A record number of teachers are registered to participate in the Space Foundation’s Summer Institute graduate courses. Space Foundation officials said today attendance in 2006 is expected to be more than ten percent greater than in 2005. The Summer Institute consists of five intensive, week-long, graduate-level courses covering topics ranging from rocketry and robotics to astronomy and living and working in space. The first course begins June 19, 2006. The Space Foundation is still accepting applications; teachers can register to attend the courses by calling the Space Foundation at 800-691-4000.
Teachers nationwide come to Colorado Springs to participate in one or more of the five courses: “Astronomy Principles for the Classroom: Kinesthetic Astronomy,” “Space Technologies in the Classroom: Imagery and High-Tech Science,” “Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed,” “Rocketry and the Biology of Living in Space: Living Aboard the International Space Station,” and “Biological and Physical Research: Long-Term Space Travel.”
Each course is designed to help teachers use space themes in their classrooms to enable improved student performance in literacy, science, technology, engineering, mathematics and other subject areas.
Participating teachers may elect to receive continuing education or graduate academic credit for the course, and graduate credit may be applied toward one of several master’s degrees offered jointly through the Space Foundation and partner universities.
One of the teachers enrolled in the rocketry course, Ms. Joyce Luka from Honolulu, is the 2006 recipient of the Lucy Enos Memorial Scholarship for Teachers. The scholarship creates professional development opportunities for teachers of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry, or teachers working with students of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry by providing them with the funding to attend one Summer Institute course.
The Space Foundation has trained more than 40,000 teachers since 1986 through Summer Institute graduate courses and national conferences. In addition, the Space Foundation fosters educational space endeavors by engaging educators in its national Teacher Liaison program; managing the on-site NASA Educational Resource Center; offering two distinct Master’s in Space Studies Degrees in conjunction with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Regis University; implementing the revolutionary Integrated Science Literacy Model; annually conducting the Space Career Fair; and offering a free online lesson bank for educators.
About the Space Foundation
Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that vigorously advances civil, commercial, and national security space endeavors and educational excellence. The Space Foundation has offices in Washington, D.C., and Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Space Foundation’s signature event, the National Space Symposium, is scheduled for April 9-12, 2007, at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. Along with partnering organizations, the Space Foundation also conducts Strategic Space and Defense, 10-12 Oct. 2006 in Omaha, Neb.; and Florida Space, Dec. 5-7, 2006 in Orlando, Fla. For more information, visit www.SpaceFoundation.org.
