Integrating Engineering NASA SMD Education Community Meeting Sept , 2015

What Best Practices Were Noted? Have a subject matter expert on hand. Train the SMEs to interact with their audience. The best results derive from programs where there is an enduring investment of time and energy on both sides. Connect students with real data and hardware. The DIY / maker movement is getting kids empowered to take on engineering. Engineering progression / learning coding language needs to start very early. Include popular science (e.g., The Martian) to bring in more interest and engagement. Make high tech / low tech / no tech options to get wide distribution and adoption.

What Lessons Learned Were Shared? Students were very excited to get involved with hands-on activities but the teachers couldn’t help the students with uploading software and interfacing with it to get data – could be the coding language. Science teachers don’t have exposure to engineering design. There is a gap between more experienced teachers and newer teachers who have had more exposure to technology. The kids get up to speed a lot faster on the technology than the teachers – let the kids run with a project and have the teacher act as a facilitator. Teachers get confused by the subject matter. Bring people on scaffolded. Have progressive subjects that are tied together so the teachers can come in and do a little more each time. The teachers need to be able to answer relevancy – using real spacecraft data. Gives us an opportunity to tell a new story and engage new audiences. Work with schools to develop programs where students spend time every day doing engineering and integrate it into the curriculum that addresses standards. NASA brand still carries a lot of impact and relevancy.

What TYPES of Impacts Were Noted? Who was reached and how? Numbers of students in engineering classes / programs Attitude changes about engineering Confidence in STEM content Pipeline progression Exposure of underrepresented audiences to STEM / possible STEM careers

What NASA Resources Were Leveraged? NASA antenna NASA mission data NASA mission design cycles NASA scientists / engineers NASA-sponsored activities / programs Wavelength Product review NASA Communications Office Visualizations Funding!

Additional Thoughts

Parking Lot Thoughts or Questions