What is NASA’s Kids Science News Network™
(NASA's KSNN™)?

NASA’s KSNN™ builds upon children’s natural curiosity to introduce students in grades K-2 and 3-5 to the world of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and NASA. It is based on what is known about children; early childhood education; and mathematics, science, and technology education. NASA's KSNN™ uses animated characters (for grades K-2) and web and video technology (for grades 3-5) to help children understand the everyday phenomena of our world. For grades K-2, NASA’s KSNN™ uses animated characters (Barkley and Ted Tunes) to introduce students to such concepts as magnetism, states of matter, graphs, and time. For grades 3-5, NASA’s KSNN™ uses video newsbreaks featuring children investigating such questions as “What makes popcorn pop?” and “Why are bubbles round?”

What is NASA’s KSNN™ Designed to Do?

NASA’s KSNN™ is developed with substantial input from teachers in grades K-5 and continues to be refined based upon focus group input from teachers and students. NASA’s KSNN™ is designed to

• enhance and enrich the teaching of mathematics, science, and technology at the elementary school level;
• inspire and nurture student (especially female and minority) interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics;
• correct misconceptions;
• familiarize students with science as inquiry, reasoning, and problem-solving; and
• introduce young children to careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and NASA.
  

Is NASA’s KSNN™ Standards Based?

Yes. Success in science, technology, engineering, mathematics involves being curious, asking, questions, and learning how to find answers. NASA’s KSNN™ is a research-, inquiry-, and standards-based program that is web, animation, and video-based and builds upon the natural curiosity that all children possess.

How Can I Use NASA’s KSNN in My Classroom?

The options are many and as varied as teachers. Some suggestions are

• Introduce a mathematics, science, and/or technology concept with the newsbreaks.
• Use the newsbreaks as a science or math warm-up each day.
• Contact us for copies of the scripts and have students perform the newsbreaks on morning “TV” in your school.
• Broadcast the newsbreaks as part of your morning or afternoon announcements if this is done via closed-circuit TV within your school.
• Reinforce a concept that has been previously taught.
• Use the newsbreak as a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) opportunity. Introduce the question asked by a newsbreak and then brainstorm with the students various answers to the questions. Perform the activity and revisit the answers that were listed. Finally, watch the newsbreak and read the background information to determine the correct answer.
• Assign a newsbreak question as homework and have the students conduct independent research at home. View the newsbreak the next day and discuss.
  

Does NASA’s KSNN™ have Supporting Material?

Yes. After viewing each animation and newsbreak, students can click to learn more. On the web site, each animation for Grades K-2 includes:

• A grade specific activity
• On the web site, each video newsbreak for Grades 3-5 includes:
  
  • An inquiry-based activity that can be performed either in the classroom or as homework. These activities use simple, easy to obtain materials.
  • A resource list of related books and web sites for further exploration.
  • A glossary of terms.
  • A computer-graded quiz.

Does NASA’s KSNN™ Support the “Ready-to-Learn” Requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Legislation?

The NCLB Act requires the use of:

• programs and materials that are grounded in scientifically-based research,
• programs and materials that increase the subject matter knowledge and teaching skills of mathematics and science teachers, and
• educational technology that enhance curricula and engage students in active learning.

The short answer is “yes.” KSNN™ activities are designed by teachers using inquiry- and problem-based learning strategies. KSNN™ provides teachers with concrete and common sense explanations about each concept presented on the web site. Special care is taken to provide a “comfort factor” for teachers with limited knowledge/experience about the subject matter. The combined use of web, animation, and video technology permits the use of various teaching strategies while allowing teachers to engage students who are visual learners.

Does NASA’s KSNN™ promote the NLCB Act Requirement for Ready-to-Learn Television programming?

“Gaps in educational performance often start early. Educational television has proved an important tool in strengthening the skills of young children. By providing high-quality instructional content for young children, the gap in early learning can be reduced.”

KSNN™ programming is specifically designed for students in Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5. This allows even our youngest students to receive high quality programming specifically designed for their learning requirements. This effectively demonstrates that KSNN™ is dedicated to meeting the needs of all students – even in the beginning grades as they receive their first formal instruction in mathematics, science, and technology.

Does NASA’s KSNN™ Support the Teaching of Limited English Proficient Children?

“Language instruction curricula used to teach limited English proficient children are to be tied to scientifically based research and demonstrated to be effective.”

Yes. NASA’s KSNN™ is also produced in Spanish. The programs are truly unique in that they do not simply provide a translation of a Spanish voice heard speaking with the same talent seen in the English version. The children featured in the grades 3-5 newsbreaks are Hispanic children. The programs will become an important and vital resource for educators of limited English proficient (LEP) students nationwide. These students require linguistically and culturally appropriate materials that aid in their learning of content subjects such as math and science. These technology-enriched educational programs will contribute to closing the educational achievement gap for Hispanic Americans.

Educators, here are some organizations, and Internet resources that you can use to help create an “active” learning environment for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We don't pretend to know of or be able to list every good web site on the Internet. Here are a few web sites to get you started.

Awesome Library
Awesome Library organizes the Web with 24,000 carefully reviewed resources, including the top 5 percent in education. Organized by classroom subjects, administrative support, and general resources, help about most any topic is available here. Topics often include lesson plans, discussions, links to other sites, materials, papers, and projects.
http://www.awesomelibrary.org

Dirtmeister’s Science Labs
Get your hands on science with a fun experiment from the Dirtmeister – and make science come alive in your classroom!
http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirt/index.htm

DiscoverySchool
You love their cable network channel – now you can love their web site devoted to students, teachers, and parents.
http://school.discovery.com

ENC Online
The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC) is a K-12 math and science teacher center. Its mission is to identify effective curriculum resources, create high-quality professional development materials, and disseminate useful information and products to improve K-12 mathematics and science teaching and learning.
http://www.enc.org

Free Lesson Plans and More
A web site dedicated to providing teachers a single shop for educational resources. Offers worksheets, test preparation materials, and education news.
http://www.edhelper.com

Great Web Sites List
The greatest web sites listed in one place for parents, teens, kids, and educators.
http://www.surfnetinc.com/smschool/greatweb.htm

HubbleSite
Visit this web site to view and download pictures of planets, stars, galaxies, moons, and so on from the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://hubblesite.org/gallery

Imagiverse
Imagiverse.... the universe of our imaginations has no boundaries. Imagiverse believes that imagination is the key to learning. Teachers can teach, but learning comes from within. The web site's goal is to spark the flame that will lead young and old to pursue learning as an adventure through imagination. Activities, resources, and lots of information is available for all to see and use.
http://www.imagiverse.org

PBS TeacherLine
Funded by a grant from the US Department of Education, PBS TeacherLine is committed to helping educators acquire the skills they need to prepare students for the future. This web site provides educators with courses developed with collaboration with organizations such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline

ScienceMaster
ScienceMaster was formed in 1997 with one goal - to excite young minds about science. ScienceMaster brings high quality science to the Internet by providing the best science resources for teachers, parents, hobbyists, and life-long learners. The ScienceMaster web pages include links to research sites, lesson plans, activities, and project ideas. Browse our current selections, hear sound clips of audio interviews, see pictures from the NASA and USGS archives, or JPEG and GIF images you can download and keep.
http://www.sciencemaster.com/jump/index.php

Teachers’ Lab
A web site dedicated as a place for teachers to explore new ideas in learning.
http://www.learner.org/teacherslab

The Library of Congress
More than a library. . .an on-line collection of the words, pictures, and sounds of our country in a library that never closes.
http://www.loc.gov

The RhymeZone
An on-line rhyming dictionary and thesaurus to help you become a poet before you know it.
http://www.rhymezone.com/help

Top 100 Sites for Teachers
Contains lots of ‘smart tools for busy teachers.’ Links, links, and more links for teachers take you to more lesson plans than you could ever use in a lifetime of teaching.
http://www.teachnet.com/t2t