Educating the next generation of space explorers: cultivating public participation for space exploration
- Paper number
IAC-06-E1.3.09
- Author
Dr. Marlene MacLeish, National Space and Biomedical Research Institute, United States
- Year
2006
- Abstract
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), established in 1997, is a twelve-university consortium dedicated to space life science research. The NSBRI also supports NASA’s education mission to, “Inspire the next generations...as only NASA can,” through a comprehensive Kindergarten (K) through post-doctoral Education and Public Outreach Program (EPOP). This paper describes the NSBRI EPOP’s nine-year history and submits its K through undergraduate level (K-16) accomplishments as an educational strategy for educating the next generation of space explorers and engaging general audiences in the marvels of space exploration. The goals of the EPOP are to communicate space exploration biology to schools; support undergraduate and graduate programs and courses; fund postdoctoral fellows to pursue space life sciences research; and engage national and international audiences to promote understanding of how space exploration benefits people on Earth. The NSBRI K-16 team is comprised of five partners: Baylor College of Medicine (BCM); Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM); Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM); Rice University and the University of Texas Medical Branch (RU/UTMB); and the Colorado Consortium for Space and Earth Education (CCSEE.) Approximately twenty-seven other organizations and institutions—including public school systems, television and radio stations, science centers and museums—are working with the NSBRI K-16 Team to accomplished its aims. NSBRI EPOP K-16 activities are organized around four themes: teacher professional development; curriculum development, career awareness, and science literacy. These themes provide a road map for designing effective summer research programs that provide laboratory-based research opportunities for undergraduate college and medical students; professional development activities that reach approximately 10,000 teachers and students; and outreach space sciences information directed to millions of television/radio audiences. The EPOP also provides access to K-16 level space-based curriculum materials, including: Sleep and Daily Rhythms, Muscles and Bones, Food and Nutrition, Space Connections, What’s up with Jose and Cecelia’s Story (elementary/secondary). Twenty two newly designed Barany chairs, with accompanying vestibular system lessons and activities, have been distributed across the US to engage museum and science center audiences in space life science activities. Graduate and postgraduate NSBRI EPOP activities include two graduate level courses—Space Biomedical Engineering and Life Support and Spatial Orientation from Vestibular End Organs to Behavior and Adaptation— taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; summer research internship programs; and six postdoctoral fellowships in US space life sciences laboratories. Co-author: Gianluca Tosini, Ph.D.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-E1.3.09.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.