HR: 08:30h
AN: ED41A-03 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: Sharing Planetary Exploration: The Education and Public Outreach Program for the NASA MESSENGER Mission to Orbit Mercury
AU: * Solomon, S C
EM: scs@dtm.ciw.edu
AF: Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington, DC 20015 United States
AU: Stockman, S
EM: stockman@core2.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Code 921, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Chapman, C R
EM: cchapman@boulder.swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 426, Boulder, CO 80302 United States
AU: Leary, J C
EM: james.leary@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: McNutt, R L
EM: ralph.mcnutt@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AB: The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Program of the MESSENGER mission to the planet Mercury, supported by the NASA Discovery Program, is a full partnership between the project's science and engineering teams and a team of professionals from the EPO community. The Challenger Center for Space Science Education (CCSSE) and the Carnegie Academy for Science Education (CASE) are developing sets of MESSENGER Education Modules targeting grade-specific education levels across K-12. These modules are being disseminated through a MESSENGER EPO Website developed at Montana State University, an Educator Fellowship Program managed by CCSSE to train Fellows to conduct educator workshops, additional workshops planned for NASA educators and members of the Minority University - SPace Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN), and existing inner-city science education programs (e.g., the CASE Summer Science Institute in Washington, D.C.). All lessons are mapped to national standards and benchmarks by MESSENGER EPO team members trained by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061, all involve user input and feedback and quality control by the EPO team, and all are thoroughly screened by members of the project science and engineering teams. At the college level, internships in science and engineering are provided to students at minority institutions through a program managed by MU-SPIN, and additional opportunities for student participation across the country are planned as the mission proceeds. Outreach efforts include radio spots (AAAS), museum displays (National Air and Space Museum), posters and traveling exhibits (CASE), general language books (AAAS), programs targeting underserved communities (AAAS, CCSSE, and MU-SPIN), and a documentary highlighting the scientific and technical challenges involved in exploring Mercury and how the MESSENGER team has been meeting these challenges. As with the educational elements, science and engineering team members are active partners in each of the public outreach efforts. MESSENGER fully leverages other NASA EPO programs, including the Solar System Exploration EPO Forum and the Solar System Ambassadors. The overarching goal of the MESSENGER EPO program is to convey the excitement of planetary exploration to students and the lay public throughout the nation.
DE: 5405 Atmospheres--composition and chemistry
DE: 5440 Magnetic fields and magnetism
DE: 5470 Surface materials and properties
DE: 6235 Mercury
DE: 6605 Education
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting