NASA ePDN Allows STEM Instructors to Reach for the Stars
By Andrew Kerr
December 16, 2009
America's global competitiveness will increasingly be tied to our science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) capabilities. Recognizing the need to prepare today's students for such a world, CEISMC has partnered with Georgia Tech's Distance Learning and Professional Education (DLPE), and ORBIT Education, Inc., a NASA-themed educational service provider, to create electronic professional development courses for STEM teachers.
Four teacher certificate programs are on offer. The first of the four programs to go live is about robotics, and it is taught by Jeff Rosen, a CEISMC Program Director who is also the Operational Partner for the FIRST LEGO League in Georgia.
"In January we go live nationally with 50 participants from all over the country, including Puerto Rico," said Mr. Rosen. "Robotics Course 1 will open January 11th and will conclude after six weeks, and then Course 2 will begin."
The culminating activity of the second part of the course will tie into an actual space shuttle launch slated for March. "The idea here is that an educator astronaut, Dottie Metcalf, will be a member of that flight. Her role will be to operate the robotic arm on both the shuttle and the space station. So during this course the participants will build a modified version of the jointed arm of the robotic arm on the space station made of LEGOs."
ePDN will offer three other courses. One, a course in problem-based learning led by CEISMC Program Director Mike Ryan, will be availabe in the spring. The second course, also debuting in the spring, covers statistics; it is taught by CEISMC Program Director Marsha Shrago. The fourth course is called "Integrating Instructional Technology" and will deal with podcasts, visualizations, and virtual worlds. DLPE and ORBIT Education, Inc. will develop this fourth course.
All four certificate programs will be available to all interested American in-service teachers. Currently the courses are free. If you are a teacher intererested in joining one of the programs, check back on the NASA ePDN page regularly to see when registration opens.