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EDUCATION

Education in Action
Exploring Small Worlds at Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO     Record Attendance at 2010 JPL Open House     Discovery & New Frontiers Bring NASA to Boaz, Alabama     Science Unwrapped Presentation by Mark Sykes
Welcome poster for NASA week at classrooms in Boaz, Alabama     Welcome poster for NASA week at classrooms in Boaz, Alabama     Welcome poster for NASA week at classrooms in Boaz, Alabama     Mark Sykes pointing out NASA missions at presentation at Utah State University
In 2010, Mid-continent Research for Education & Learning (McREL) teamed up with NASA’s Discovery Program missions, University of Maryland, and the Space Science Institute’s National Center of Interactive Learning (NCIL) to herald the EPOXI, Stardust-NExT and Dawn missions’ arrival at their respective comets and asteroids
- Learn more about the workshop

    Nearly 40,000 people attended the 2010 JPL Open House, including Dawn, a teacher who faithfully visits the Dawn booth every year.
- Mission Control - Highlights from 2010 JPL Open House
- Photo slide show

    An October 2009 visit to classrooms in Boaz, Alabama coordinated by Shari Asplund for the Discovery and New Frontiers (D/NF) Programs became "NASA Week," reaching 2,000 students at all five city schools.
- Discovery Newsletter
- Gadsden Times Article

    In June, 2009, nearly 300 explorers traveled through a simulated model of the solar system at Utah State University. After featured speaker Mark Sykes' evening lecture: The Dawn Mission: The Origin of Life and the Great Planet Debate, Sykes greeted the travelers at the end of their orbit at "Pluto," where they enjoyed an out-of-this world treat—Aggie Ice Cream.
- Salt Lake Tribune article

Flipping Our Way Around Vesta: Creating an Asteroid Animation     Lecture: Mars, Saturn, Asteroids and Beyond     Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) at Denver Academy of Torah     Helping define planets, dwarf planets, and asteroids
Dawn E/PO presents Vesta Animation activity     Attentive audience viewing presentation/lecture by Dr. Ken Kremer with their 3-D glasses     Rabbi Hyiam Reiffman assisting students on their computer in the Calibrated Peer Review process     Cover of Summer 2007 Science Scope magazine with student holding model of molecule
In addition to creating their own animated flipbook of Hubble images taken of asteroid, Vesta, students enjoyed llearning about accretion and simulated a model of Vesta with different-colored clay. - Photo slideshow
- Join the Vesta Exploration
- Modeling in 3-D
- Vesta Flipbook 		    Chase a comet onboard ROSETTA and swoop past volcanoes at Jupiter’s Io on the way to Pluto. Visit the Shuttle Launch Pad with Dr. Ken Kremer on December 7, 2010 as NASA readies the final Hubble Servicing Mission. His lecture includes spectacular 3-D images placing you "Beyond Earth".
- Learn more


     7th and 8th graders and their teacher, Rabbi Hyiam Reiffman, pilot tested Seeing Faraway Things as though Nearby using Calibrated Peer Review (CPR). Their classroom buzzed as the students learned about the discovery of telescopes, assessed each other’s writing, and voiced their perspective on the experience.
- Photo slideshow

    Read about how the decision by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006 has redefined the term planet in the Science Scope's Science Sampler about NASA's Dawn mission.
- Science Scope article

Finding Meteorites After School     Dawn at STEMapalooza! What on Earth?     A Dream Come True: Searching for Meteorites     Girl Scouts Provide Feedback on Dawn Find a Meteorite
Cover of Spring 2008 edition of The AfterSchool Review magazine with child using test tube     E/PO Lead presents an overview of the Find a Meteorite interactive tool to students at STEMapalooza conference     Meteorite found during the Ansmet 2007-2008 season     E/PO Lead presents an overview of the Find a Meteorite interactive tool to Girl Scout troop
Find out how NASA's Dawn Find A Meteorite (FAM) interactive tool has been used successfuly in afterschool settings to investigate and explore properties in matter to further enhance students' understanding of the mysteries and origin of the solar system.
- Learn more

    Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) came together in Denver, Colorado on October 24–25, 2008 for a palooza!
- Learn more

    "It wasn't until 2006, when I found myself seated at a meeting with Ralph Harvey, the head of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program, that I could now seek the opportunity to pursue my dream of searching for meteorites...."
- Dr. Lucy McFadden's 2008 presentation

    On November 2, 2007 in Brighton, Colorado, McREL's Dawn Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) lead, John Ristvey, presents an overview of the Find A Meteorite (FAM) interactive tool. - Learn more

Image of Dawn Spacecraft 600,000 miles away     All Aboard the Dawn Spacecraft     2007 Dawn Educator Conference     Santa Monica Astronomy Club Features Dawn Mission
Hubbel image of Vesta     Hand holding microchip with tweezers     E/PO facilitators working with Dawn Launch conference educators     Dawn scientist presenting overview of Dawn mission at Santa Monica Astronomy club meeting
Bill Dillon, regular advanced user of Sierra Stars Observatory, used the Sierra Stars Observatory telescope to image the Dawn spacecraft early in October, 2007. The spacecraft was only 20th magnitude and moving fast. Dawn was in a fairly crowded star field at the time, but, fortunately, the spacecraft was not hidden behind stars.
- Enlarge image

    During the "Send Your Name to the Asteroid Belt" campaign, more than 360,000 people signed up to participate in a virtual voyage to the asteroid belt. The computer chip holding all the participants’ names has been installed on the Dawn spacecraft in preparation for flight in Fall 2007.
- See Feature Story

    Science educators from more than 20 states convened in Cape Caneveral, Florida for the Dawn Mission Educator Conference, June 28-30, 2007. - Read more

    In Santa Monica, California, Dawn's Deputy Principal Investigator, Carol Raymond, presents an overview of the goals, science, technology, and challenges of the Dawn Mission at the May 2007 Santa Monica Astronomy Club meeting.

2007 NSTA Educator's Workshop, St. Louis, MO     2007 Dawn Educator Workshop in Denver, CO     Visit to Glenn Research Laboratory     Astronomy Day at Kansas City, School District
E/PO team presenting overview of Dawn Hisotry of Asteroids module at NSTA     E/PO Director explains FAM interactive     Ion testing stand at Glenn Research Center     E/PO team presenting overview of Dawn Hisotry of Asteroids module
McREL E/PO lead presents overview of the History and Discovery of Asteroids module at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

    At the Denver Museum of Natural History in Denver, Colorado, Lucy McFadden, Dawn E/PO Director & Co-Investigator walks interested participants through the Find a Meteorite interactive to learn how meteorites provide clues to unlocking the mysteries of the asteroid belt.

    In April, 2007 Lucy McFadden, Dawn E/PO Director & Co-Investigator visited the team developing the Next Generation  Ion Propulsion technology at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. - Learn more

    On April 21, 2007, under the direction of Bob Riddle, students celebrated Astronomy Day at the Kansas City, Missouri Planetarium. In addition to watching presentations to increase awareness about astronomy, students learned how to spot Vesta in the morning sky and experimented with the Ion Propulsion interactive.

JPL Open House     NASA Student Involvement Program Awards Ceremony     Calibrated Peer Review      
Dawn Mission Team Booth at JPL open house     Picture of three NASA medals     Arlene Russell facilitating Calibrated Peer Review workshop      
The Dawn Mission Team participated in JPL Open House at Pasadena, California May 20-21, 2006.

    Medals are presented to students at the Milken Community Middle School during the NASA Student Involvement Program awards ceremony May 23, 2005 by E/PO manager, Joe Wise.

    In November 2004, teachers tapped into cutting-edge educational technology during a three-day Calibrated Peer Review ™ workshop sponsored by the Dawn mission.