HR: 0800h
AN: ED31A-0729    [Abstracts]
TI: Earth Science Resource Teachers: A Mentor Program for NASA's Explorer Schools
AU: * Ireton, F
EM: frank_ireton@ssaihq.com
AF: SSAI/GSFC/NASA, 10210 Greenbelt Road Suite 500, Lanham, MD 20706 United States
AU: Owens, A
EM: andrea.owens@mrzip.nasa.okstate.edu
AF: Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 130.3 Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Steffen, P L
EM: psteffen@mail.hq.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Headquarters, Code N, 2T72 NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546 United States
AB: Each year, the NASA Explorer Schools (NES) program establishes a three-year partnership between NASA and 50 school teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators from diverse communities across the country. While partnered with NASA, NES teams acquire and use new teaching resources and technology tools for grades 4 - 9 using NASA's unique content, experts and other resources. Schools in the program are eligible to receive funding (pending budget approval) over the three-year period to purchase technology tools that support science and mathematics instruction. Explorer School teams attend a one-week summer institute at one of NASA's field centers each summer. The weeklong institutes are designed to introduce the teachers and administrators to the wealth of NASA information and resources available and to provide them with content background on NASA's exploration programs. During the 2004 summer institutes at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) entered into a pilot program with NES to test the feasibility of master teachers serving as mentors for the NES teams. Five master teachers were selected as Earth Science Resource Teachers (ESRT) from an application pool and attended the NES workshop at GSFC. During the workshop they participated in the program along side the NES teams which provided the opportunity for them to meet the teams and develop a rapport. Over the next year the ESRT will be in communication with the NES teams to offer suggestions on classroom management, content issues, classroom resources, and will be able to assist them in meeting the goals of NES. This paper will discuss the planning, selection, participation, outcomes, costs, and suggestions for future ESRT mentorship programs.
UR: http://exploreerschools.nasa.gov
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 6610 Funding
DE: 6615 Legislation and regulation
DE: 6630 Workforce
DE: 6699 General or miscellaneous
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting