9
Moon Math is a set of two math units designed for middle school students and high school freshmen (grades 6-9). The units are centered on the theme of lunar habitat design and are supported by paper-and-pencil activities and a Moon Math data set in the What’s the Difference software application.

Unit I contains three case studies that can be used together or as stand-alone modules. These case studies focus on area, volume, and proportion and are provided at three levels of difficulty: whole numbers, decimals, and fractions. Unit II goes a step beyond lunar habitat design with three lessons addressing the calculation of human weight on the Moon, the optimization of cargo hold volume, and the optimization of cargo weight for a lunar mission. The Moon Math data set in What’s the Difference supports both units with imagery, animation, a human weight calculator, and a lunar habitat activity.

Grade Level: 7th & 8th Grade Middle School Girls
Program dates: July 7-11, 2008
Location: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Application Deadline: April 1, 2008

SISTER is a five day Summer Institute for the purpose of increasing the awareness of and providing opportunities for middle school girls to explore non-traditional career fields with research scientists, mathematicians and engineers. This is open to girls who will be in 7th and 8th grade in the 2008-2009 academic year.

Grade Level: 16 years by program start date and older
Program dates: June 16 - August 8, 2008
Location: Applicants must live and attend school within a 50-mile
commuting radius of the NASA IV&V Facility; Fairmont, WV.
Application deadline: February 28, 2008

Grade Level: Sophomores during the 2007-2008 academic year (rising Juniors)
Program dates: June 23 - August 1, 2008
Location: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Application Deadline: March 15, 2008

Grade Level: Urban 9th - 12th Grade High School Students
Tentative Dates:
First Session: June 24 to July 7
Second Session: July 22 to August 4
Location: Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD
Application Deadline: May 18, 2008

INSPIRE is a multi-tiered student pipeline project for students and their parent or legal guardian. Participating students must be in grades 9-12 or in their freshman year of college. INSPIRE is designed to provide grade-appropriate NASA-related resources and experiences to encourage and reinforce students' aspirations to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education and careers.

The project also offers resources and information for parents to help them better champion their student's goals. INSPIRE provides participants a rich online community, as well as opportunities to compete to participate in NASA/STEM Experiences. INSPIRE participants will be matched to one of the 10 NASA facilities, based on the participant's place of residence and the NASA facility Area of Service. See the NASA facility table below for the definition of each facility's Area of Service.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Education Office will hold a summer professional development workshop for up to ten middle school teachers of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and/or Geography (STEM-G). Teams of 2-3 teachers from the same school are invited to GSFC for 5 days from July 30 - August 3, 2007.

Teacher teams will work with a different GSFC scientist or engineer each morning to learn about his/her career and area(s) of expertise as they relate to STEM-G curricula and the themes of the STS-118 mission—the first flight of an Educator Astronaut. During the afternoon, each team will develop a classroom activity or project that incorporates the knowledge gained from the scientist or engineer in order to provide real life examples of applications to STEM-G middle school curricula.

Throughout the 2007-08 school year, team members will implement all five of the activities or projects developed in one or more of their classes as appropriate and provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of the activity/project in teaching the Standards-based content in their teaching field. Each team member will be provided with a stipend of $150 per day after the conclusion of the workshop. Teacher participants who are not within daily commuting distance from GSFC will be responsible for their own living expenses and travel to and from the Center each day.

Deadline: April 7, 2008
Location: Washington, DC

Secretary Spellings has announced the creation of Teaching Ambassador Fellowship positions for currently practicing, K-12 public school teachers at the U.S. Department of Education for the 2008-2009 school year. These positions will offer highly motivated, innovative teachers the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on public education. Up to five Washington Fellows will be chosen to become full-time, paid federal employees in Washington, D.C. for the school year, working on education programs and participating in policy discussions.

Teaching Ambassador Fellows will be selected based upon their record of leadership, impact on student achievement, and potential for contribution to the field. Highly qualified K-12 public school teachers who have spent at least three years in the classroom are eligible to apply. Teachers must be currently practicing in and employed by a public school district to be eligible. To ensure collaboration at the school and district levels, teacher applicants must have the full support of their school principals.

Grade Level: 9-12 but could be adapted for other grade levels

This project will help you explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as you learn about NASA. Working at NASA is like exploring space; there are no boundaries that define what professionals do; knowledge and skill sets are constantly expanding. Becoming a NASA professional is challenging, but it is also achievable. If you have the curiosity, creativity, determination and problem-solving skills necessary, then the opportunities at NASA are limitless.

Registration Opens: February 8, 2008

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission will search for water ice at the south pole of the moon. Finding deposits of water ice would be a crucial step in deciding where to locate a human outpost on the moon. In this challenge, students are must design a lunar impact simulator and determine the optimal impact angle to get the most information from the impact.

Registration Opens: March 2008

In this challenge, students become scientists and propose Antarctic research. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica is the first true-color high-resolution satellite view of the Antarctic continent. Using this view of Antarctica, students must develop a research question and debate the value of studying the chosen feature.

The cinnamon basil seeds that were recently flown on board shuttle mission STS-118 are now in the process of being packaged at Park Seed Company in Greenwood, S.C. After they are packaged, the seeds will be sent to a mailing organization for delivery to registered educators. We anticipate the delivery phase taking place very soon. An Express listserv message update will be sent when delivery begins.