Wiley Teacher Headed to NASA Institute This Summer

Betty Jo Moore, who teaches science at Wiley Magnet Middle School, has been chosen to participate in the LiftOff Summer Institute to be held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas this summer. This program sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium selects teachers from across the U.S. who will increase their knowledge of space education through the LiftOff Professional Development Summer Institute.

Selected educators selected will come together from June 26 to July 1 in Houston, Texas to conduct experiments, tour facilities, and network with other educators while sharing innovative lesson plans and ideas. They will return to their respective districts, train other educators, and use new materials in the classroom.

Moore is no space camp novice. Last summer, she participated in Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

LiftOff is a collaborative effort of Texas Space Grant Consortium members and affiliates, NASA, and industry. Teachers apply for LiftOff and are selected competitively. The workshops are organized around an aerospace or space science theme drawn from NASA’s diverse engineering and scientific research programs. The theme for LiftOff 2016 is Exploration: Past, Present and Future. The program combines the strengths of collaborators to enrich teaching and learning of science, mathematics, technology and engineering.

Betty Jo Moore at Sapce Camp last summer

The competitive weeklong institute features a series of workshops, hands-on activities, field investigations, and presentations by NASA scientists and engineers working on various missions. The International Space Station is a laboratory, observatory, and factory in space. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live and work in space? What are the biological factors, psychological trials, and physical challenges?

The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. It is the largest and longest inhabited object ever to orbit the Earth. There has been a permanent human presence on the space station since 2000. The ISS allows humans to explore, live in, and perform science in space. Onboard the ISS, crew members live and work in a reduced gravity environment. This environment allows crew members to conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology that could not be done on Earth. It also offers a rare opportunity for the testing of the spacecraft systems that will be required for missions to Mars and the Moon.

The LiftOff workshops prove that the excitement teachers, and more importantly, their students, feel about space science and how exploration can be tapped to enrich science, math, engineering, and technology.

This nationally competitive, educational training for teachers is sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium. Teachers interested in applying for LiftOff 2016 may will find more information at LiftOff