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[[right margin]]KidSat Page1[[/right margin]] • University of California San Diego/California Space Institute • Johns Hopkins University/Center for Talented Youth • Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology [[right margin]]KidSat Using the excitement and technology of space program to create a new paradigm in K-12 classroom instruction through direct student interaction with Earth-viewing instruments in space[[/right margin]] The Vision A camera on the space shuttle takes pictures of features on the Earth below. The camera is being controlled not by astronauts in space or engineers in NASA's mission control center, but by students in one of many participating classrooms. The students have planned this mission carefully, deciding what parts of the Earth to photograph and what they hope to learn from the images. These photographs are analyzed by the students, and support classroom instruction in science, math, geography, history, or art. Imagine the excitement of learning through interaction with a real space flight and control of a real camera hundreds of miles above the Earth. That's the vision of KidSat: to become a catalyst for precollegiate education by bringing the resources of NASA, the excitement of outer space and an astronaut's view of the planet to classrooms across America for the advancement of learning. The KidSat Concept The KidSat concept revolves around a set of Earth-viewing cameras that will fly in space, first on the U.S. Space Shuttle, then on the International Space Station. The cameras will be selected and operated by students, in consultation with teachers and scientists. Lessons in science, geography, math, history, art and social studies that make use of images of the Earth will be incorporated into thematic instruction. From "mission operations centers" in their classrooms, students will decide what parts of the Earth to photograph. Their purpose could be to study the geography and topology of their own city or county, flooding along the Mississippi River, faultlines in California, or the routes of famous explorers. The students' decisions will be relayed through the KidSat "Mission Control Gateway" to the camera in orbit. The pictures will be sent back to Earth to be analyzed by students, and be part of classroom instruction.