NASA Digital Learning Network Apollo 11 Videoconference Series

Description

From a NASA Digital Learning Network mailing:

"During the week of November 16th-20th, students in grades K-8th are invited to re-discover the remarkable accomplishment of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Forty years have passed since this momentous event and to celebrate, NASA's Digital Learning Network (DLN) will deliver a daily videoconference that will explore a single NASA center's contribution to Apollo 11. These programs will also feature an in-studio NASA employee who had a special connection with Apollo 11. Student participation and interaction with the DLN host and NASA expert is assured!

Would you like to challenge your students to exercise their bodies and minds? The DLN has designed a fun activity that incorporates fitness and math! Walk to the Moon encourages students to count their steps around their homes and schools in order to reach a goal of 250,000 steps. Each step will be equal to one mile. With approximately 250,000 miles between the Earth and the Moon, your students will "walk" to the moon! Students may chart their progress individually or in groups - the choice is yours. Either way, the DLN would like to hear about your class' journey! Please email your results to jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov, and you may hear your students' stories LIVE during the DLN's week-long special event in November!

Please note there will be a global flair to this weeklong event as students from various nations around the world will be selected to join and participate!
Descriptions of each event are as follows:
Note: All programs are scheduled to begin at 12:00 CST and end at 1:00 CST

Langley Research Center- Nov. 16
Learn how a young engineer convinced his boss that landing on the Moon would only be possible if something called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was used as the passageway to the Moon.

Marshall Spaceflight Center - Nov. 17
Learn how a rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty was constructed for peaceful space exploration and why its presence tipped the scale of the space race in the America's favor.

Kennedy Space Center- Nov. 18
Discover America's spaceport, the site where the Apollo 11 astronauts made their final preparations before counting down to the launch of the fastest vehicle human beings have ever ridden in- the Saturn V rocket.

Johnson Space Center- Nov. 19
Learn more about the home of the astronaut corps and take a peek inside the Mission Control Center, where a room called the "FCR 2" was the setting for communicating with Neil, Buzz, and Michael as they zoomed towards the Moon.

Ames Research Center- Nov. 20
Traveling to the Moon once again is expected to take place in the next decade. Learn how this will take place through a new NASA program called Constellation.

Registration
To participate in this program, your school must have videoconferencing capabilities. For more information on technical requirements go to: http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/techinfo/

If you would like to be placed on the "we're interested" list for this free program, please reply to jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov. Please respond no later than close of business, October 14. We will contact you soon as a possible participant. We hope you will be able to join us!

The subject line must be: Apollo 11 40th Anniversary
Please send the following information:
Your name:
Your work email:
Your work telephone number:
Your school's name:
Your school's city:
Your school's state:
Your school's technical point of contact:
Technical POC's work telephone:
Technical POC's work email:
Student grade levels:
Anticipated number of participating students:
Date/time of preferred participation:

Thank you,
NASA Digital Learning Network
jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov"

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
NASA Digital Learning Network
Target Audience
K-8
Start Date
Duration
Five days
End Date

Cosmosphere: Teacher's Night Out

Description

From a Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center flyer:

"This free event will feature food, adult beverages, IMAX Movies, liquid oxygen ice cream and more. We'll have great prizes for drawings all night long."

For more on the Cosmosphere, try the NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites listing.

Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Duration
Four and a half hours

First Encounters: Tainos Greet Columbus

Description

From the National Museum of the American Indian website:

"Jorge Estevez (Taino) leads this workshop exploring the first contact with Columbus and the impact on Native Americans. Mr. Estevez will provide historical and cultural perspectives on the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean region, past and present."

Sponsoring Organization
National Museum of the American Indian
Phone number
212-514-3716
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Duration
Two hours

Creating the United States: One-day Teacher Institute

Description

From the Library of Congress website:

"A cooperative endeavor between the Interpretive Programs Office and the Office of Strategic Initiatives, this institute invites educators from across the country to learn about America's founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—based on the Library's primary and web based materials. Participants will leave with strategies and materials they can use in their schools. The institute uses the Library's exhibition 'Creating the United States' as its foundation."

Contact name
Susan Mordan
Sponsoring Organization
Library of Congress
Phone number
202-707-9203
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Duration
Seven and a half hours

Creating the United States: One-day Teacher Institute

Description

From the Library of Congress website:

"A cooperative endeavor between the Interpretive Programs Office and the Office of Strategic Initiatives, this institute invites educators from across the country to learn about America's founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—based on the Library's primary and web based materials. Participants will leave with strategies and materials they can use in their schools. The institute uses the Library's exhibition 'Creating the United States' as its foundation."

Contact name
Susan Mordan
Sponsoring Organization
Library of Congress
Phone number
202-707-9203
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Duration
Seven and a half hours

Creating the United States: One-day Teacher Institute

Description

From the Library of Congress website:

"A cooperative endeavor between the Interpretive Programs Office and the Office of Strategic Initiatives, this institute invites educators from across the country to learn about America's founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights—based on the Library's primary and web based materials. Participants will leave with strategies and materials they can use in their schools. The institute uses the Library's exhibition 'Creating the United States' as its foundation."

Contact name
Susan Mordan
Sponsoring Organization
Library of Congress
Phone number
202-707-9203
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Duration
Seven and a half hours

Smithsonian Teachers' Night, NE

Description

From the Smithsonian Education website:

"The Durham Museum warmly welcomes educators of all subjects and grades to visit The Durham and see the vast education resources the region has to offer. This festive, after-hours open house gives teachers a chance to hear what's new at The Durham and other regional institutions. Highlighting this year's event will be educators from the Smithsonian Institution presenting lessons from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the National Air and Space Museum. Participants will enjoy a cocktail reception, live entertainment and take home free classroom-ready materials and information about field trips and programs available to students."

For more on the Durham Museum, refer to NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites listing.

Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Smithsonian Institution
Phone number
402-444-5027
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Duration
Three hours

Smithsonian Teachers' Night, DC

Description

From the Smithsonian Education website:

"Attention all teachers of all subjects and grade levels!

Find new classroom-ready resources, meet Smithsonian educators, and attend demonstrations of school programs and materials at the Smithsonian's annual education expo. Be among the first three thousand educators to enter the event and receive a free tote bag.

Space is limited; please do not bring children or other guests to this special night for educators."

Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
Smithsonian Institution
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Duration
Two and a half hours

The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution: 1980-1989

Description

From the TeachingAmericanHistory.org:

"This seminar will examine the challenge Ronald Reagan posed to the modern liberal tradition in America, especially in its Progressive, New Deal, and Great Society forms. The sources and circumstances of Reagan's political philosophy will be surveyed, along with an assessment of where he succeeded and failed to attain his objectives, and areas where a full verdict is more difficult to reach. The unity of Reagan's domestic and foreign policy will be explained and analyzed.

The morning session will cover Reagan's domestic policy, especially his four-part economic policy, but also his initiatives in legal and constitutional reform, family policy, and his attempts to revitalize federalism.

The afternoon session will survey the three phases of Reagan's foreign policy: the first-term arms buildup and tough diplomacy, followed by a transitional period while Soviet leadership turned over, and culminating in four dramatic summit meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev that set the stage for the surprising and rapid end of the Cold War. Foreign policy conflicts on the periphery, especially in Central America and the Middle East, will be surveyed, culminating in the Iran-Contra disaster of Reagan's second term. The changing assessment and legacy of Reagan since his presidency will be surveyed, with an eye especially to the question of what aspects of Reaganism remain salient today, and which have been superseded by post-Cold War circumstances. "

Sponsoring Organization
TeachingAmericanHistory.org
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Course Credit
"Offered for CEU credit at no charge." "One semester credit hour from Ashland University is available for participants who attend three of the four seminars during the year," for $172.
Duration
Four hours

James Madison and the Constitution of a Free People

Description

From the TeachingAmericanHistory.org website:

"These seminars are offered to encourage teachers to seriously examine significant events in American history in light of the principles of the American founding, and also to encourage the use of primary source materials in the classroom. The seminars, which include both lecture and discussion, are taught by leading scholars in their field from throughout the nation."

In two sessions, this seminar will examine the political thought of James Madison, including his contributions to the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and literature on Republicanism.

Sponsoring Organization
TeachingAmericanHistory.org
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Course Credit
"Offered for CEU credit at no charge." "One semester credit hour from Ashland University is available for participants who attend three of the four seminars during the year," for $172.
Duration
Four hours