Spaceward Bound is go
03/11/2014Science teachers have a unique professional development opportunity: to explore extreme environments with NASA researchers.
How would your earth and space science students feel about working with a team of NASA scientists?
New Zealand teachers and their students have the chance to do field work with NASA planetary scientists next summer. Applications are now open for a Spaceward Bound expedition in January 2015.
Spaceward Bound is an educational programme developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in the Silicon Valley, California. Its aim is to spark the next generation of space researchers by welcoming students and their teachers to participate in the exploration of extreme environments on Earth.
In what will be a unique and exciting professional development opportunity, New Zealand teachers will forge strong connections with top scientists and help to develop the programme for future expeditions.
Spaceward Bound Field Expeditions involve teachers in fieldwork, enabling them to return that authentic experience back to the classroom and to help them develop curriculum resources related to human exploration of remote and extreme environments.
These field expeditions take place all over the world, but in New Zealand, the programme will consist of six days of field work in the Rotorua/Taupo/Tongariro Plateau. These excursions will be augmented by talks with the expert scientists and hands-on lab work.
Interested teachers are encouraged to sign up here on the New Zealand Astrobiology website.
Detailed information about Spaceward Bound, including a proposed itinerary for the New Zealand expedition, can be found here.
