Look Up! Educator Network

source of free science projects and experiments for parents, teachers, and children of all ages.

Registration is open for the 18th Annual NASA Great Moonbuggy Race. High school and college students are challenged to design and build a vehicle that addresses a series of engineering problems similar to those faced by the original lunar-roving vehicle team. The race will take place April 1-2, 2011, in Huntsville, Ala., at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Audience: Educators Grades: 9-11 WISH wants female high school juniors to participate in a pilot project. Beginning with an online collaboration in fall 2010, selected applicants will compete to participate in a summer 2011 workshop at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. There they will work alongside female NASA engineers and interns and collaborate in hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The WISH Flier explains how to apply.

This series of curricular units focus on themes that NASA engineers and scientists -- as well as future generations of explorers -- must consider when planning future human explorations into space. This includes such themes as Energy and Power, Transportation and Lunar Plant Growth Chambers (the STS-118 Design Challenges).

Rockets and Your Classroom -- Jan. 26, 2011, 9 p.m. EST Review the Rocketry activity, explore the NASA connections, share tips and tricks for implementing this lesson in the classroom, watch videos of students engaged in the lesson, and discuss possible modifications or extensions.

Hooper Bay Indoor Flight Competition - Students build, and learn how to fly, indoor free-flight rubber band powered airplanes. Hooper Bay invited Chevak and Nunam Iqua aviation students to the competition. Spring 2009.

On September 22, 2010, with the departure of the Expedition 23 crew, Colonel Douglas H. Wheelock assumed command of the International Space Station and the Expedition 25 crew. He is also known as @Astro_Wheels on twitter, where he has been tweeting pictures to his followers since he arrived at the space station.

This team building exercise was inspired by the Marshmallow Challange, as seen on TED 2010 (www.marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html). The game is designed to have kids quickly work together to model and prototype ideas, evaluate scoring strategies, determine design limitations, etc... It was intentionally designed to force students (and mentors, too!) to evaluate priorities and assumptions.

The Vibro-Wind Research Group, led by Frank Moon, the Joseph Ford Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is working on an efficient, low-cost method of converting vibrations from wind energy to electricity. Much the way solar panels now grace many rooftops, the researchers envision buildings outfitted with vibro-wind panels, which would store the energy they convert from even the gentlest of breezes.

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators There are many teachers who want to start using technology in their classrooms, but just aren't sure where to start. That's why I got together ten prominent ed tech bloggers, teachers, and school administrators to create The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. In this book there introductions to more than six dozen web tools for K-12 teachers. Additionally, you will find sections devoted to using Skype with students, ESL/ELL, blogging in elementary schools, social media for educators, teaching online, and using technology in alternative education settings."

Animated Videos Fun and free services for creating short animated videos. Screencasting Use these services to create demonstration videos on your computer. Useful for teachers and students. Documentary Video In this section we'll look at some free services for creating documentary- style slideshow- based videos.

the spacesuits that kept the astronauts alive beyond Earth. Most of the National Air and Space Museum's collection of about 300 spacesuits in a climate-controlled room.

The Harrier made its final flight with the British RAF last week, marking one end to the jet famous for being able to take off and land vertically. The jet's recently declassified flight manual shows just how extraordinary it is. The original Hawker Harrier Jet was designed by the British in the 1960s and utilized a "vectored thrust turbofan engine" that allowed thrust generated by the engines to be pointed downward. The first planes were launched using ramps that curved upward like a ski jump on the flight deck.

the Navy successfully got an F/A-18E Super Hornet airborne using its new-model catapult, the Electromagnetic Aviation Launch System, or EMALS. not only is the new launch system supposed to be more efficient than steam, it's better capable to launch small drones as well as big planes, giving aircraft carriers a broader range of options.

The original Hawker Harrier Jet was designed by the British in the 1960s and utilized a "vectored thrust turbofan engine" that allowed thrust generated by the engines to be pointed downward. The first planes were launched using ramps that curved upward like a ski jump on the flight deck.

Mathematics - The Most Misunderstood Subject The majority of educated Americans do not think of Mathematics when they think of a liberal education. Mathematics as essential for science, yes, for business and accounting, sure, but for a liberal education?

NAVAL AIR MUSEUM, PENSACOLA - Excellent photos of the museum collection

The fundamental concepts, and approaches of aerospace engineering, are highlighted through lectures on aeronautics, astronautics, and design. Active learning aerospace modules make use of information technology. Student teams are immersed in a hands-on, lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicle design project, where they design, build, and fly radio-controlled LTA vehicles.

On December 23, 1986, "Voyager" completed the first nonstop, non-refueled flight around the world. A unique aircraft constructed almost entirely of lightweight graphite-honeycomb composite materials and laden with fuel, "Voyager" lifted off from Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 8:01 a.m. on December 14, 1986. It returned nine days later at 8:05 a.m.

On Dec. 23, 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California