Viewing page 26 of 28

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

04/25/95 13:14 FAX 818 354 9476 TERRESTRIAL SCI → → → RIDE    002/004

[[figure legend]]Fig.1 Overall KidSat design based on summer 1994 student study.[[/figure legend]]

available. Since the Space Station will be visited by the Shuttle on a frequent basis, there will be opportunities to modify existing instruments or bring up new ones. This ensures there will always be an opportunity for interested students to work on the instrument design and camera configurations. 
   The Mission control scheme includes a KidSat mission control "gateway" (staffed by students) which will communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston. More importantly, it will also act as a communications gateway to participating schools. These are centers that could be easily replicated at any participating school, and would not require sophisticated technology [3]. Through the Internet, the Gateway will also support imaging requests from students not directly involved in a mission operations center. 
   Data from the instruments will be made available to schools over the Internet in real time during the mission, and archived and made available to any interested student. The KidSat images will be used by students and teachers in support of classroom instruction in science, math, geography, history, art and current events.
   Students learn more readily when they are part of the process. By utilizing a multidisciplinary approach and encouraging the individual pursuit of knowledge, KidSat becomes a compelling example of exemplary teaching and learning practices. Students will be engaged in complex tasks extending across many subject areas thus increasing their level of understanding and knowledge. KidSat will have the greatest impact on instruction if it includes curriculum guides, resource materials, teacher training and long term support as part of the project. Educators, students, engineers and scientists are working  together to create the most appropriate curricular modules and implementation plans. The materials will be available in a variety of media and will be disseminated through comprehensive training sessions.
[[centered]KIDSAT PARTNERS[[/entered]]
The KidSat concept was inspired while working with high school students on a Space Shuttle project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).[2] It has since developed through collaboration with The Johns Hopkins University Institute for Academic Advancement of Youth (IAAY)and the University of California's California Space Institute (CalSpace). Though each institution will be involved in all aspects of the project, each will take primary responsibility for particular elements. JPL will take the lead role in project management of KidSat, the development of the remote sensing instruments and cameras and, [[strikethrough]]initializing[[/strikethrough]] initially, the data system. CalSpace will take the lead role in mission operations, and IAAY will lead the curriculum development, teacher training and evaluation. 

[[centered]]WHERE ARE WE NOW?[[/centered]]
During the summer of 1994, groups of students and teachers were brought together to discuss curriculum topics and to consider various options for the instruments mission operations and data system designs. In September and January 1995, teachers [[crossed out]]met at NSF sponsored workshops to[[/crossed out]] began developing the first elements of the KidSat curriculum A group of five core teachers is now developing the first three sets of prototype curricular materials. These modules will be further developed through a pilot series of flights on the Shuttle beginning in the spring of 1996.
  NASA is supporting a pilot program which includes the use of digital cameras and video, the core set of KidSat instruments. The cameras will be mounted in the Shuttle's overhead window in a bracket