ENGAGE MMS 2014 Challenge

Students in my community were treated to an excellent learning opportunity with Mr. Tom Chambers students from Houston's   Raul Yzaguirre School For Success.  

As part of a joint effort with NASA and ISTE's collaboration project on the  MMS 2014 Mission, nineteen students from RYSS mentored the entire junior high along with 5th and 6th grade GT students on how to create digital art from reflections on prior scientific research.  

All students in Dublin researched on the following topics before participating in the joint workshop and NASA Summit.  Students completed building block one, which consisted of student led research or completion on the following questions/tasks.  

Week One:  Students were introduced to the topics of magnetosphere, solar weather and MMS 2014 mission.  All students in their science or  GT course watched an engaging short video on Solar Storms and the Earth's Magnetic Shield.  Students then were challenged, via Skype with Sandra Wozniak, to think about How is the MMS mission relevant to our daily lives? How can knowledge about the universe affect our daily lives?  

In groups, students completed individual research on building block one.  Each group member was assigned a question/task and then had to share their findings with their group.  Each group developed a presentation and utilized a presentation tool, (such as Prezi, PowerPoint, or Keynote).  Groups presented material to the entire class.  Research by group included the following:

Sun:  GROUP ONE

1. Draw and label the layers of the sun.

2. Find out what a sunspot and CMEs are

3. Explain why the sun is important

Solar weather:  GROUP TWO

1. What is a solar storm?

2. What is the connection between auroras and the solar wind?

3. How does space weather affect us?

Magnetosphere:  GROUP THREE

1. What is a magnetosphere and why is it important?

2. What are magnetic reconnections? Why are they important?

Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission:  GROUP FOUR

1. What are the parts of the MMS mission? How will it work?

2. What is the purpose of the MMS mission?

3. Why is the MMS mission important?

RYSS mentors DISD Junior High Students on Using Gimp to Reflect and Create Art on MMS 2014 Challenge

Week Two:  Mr. Chamber's 19 students, highly skilled and trained in the software GIMP, arrived at Dublin Junior High to kick off the 2014 NASA challenge and mentor Dublin Junior High and Dublin Intermediate Students.   Students were treated to an introduction and challenge led by RYSS students.  Utilizing scientific vocabulary and research, students were mentored in a 2 hour workshop on GIMP best practices and began creating art, which reflects on prior research mentioned above:  Sun, Solar Weather, Magnetosphere, or MMS 2014.

DISD GT student creating with her RYSS mentor using GIMP. 

Students also met and interviewed the "Father of Digital Art" and media pioneer, Laurence Gartel, via Skype.  Students were inspired to think about careers and opportunities available in the field of digital art.  Mr. Gartel was captivating, engaging, and motivating.  His personality and charisma captured the attention of the entire audience. 

Skype with "Father of Digital Art" Laurence Gartel

The experience ended with our DISD and RYSS students challenging the world through the participation on the NASA summit.  Students from New Jersey, El Paso ISD, Corpus Christi ISD, Dublin ISD, and in other locations in Texas were treated to a video summit that included top scientists and professionals from NASA, ISTE, Rice University, and US Diplomat serving in South East Asia.  To view a recording of the summit, please visit http://connect.episd.org/p41864071/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal.  The experience will continue and lead to a larger challenge next year. 

DISD GT student challenges the world at NASA Summit

 From this experience, students are now creating art in other core subject areas at Dublin Junior High.  Mr. Chamber's students were also treated with a private tour in 2 of our 5 offsite curriculum museum centers in Dublin, Texas.   A joint traveling art exhibit on the MMS 2014 challenge will be held this summer in Houston, Dublin, and a  media art exhibit in India.  

A special thank you to El Paso ISD, NASA's Troy Cline, Dr. Patricia Reiff  Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University and DISD Superintendent Dr. Rodney Schneider.  To learn more about how you can join our challenge, please visit our Livebinder or Epsilen Group.

RYSS learning from historian, author, and EDC Director Karen Wright

Experiencing history at DISD offsite curriculum center and museum from curator and educator Mary Yantis

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NASA ISTE Experience for MMS 2014

Have you heard about NASA's upcoming MMS 2014 mission?  The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission will be a landmark study.  The exploration of the magnetosphere is critical in the coming years, especially due to our heavy reliance on technology and high tech communication devices.

Educators tapping into social media have more opportunities then every before due to the power of social media as PLCs become interwoven in a fibrous manner.  As a graduate student in 2008, I recognized that information systems were radically changing the way the world conducts business and education.  The International Society of Technology Education along with NASA chose 25 educators across the planet to collaborate, research, create, publish, and promote curriculum on the upcoming MMS mission.  The result of this experience is empowering underprivileged students to Think Global and Act Local.  

During a short period of time, I along with my contributing team, Sandra Wozniak (a distinguished curriculum specialist) and Tom Chambers (educator, researcher, and former NASA Apollo contributor), created Take the MMS 2014 Challenge.  As part of this process we experienced best integration practices,  applied a variety of tools, connected with top experts in the field, and presented to a national audience on how to motivate students to think about our earth's magnetosphere, solar storms, and STEM careers.  Our team was exposed to many tools, and some of my very favorites are listed below.   

Livebinder

Collaborize Classroom

Edistorm

Voicethread

Epsilen
http://www.facebook.com/MagMultiScale

As a final piece, our group, Tom Chambers, Sandra Wozniak, and Jennifer Miller,  presented Group 2 showcase on March 27 in NASA's cyber cafe.  

http://nasa-cybercafe.iste.wikispaces.net/home

We decided to involve students throughout this process and our students will lead a challenge to the world  during our MMS NASA summit on Thursday from Dublin, Texas,  10:30-11:30 CST and we invite your students to join us.  Please message me if you are interested.  

 Challenge based learning is powerful, and having students think about "real world" applications of the scientific method is impacting and sparking interest with students who are not top performers.  Challenge based learning centers on empowering the learner to influence change and is student led.  The experiences created are powerful for all stakeholders.

Challenging The Mind on Prezi

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SWSWedu 2012 and The Power of Project Share

SWSWedu 2012 is becoming the Texas global think tank conference. As an active participant last year, it is great to see the conference really take shape and grow to include industry professionals, young future start up companies, top educators, journalists, film makers, administrators, and teachers.  All collaborating to attempt to solve the many problems facing our educational system. Our public education system encourages that all students can learn, and this is the strength of our nation's economic future. The idea that anyone who works hard, is given the equal opportunity to learn, can achieve and pull themselves out of poverty through education is a uniquely American idea. My biggest take aways this year includes the following.

  The Power of Project Share: Project share will continue to be the platform for Texas educators to tap into, and is currently funded through 2020. Project share is powerful, versatile, easy to use, flexible, includes many top resources, and is well designed. Administrators need to encourage and model active participation, and explore all of the possibilities and connections that project share provides. Project share developers are open to suggestions for improvement, and I am very pleased with the progress. Developers and leaders working on Project Share initiatives have listened to critiques, corrected many, and have promised to continue to enhance the system. As I research other alternatives, I have yet to find another state that empowers classrooms with a true course management system as powerful as Project Share. Yes, there are other alternatives, but can you truly collaborate with other classrooms beyond your district? Do other course management systems include a content repository where educators can create, share, and embed content within the system for future use? Project share will soon receive a face lift. Parents and community members will have increased access to the many powerful learning tools and features. Districts should see a continued dedication by the state to implement project share. Training resources and support will be more widely available.  


The Power of STEM: Robotics is a science, art, and engineering challenge. Industry leaders are begging teachers to provide hands on activities that engage students in the areas of science, math, technology, and art. Robotics can be introduced as early as first grade and can be coupled with advancing robotic experiences throughout grade levels. Robotics gives students hands on approaches to solving real problems, and students are able to connect math concepts to real world engineering problems. Solutions are tested with a physical model. Students are allowed to fail and learn how to apply the scientific method to produce a real product or idea.

  Challenge Based Learning: Challenge based learning engages students, can improve academic performance, and allows for the entire learning experience to become more authentic and real for the student. Challenge based learning is student centered, and can be integrated in any teacher's curriculum.

  Highly Effective Teaching: Steven Farr's session on Teaching and Leadership encouraged me to think about how highly effective schools operate. His organization, Teach for America, encourages teachers and students to set goals. Highly effective teachers do believe all students can learn when given the opportunity. Kids believe there is no correlation between hard working and being smart. We must change how kids view hard work.