Thematic Program Development NASA SMD Education Community Meeting Sept. 23–24, 2015

What Best Practices Were Noted? Storytelling – e.g. talking about snow or blizzards rather than weather map data Make theme approachable and audience-appropriate Theme should be a topic that scientists want to talk about, the public/target audience wants to hear about, and that is strongly based in NASA science and exploration Good to have a short, catchy title for your theme (if want to include more, put it in a byline) Bundle performance expectations (in NGSS) – under a thematic topic (e.g. the history of winter; Earth Right Now outreach campaigns) Capture evidence/impact of our work Model practices you want teachers to implement Go to your audience, find out their needs and interests – and then work with the appropriate partners Know and play to your strengths and the strengths of your partners

What Lessons Learned Were Shared? Very important for humans to connect with the story – something they can relate to (not just raw data) – brings a topic “to life” Thematic approaches help you frame the story Themes can be used as a hook Stories can be content-based or process-based Themes help us connect to our audiences, connect across missions, and connect across NASA divisions Making NASA science relevant gives people/students ownership of that information and makes them feel important, valued, and included–part of the NASA mission Partnerships are incredibly important: – Partnerships between NASA educators and NASA SMEs – Partnerships between NASA educators and external partners

What TYPES of Impacts Were Noted? Who was reached and how? All of NASA SMD Education audiences – this is an approach that can be – and is – used across NASA Education People respond to stories, allow them to connect to NASA SMEs and educators Thematic approach allows educators to easily connect themes within NASA: allows them to authentically move from one topic to the next Also allows teachers/classrooms to connect to one another Helps public see connections across NASA and how NASA connects to their lives

What NASA Resources Were Leveraged? Mission education teams from across NASA NASA communication teams NASA SMEs NASA SVS GLOBE NASA data NASA Wavelength All NASA education products and programs Can also connect to outside resources and experts Thematic approaches allow for rich collaborations across programs – can leverage all related NASA resources in a thematic campaign

Additional Thoughts Discussion group finds thematic approaches to be incredibly powerful When we can offer these ideas/these thematic-based approaches as a menu of products they can choose from, helps teachers more easily prepare their curricula (so much they can teach! Can be overwhelming) Think of the end result you would like when initially designing your product/program Provides kids/people with new/different ways to access information and to dig deeper Great way to connect to underserved audiences Themes can help you broaden your story–don’t just focus on one thing, but put that thing in context Can provide a number of resources under a theme – people can pull the pieces that they want/need and combine/present them in a way that is most relevant to them/their audiences Themes endure beyond single mission lifecycle (don’t start from scratch; resources developed remain relevant beyond mission) – Missions have limited lifetimes: if focus on theme, can connect all of the relevant missions to that theme Combining resources allows you to support programs/products that are larger than what one mission/program could support, and engage a larger audience (since can share with audiences of all partners)

Parking Lot Thoughts or Questions Challenge: funding doesn’t always support this model (as we tend to be funded mission by mission) – Mission/Instrument PIs want their mission/instrument highlighted – Model changing for education, but will continue for communications