Program overview: Moon, Mars, and ISS is a highly leveraged formal education Outreach Program. Program has two components; the 1st component fulfils the Astronomy standards in their entirety and in the 2nd component the students plan a manned mission to the Moon, Mars, or ISS. In Phase I the entire 8th grade of Meadowbrook Middle School participated in the Program (~ 550 students). Student final projects were displayed at the San Diego Aerospace Museum. The curriculum was spun off into the science component of a residential summer school program for underrepresented student populations (TRIO Outreach Program, 40 students) and their projects were exhibited at the Escondido Children’s Museum. The Program elements and the Phase I implementation are illustrated in Fig. S-1. In Phase II we will significantly enhance the curriculum, develop curricula for 3rd and 5th grade, develop a teacher-training curriculum, and substantially expand student participation. We expect that over 10,000 students will participate.

Figure S-1: Figure S-1(a) illustrates Program elements and Fig. S-1 (b) illustrates the specific Phase I implementation. Close to 600 students participated in the five week, 20-lesson Program.

Relevance to NASA: Program is aligned with NASA’s direction for 2005 and beyond and was designed to promote STEM competencies. Through our partnership with the TRIO Outreach Program, a program for high achieving students from underrepresented backgrounds (low income, parents without college education), Moon, Mars, and ISS demonstrated its commitment to underrepresented student populations, a commitment that will be expanded upon in Phase II.

Specific innovation: “Mix” of Program elements effectively met the needs of teachers, students, and NASA; we have a “waiting list” of Middle Schools for Phase II. The Standards were met with a combination of lessons, DVDs, labs, worksheets and quizzes. To gain the knowledge required to plan the manned missions the students engaged in directed web-based learning (WebQuest model) in which the students familiarized themselves with their Destination (2 modules) and acquire one of 8 Specialties (4 modules). Each student team was composed of 4 different “Specialists”, providing the expertise required to plan the missions.

Program links: Moon, Mars, and ISS is a web-based Program and most program materials are on the web. We strongly encourage interested parties to check out the website.
Overview of entire program: http://www.nu-edu.com/
Meadowbrook home page: http://www.nu-edu.com/mustangs/
Specialties can be accessed from: http://www.nu-edu.com/mustangs/stspecialties.htm
TRIO home page: http://www.nu-edu.com/trio/index.htm