THE SUN-EARTH CONNECTION

An Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Newsletter

for the Sun-Earth Connection Science Community - and beyond!

November 16, 2005 Volume VI, Issue 7

------------------------------------------------------------

See End for Sponsor Information, How to Contribute (please

do!), Contact Us, Unsubscribe, or Find Back Issues

------------------------------------------------------------

| _____

| . ,-:` \;',`'-,

`. * | .' .'-;_,; ':-;_,'.

`. ._|_* .' . /; '/ , _`.-\

. * .' `. * | '`. (` /` ` \`|

-------| |------- |:. `\`-. \_ / |

. *`.___.' * . | ( `, .`\ ;'|

.' |* `. * \ | .' `-'/

.' * | . `. `. ;/ .'

. | `'-._____.-'`

| jgs

------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE OF CONTENTS

------------------------------------------------------------

=> 1. Mark Your Calendars: Celestial and NASA Events

Related to the Sun-Earth Connection, 2005-2006

=> 2. “How Can Humans Live and Work on the Moon?”

Students Will solve the Challenge, Using Real NASA Data

=> 3. NASA Partnership with the National Park Service –

“From Earth to Sky II” – Awarded Full Funding

=> 4. Solar Physics Group at Rice University Establishes

Science Education Outreach Network in Lebanon

------------------------------------------------------------

1. MARK YOUR CALENDAR. CELESTIAL AND NASA EVENTS RELATED TO

THE SUN-EARTH CONNECTION, 2005-2006

------------------------------------------------------------

* Winter Solstice, fewest hours of daylight - December 21, 2005

* NASA Mission Launch: SpaceTech 5 - February 28, 2006

* Spring Equinox, equal hours of daylight and night - March 20, 2006

* Total Solar Eclipse - March 29, 2006

* NASA Mission Launch: STEREO - April 11, 2006

* Summer Solstice, most hours of daylight - June 21, 2006

* Fall Equinox, equal hours of daylight and night – Sept. 22, 2006

* Annular Solar Eclipse - September 22, 2006

* Japan/US/UK Mission Launch: Solar-B - September 2006

* NASA Mission Launch: AIM - September 29, 2006

* NASA Mission Launch: THEMIS - October 19, 2006

* Winter Solstice, least hours of daylight - December 21, 2006

------------------------------------------------------------

2. "HOW CAN HUMANS LIVE AND WORK ON THE MOON?"

STUDENTS WILL SOLVE THE CHALLENGE USING REAL NASA MISSION DATA

------------------------------------------------------------

Homepage of the Student Observation Network (SON)

http://son.nasa.gov/

"How can humans live and work on the Moon?" The award-winning

Student Observation Network (SON) team has received a grant from

the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) to develop an

on-line, inquiry-based module that will engage the nationwide SON

audience -- tens of thousands of middle and high school students

and teachers -- in answering the question, "How can humans live

and work on the Moon?" Students will use their own observations

and experiments, professional ground-based data, and lunar

exploration mission data to identify safe landing sites, to

identify locations of important lunar resources, and to propose

and defend solutions to maximize the success of sustained human

presence.

The module will link educators and students to lunar exploration

data, to ESMD scientists and engineers, and to tools for the

analysis of data. Answering the question, “How can humans live

and work on the Moon” unites classroom objectives, national

standards, and issues relevant to life that are often taught

in isolation. Investigating conditions on the Moon and the

challenges to sustained human presence on the Moon provides an

exciting opportunity for students to master Earth and Space and

Life Science education standards and allows them to understand

the real life importance of conservation of Earth resources.

-- Don Boonstra drboonstra@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov

------------------------------------------------------------

3. NASA PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE –

“FROM EARTH TO SKY II” -– AWARDED FULL FUNDING TO CONTINUE

------------------------------------------------------------

More good news for the collaboration between NASA and the National

Park Service (NPS). The second phase of this project, “From Earth

to Sky II” has received full funding as a National Explorer

Institute (NEI). This NEI will develop STEM (science, technology,

engineering and math) tools and interpretive products that will be

introduced in professional development workshops for use at NPS

sites. The project also will build on and extend NASA's relationship

with the NPS that was established through a 2004 pilot workshop.

Participants in Earth to Sky/2004 identified NASA resources they

found valuable. Now, NPS and NASA staff will work together to

more specifically define resources that are useful. The focus will

include two NASA content areas: Sun-Earth Connection Science and

Earth Systems Science. The tools will be used by NPS/NASA teams to

create exemplar interpretive products designed to meet the needs of

NPS and other interpreters. For example, interpreters mentioned the

need for NASA images, but in what format and resolution? Do

interpreters need a library of selected images or large collections

to browse? Information is needed for other NASA resources,

including scientific text and data, hands-on activities, K-12

resources and NASA personnel.

The first collaborative meeting of this new phase is scheduled

to take place at NASA/Goddard at the end of this month.

-- Ruth Paglierani ruthp@ssl.berkeley.edu

-- Jim Thieman thieman@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

------------------------------------------------------------

4. SOLAR PHYSICS GROUP AT RICE UNIVERSITY ESTABLISHES A

SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH NETWORK IN LEBANON

------------------------------------------------------------

SciLeb www.ruf.rice.edu/~agdaou/scileb

Physics and Astronomy graduate student Antoun Georges Daou, member

of David Alexander’s solar physics group at Rice University,

has established a science educational outreach network in

Lebanon called SciLeb. He received the Envision grant

from Rice University to help fund SciLeb’s first project,

the Rice Science Tournament (RST), an educational event for

high school sophomores in a selection of schools in Lebanon.

In addition to motivating students to better respond to

science teaching and show more interest in scientific knowledge,

RST is fun—— with great certificates and prizes offered by

Rice University (Envision grant), NASA’S Sun-Earth Connection

Education Forum (SECEF), Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics

Lab and the US embassy in Beirut.

The tournament will consist of a series of competitions in three

to four schools (nearly 400 students). These schools have

different social and religious colors which help give the project

an extra dimension of social tolerance, peace and

constructive cooperation. RST is taking place in fall 2005,

with winners to be announced in January 2006.

Jim Thieman, of SECEF, told the participating schools, “NASA is

acutely aware that the leaders who will take us to the Moon,

Mars and beyond are in school right now. Inspiration is all

they need to get them on the track of becoming those leaders.

Even for those who will follow other career paths it is important

that they understand the value that science and technology has in

their lives.”

-- Antoun Georges Daou – agdaou@rice.edu

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

------------------------------------------------------------

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

------------------------------------------------------------

Newsletter Sponsor Info: Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum

------------------------------------------------------------

How to Contact Us

------------------------------------------------------------

The Sun-Earth CONNECTION Education and Public Outreach

newsletter is issued approximately every 6-8 weeks. Back issues

can be found at

http://sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu/SECNews/

The Newsletter is sponsored by the Sun-Earth Connection

Education Forum (Goddard Space Flight Center and UC Berkeley;

Isabel Hawkins and Jim Thieman, Co-Directors) Sun-Earth

Connection Education Forum Web Site:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov and

http://sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu

Please direct all submissions to the newsletter to:

Karin Hauck (Editor) - E-mail: editor@sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu

Phone: (510) 642-2343 Fax: (510) 643-5660

------------------------------------------------------------

To Subscribe to the Newsletter List Serve

------------------------------------------------------------

Address your e-mail to Majordomo@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

Do not write anything in the subject line. In the body of your

letter, make sure you use no more than one line of text; remove

any signature, if you have one. Type the command:

subscribe secepo@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

------------------------------------------------------------

To Unsubscribe to the Newsletter List Serve

------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe, please follow these instructions. Hit *Reply*

to the newsletter e-mail. Do not write anything in the subject

line. In the body of your letter, make sure you use no more than

one line of text; delete your "signature", if you have one.

Type the command:

unsubscribe secepo@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

------------------------------------------------------------

If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list,

(if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the

list itself) send email to

owner-secepo@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

===========================================================