Todd Pope, a district specialist, has been selected for the LiftOff Alumni Summer Institute to be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Cocoa Beach, Florida in June. While educators from across the nation share lessons, resources, and ideas, they will also attend the Space Port Area Conference for Teachers sponsored by the Astronaut Memorial Foundation. This nationally competitive program sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium and the University of Texas Center for Space Research selects teachers who will increase their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math through space education.
From looking for potential asteroids or comets that might impact Earth, to protecting our home planet, NASA’s Planetary defense research is critical to their assessment of future impact hazards, for developing spacecraft missions that will assist them in protecting our home and increasing our understanding of the world around us.
In the next few years, NASA will increase our understanding of the structure of asteroids to help scientists and engineers create solutions to remove potential, future threats of impact. Planetary defense research is critical to our assessment of future impact hazards and helping us understand the leftover remnants of our solar system…Asteroids.
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 institute features a series of workshops, hands-on activities, field investigations, and presentations by NASA scientists and engineers working on various missions.
Teachers selected for Liftoff will return to their school districts to not only use materials received in their own classroom, but to train other educators. Educators selected will come together June 20-24 in Florida to conduct experiments, tour facilities, and network with other educators while sharing innovative lesson plans and ideas. Educators selected to attend LiftOff Alumni Summer Institute will experience stimulating presentations from astronauts and NASA experts in all fields, participate in interactive sessions alongside NASA professionals, and hear first-hand information about the bold future of space exploration. They will also meet with NASA personnel from Kennedy Space Center and take tours of the facility to focus exclusively on space exploration and planetary defense.
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