Look Up! Educator Network

"After a final attempt last week, NASA has stopped trying to make contact with the Mars rover called Spirit, which was last heard from in March 2010 as the Martian winter was setting in. Hopes of hearing more from Spirit were slim even then, but there is a difference between not hearing and no longer listening. Related * Times Topic: Spam Spirit was a spectacular success. A three-month mission, beginning in 2004, turned into six years of exploration. Even the accidents were profitable. When Spirit bogged down, permanently, at a location called Troy, efforts to free it revealed unexpected subsurface sulfates, which scientists believe are part of the Mars water cycle. "

Cyberkidz is an educational platform for boys and girls in the age of 4 till 12 years. By playing the educational games, children will practice subjects they learn in elementary school (Preschool, Kindergarten, Grades 1-5).

"Khan Academy is 100% OER and is moving toward long-term sustainability, having achieved short-term through grants. It actually has a group of people translating, which you can join, as long as the results are OER too: "

"Art of Problem Solving is a larger community (closer to 50k people) with a similar model: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/ - they already have multiple authors, but they don't provide this as an "author service" so to speak, as O'Reilly does in some ways. "

"Math on the Level, similarly, has a book series and a learning commons about it, with some online events and face-to-face workshops in addition to the forum"

"Living Math is a combination of a forum, a site summarizing the best of the forum, and Living Math Books with just a few titles addressing the needs of these several thousand family-centric educators: "

"This video from 2003 reminds us of the sacrifices made by our Air Force, yesterday and today. "

"You might hear people-even smart adults-say things about dyslexia that aren't true. Most of them don't mean to be rude, they just don't have their facts straight. Here are 6 ways you can (gently) explain dyslexia to them when they get it wrong."

Inspirational story about a remarkable young women pilot

NASA Space Grant ESCAPE to Alaska Summer Camp The Alaska Space Grant Program in partnership with NASA invites students and teachers to a summer camp opportunity at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. ASGP/NASA will provide training and experiences for students and teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The camp is a one-week professional development program for educators of grades 7-12 and a one-week academic summer program for students entering grades 8-12 in the fall. Attendees have the opportunity to choose from two modules - "FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Training" and "Energy in Alaska." Camp sessions take place in mid-June. Applications are due June 4, 2011.

NASA Explorer Schools Live Video Chat: Computer Graphics and Animations NASA Explorer Schools invites students in grades 6-9 from across the U.S. and Department of Defense schools to participate in a live video chat with Zareh Gorjian. Gorjian is currently the lead animator and software engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Join NES on June 2, 2011, at noon EDT for this very special video chat to ask questions about NASA's computer-generated animations and graphics. Go to the chat page on the NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus website to participate in the webchat. You do not need to be a participant of the NASA Explorer Schools project to join the chat. To learn more about NES, please visit the explorerschools.nasa.gov website and click on the What Is NES? video or the About NES link.

NASA/NSTA Web Seminar: Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer Mission NASA has teamed with the National Science Teachers Association to offer a Web seminar highlighting the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission. Launching in 2013, this small spacecraft mission will assess the compositional makeup and variability of the moon's thin atmosphere and will investigate the mysterious dust lofting phenomenon. Register today for this 90-minute webinar taking place on May 31, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

NASA | Art: 50 Years of Exploration Exhibit For almost 50 years, artists participating in the NASA art program have been documenting the extraordinary adventure of spaceflight in ways no camera could match. They have enjoyed access to some epic moments and offered their unique perspectives on what they have witnessed. The NASA art collection, shared now by the space agency and the National Air and Space Museum, stands as a reminder of pioneering years of the early Space Age and an inspiration for those who will continue our long journey into the universe. The exhibition includes approximately 70 paintings, drawings, photographs and pieces of sculpture by such artists as Annie Leibovitz, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth.

Face in Space website now allows the public to upload their face or name for the final STS-135 mission. Have your students upload and launch their faces, or launch your entire class portrait in just a few clicks. Upon completion of the mission, participants will receive a personalized flight certificate signed by the mission commander! The mission is scheduled for a July 8th launch, so you still have time!

the Space Shuttle Experience! In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program and the upcoming final flight, NASA has released the Space Shuttle Experience website. This comprehensive and interactive tool provides a multitude of resources for students of all education levels. Users can participate in a variety of interactive experiences to learn about the Space Shuttle Program's accomplishments, what it takes to launch a shuttle, astronaut living, how the program affects life daily here on Earth and much more. The site uses several engaging features that will keep students enthralled, including trivia games with Facebook score sharing, a poll for users to vote on the program's greatest achievement and a virtual signature wall which gives users the opportunity to leave a personal message to the program. And the fun and education doesn't stop when students log off; the site also includes lesson plans that correspond with the site's activities. As an educator, all the resources are supplied to seamlessly walk your students from the activities they experience online into engrossing lessons in the classroom.

"The corner was enclosed by plastic from floor to ceiling and inside sat a plane, wings folded toward the ceiling and a paint job that left more to be desired. It was the Seafire XV - one of only a handful still in existence. As soon as I saw the plane and learned a few facts about it, I knew I wanted to do a story on it and follow Cooper through the rest of the restoration process."

Parade of Games web site was created to provide educators and trainers with easy-to- assemble educational games in a technology- enhanced environment to support key learning points. The site demonstrates the creative use of popular game shows and other familiar games to reinforce learning. "

"Assessment in game-based learning (GBL) programs can be far superior to your typical weekly multiple-choice test. Games are all about constant assessment. Games do not actively "teach" - they don't say "here is some knowledge for you to remember" - but rather they provide constant challenges and then give you feedback on your decisions, and that is how you learn."

"But what about the physics? Do the birds have a constant vertical acceleration? Do they have constant horizontal velocity? Let's find out, shall we? Oh, why would I do this? Why can't I just play the dumb game and move on."