Photo: NASA
If you’ve read my blog for more than 2.3 seconds, you know that I have a passion for exposing kids and colleagues to STEM, or as the trend is now to call it, STEAM. It doesn’t matter to me what acronym is used. It matters to me that our schools are filled with experiences. Innovation. Bringing dreams to life. Launching ideas. Developing solutions. Building better learning environments. STEAM is authentically infused in learning when we pay attention. STEAM is our world. Connections and understandings. Creating meaning out of what we wonder and what we know. STEAM is the stuff learning is made of.
Today I got some amazing news. I’m going to a NASA Social! <insert child-like learning excitement and joy>. On June 9-10, I’ll be at NASA Wallops in Virginia for the launch of the Antares rocket. Even better? A great friend of mine from Honeywell Space Academy for Educators and from the NASA Zero G experience, will be there at the launch because her students are sending their experiment up to the ISS. Yes, THAT ISS, the one in space. It’s part of the Student Space Flight Experiment Program.
Pinching myself. Feeling lucky for the fantastic summer learning opportunity and ready to be inspired by seeing real-world examples of 21st century learning and innovation that I’ll be able to bring back to school. And that once again, collaboration with teachers I’ve met around the world, has led to even more meaningful learning. I truly believe every adventure leads to learning, if you keep your eyes and ears open. For the record, my eyes and ears are wide open. I’m ready to see the launch and behind the scenes at NASA Wallops, and cheer on the amazing teams of students that I know have worked hard on this project. I’ll be wearing their mission patch proudly, because I know the passion their teacher, Mrs. Heins, has poured into this project and into STEAM in her school.
I hope through sharing this experience, you might see that a NASA Social could lead to exciting new curriculum for your classroom. Or, you might find that your school wants to get involved in the Student Space Flight Experiment Program. Or? You might just remember how exciting learning really is when you see that 3-2-1…. LIFTOFF. And it IS exciting. Something we can never forget.
