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UPDATE # 49 September 4, l998 PART 1: Back-to-school special SPECIAL BACK-TO-SCHOOL SPECIAL
Welcome to a new academic year with Space Team Online (STO). We hope that you will make us a part of your routine this year. Unlike the typical Updates Newsletter, at the onset of each new school year we like to give newcomers an overview of this project and remind the rest of us of the multiple facets of STO. The usual content of this Updates Newsletter will be heads-up alerts to upcoming events and stories written by the men and women behind the scenes who work in NASA's human spaceflight program. You are introduced to these folks on the team pages at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team The Quest team you'll hear from and about periodically who work directly (though not exclusively) on STO are: Alan, Andrea, and Bill, our Quest Systems and Learning Technologies Channel Consultants Brandt, our Kennedy Space Center correspondent Chris, our multiple Lists manager and Smart Filter manager Lori, our Johnson Space Center correspondent Marc, our peerless Quest project manager Oran, our QuestChat manager We always enjoy hearing from you. Please feel free to send your comments and suggestions to me and I will share them with the rest of the team. We're looking forward to making 98/99 the best yet! Join us. Linda FALL FEATURE: THE CHALLENGE PROJECT
The next shuttle flight coming up in October is STS-95. It is receiving unprecedented attention due to the return to space flight of Senator John Glenn after 36 years. This flight will provide a unique opportunity to conduct space-based research on aging since NASA has 42 years of medical history on Astronaut Glenn. It is within this context that NASA's Life Sciences Division addresses the choice to stay physically and mentally active at every age in The Challenge Project. Join us on-line at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/challenge to interact with real people who have chosen to surmount life's challenges with a positive attitude and who view fitness, lifelong learning, and imagination as critical to the quality of life. The Challenge Project will feature a 7-day underwater mission, September 23-30, 1998, of the Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station (SAS), designed as an analog setting that demonstrates the concepts and challenges of systems needed for human exploration of space. In typical Quest style, we will provide on-line profiles and journals of these remarkable people. You will be given opportunities to interact with them live in both chats and webcasts. The official opening of the website was September 1, and a tentative calendar of live events is at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/challenge/news/calendar.html LESSON PLANS NOW INCLUDE VIDEO
Lesson plans are available for in-class use, and this year we have added several new series like: Suited for Spacewalking Teacher's Guide: emphasizing technology education and mathematics, this new guide has activities and information relating to the International Space Station. Liftoff to Learning, a video series offered by NASA's Education Division and Johnson Space Flight Center's Flight Crew Operations Directorate are viewable onsite. The accompanying resource guides provide insights into human space exploration. The lessons and more can be found in the Teachers' Lounge at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/teachers We hope you'll use these resources to help make the connection for your students to the real work shared in Space Team Online.
One of our most exciting and basic activities on Quest is the opportunity for students to "chat" live with the Space Team Online experts. Exciting, because students begin to connect the on-line profile with a "real" person who responds to their questions in real time. Basic, because you only need basic Internet connectivity to participate. Even if all you have is one computer in the classroom, there are many ways to use this part of STO, and our Chat pages include ideas from teachers who use the QuestChats under less than ideal circumstances. Our chats provide the security of Quest team moderation. If you plan to actively participate in a chat, you will register for the event ahead of time. Everybody is always welcome, though, to observe the chat (no RSVP is required). A great example is our upcoming chat with Angie Lee, who is currently working with Senator Glenn to prepare him for STS-95. Don't miss this one! For more details, and for the complete schedule, please visit: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats BIOGRAPHIES AND FIELD JOURNALS
Autobiographical profiles of the men and women of the Space Team Online project provide the core reading material that brings to life the real world excitement of America's space program. Each participant shares a bit of the path that led them to their present position. Personal information about family, pets and hobbies puts a human face on the "rocket scientist" impression youngsters have and helps your students to visualize themselves on a similar path. The so-called "Field Journals" are stories that describe in detail the work it takes to make the shuttle and space station come to life. The format will vary and may include "what I did today," or "a problem I recently solved," or a "problem I wish I could solve," or "my goals for the next month." Regardless of the style, the stories bring to life for your students the diversity of skills and people needed for NASA's space program to work. These materials are identified by reading difficulty to assist teachers in selecting appropriate levels for the classroom. We hope that these snippets of NASA's world will be useful as reading exercises and to illustrate related topics within your curriculum. E-MAIL QUESTIONS GET PERSONALLY ANSWERED
The opportunity to send e-mail questions to the men and women of NASA's STO team is available. In most cases, you will receive a reply within 10 days to two weeks. K-12 students and teachers can e-mail questions to engineers, scientists and support staff. This interaction is supported by a "Smart Filter" who protects the professional from Internet overload by acting as a buffer. A database of replies to previously asked questions is provided on-line. We believe that the e-mail Q&A service is a good complement to the bios, journals and other materials. Students have an opportunity to follow-up on any Space Team Online information, or they can pursue their own lines of interest. STUDENTS PUBLISH ON NASA'S WEB
Students are the primary reason for Space Team Online and seeing them take an active role in this project is one of our primary goals. We'd like to get pictures of your students at work or samples of their work we may publish on NASA's Web. Many kids will be very excited to point their browser to NASA and see themselves at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/kids We can accept submissions electronically as e-mail, Web pages, or file transfers. If it is easier, send us faxes or mail us hardcopy. For details about how to get your material to us, see http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/posting.html We can only display your work if you send it.... so please share! WEEKLY WEBCHATS WITH COLLEAGUES
An opportunity is now available to connect live with other
teachers and the Space Team Online development team. Every
Thursday, we meet virtually on-line to discuss issues and
learn from one another. This is really a forum for teachers (not
students) and others who are attempting to use the project with
students. Hopefully your questions about the STO project will get
answered. I know the STO team will come prepared to hear you and
to adapt the project to meet real teacher requirements.
We will hold the discussion on the Web using our own software, called
QuestChat. To use it, you only need a Web browser like Netscape or
Microsoft's Internet Explorer. These teacher chats are similar to
the student/NASA-expert forums (described above in PART 4) so these
chats can allow you to get comfortable with the technology before you
bring a whole class into a chat room.
On Thursdays, we will alternate the starting time of the one-hour
discussion. We hope this will allow for participation from teachers
on the east coast, west coast, and everywhere in between and beyond.
The schedule for the next few weeks is:
Pacific Eastern
Sept 10 noon 3:00pm
Sept 17 3:00pm 6:00pm
Sept 24 noon 3:00pm
To join the fun, point your web browser to:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/interact.html
SUBSCRIBING / UNSUBSCRIBING: HOW TO DO IT If this is your first message from the updates-sto list, welcome! To catch up on back issues, please visit the following Internet URL: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/updates To subscribe to the updates-sto mailing list (where this message came from), send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write only these words: subscribe updates-sto CONVERSELY... To remove your name from the updates-sto mailing list, send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: unsubscribe updates-sto If you have Web access, please visit our "continuous construction" site at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space |
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