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The NASA Stennis Space Center Office of STEM Engagement has announced community collaboration opportunities for 2020 ASTRO CAMP® sessions.
The 2020 ASTRO CAMP® Community Partners Program combines an evidence-based curriculum with proven out-of-school learning methodology to provide universities, schools, museums and youth-serving organizations with a hands-on, NASA-unique STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) engagement experience for 2nd-12th grade students across the country. Currently, organizations from 12 states and one foreign country comprise this year’s list of collaborators: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, as well as El Salvador.
ASTRO CAMP® activities are aligned to Next Generation Science, and College and Career Readiness standards that support the work of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Science Activation Program in an effort to produce a more “STEM-centric” workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on increasing the participation of learners traditionally underserved and/or underrepresented in STEM fields and students in special needs populations.
The theme for this year’s ASTRO CAMP® is “We Go … Moon, Mars and Beyond with NASA Science!” The program includes the new R.O.A.D.S. (Rover Observation and Drone Survey) on Mars Summer Challenge sponsored by the Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pipeline. The R.O.A.D.S. challenge offers student teams a chance to tackle a mission to Mars, following in the path of the next rover – Mars 2020. This year’s ASTRO CAMP® program also features resources from the University of Colorado’s Fiske Planetarium, as well as PLANETS activities from Northern Arizona University.
The community partners program highlights current and past NASA missions, and focuses on expanding STEM activities in astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics and planetary science through fun, hands-on activities. It seeks to teach teams of youth to work together in order to complete missions, relying on proven practices developed during more than 28 years of ASTRO CAMP® sessions at Stennis Space Center.
ASTRO CAMP® provides collaborators professional development, the 2020 ASTRO CAMP® Facilitators Guide, activity supply lists, on-line resources, NASA completion certificates templates and the on-line support of education specialists (as needed). Collaborating organizations must provide: 1) a program leader/facilitator, 2) support staff, 3) facilities, 4) supplies/materials and 5) program management for each camp site. Program leaders and facilitators must take part in a one- to two-day ASTRO CAMP® Educational Professional Development workshop provided by NASA education specialists in order to be designated as an official NASA 2020 ASTRO CAMP® Community Partners Site.
For more information about becoming a community collaborator contact:
Kelly Martin-Rivers, kelly.e.martin-rivers@nasa.gov or 228-688-1500
or Maria Lott at maria.m.lott@nasa.gov or 228-688-1776
For more information on the ASTRO CAMP Community Partners Program, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/science-activation-team/astro-camp
For more information about Stennis Space Center, visit:
