NASA's Science Activation Program

NASA's Science Activation Program

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-07-01

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0309497345

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the United States' leading federal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) agencies and plays an important role in the landscape of STEM education. In 2015, NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) created the Science Activation (SciAct) program to increase the overall coherence of SMD's education efforts, to support more effective, sustainable, and efficient use of SMD science discoveries for education, and to enable NASA scientists and engineers to engage more effectively and efficiently in the STEM learning environment with learners of all ages. SciAct is now transitioning into its second round of funding, and it is beneficial to review the program's portfolio and identify opportunities for improvement. NASA's Science Activation Program: Achievements and Opportunities assesses SciAct's efforts towards meeting its goals. The key objectives of SciAct are to enable STEM education, improve U.S. scientific literacy, advance national education goals, and leverage efforts through partnerships. This report describes and assesses the history, current status, and vision of the program and its projects. It also provides recommendations to enhance NASA's efforts through the SciAct program.


NASA's Science Activation Program

NASA's Science Activation Program

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-06-01

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 030949737X

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the United States' leading federal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) agencies and plays an important role in the landscape of STEM education. In 2015, NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) created the Science Activation (SciAct) program to increase the overall coherence of SMD's education efforts, to support more effective, sustainable, and efficient use of SMD science discoveries for education, and to enable NASA scientists and engineers to engage more effectively and efficiently in the STEM learning environment with learners of all ages. SciAct is now transitioning into its second round of funding, and it is beneficial to review the program's portfolio and identify opportunities for improvement. NASA's Science Activation Program: Achievements and Opportunities assesses SciAct's efforts towards meeting its goals. The key objectives of SciAct are to enable STEM education, improve U.S. scientific literacy, advance national education goals, and leverage efforts through partnerships. This report describes and assesses the history, current status, and vision of the program and its projects. It also provides recommendations to enhance NASA's efforts through the SciAct program.


NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Handbook

NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Handbook

Author: Nasa

Publisher:

Published: 2018-03-21

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 9781680920505

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This book is in full-color - other editions may be in grayscale (non-color). The hardback version is ISBN 9781680920512 and the paperback version is ISBN 9781680920505. The NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Handbook (NASA/SP-2014-3705) is the companion document to NPR 7120.5E and represents the accumulation of knowledge NASA gleaned on managing program and projects coming out of NASA's human, robotic, and scientific missions of the last decade. At the end of the historic Shuttle program, the United States entered a new era that includes commercial missions to low-earth orbit as well as new multi-national exploration missions deeper into space. This handbook is a codification of the "corporate knowledge" for existing and future NASA space flight programs and projects. These practices have evolved as a function of NASA's core values on safety, integrity, team work, and excellence, and may also prove a resource for other agencies, the private sector, and academia. The knowledge gained from the victories and defeats of that era, including the checks and balances and initiatives to better control cost and risk, provides a foundation to launch us into an exciting and healthy space program of the future.


A Framework for K-12 Science Education

A Framework for K-12 Science Education

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-02-28

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0309214459

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Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.


Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration

Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-01-30

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 0309163846

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More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human outposts, culminating in the current International Space Station (ISS). However, of the more than 500 humans who have so far ventured into space, most have gone only as far as near-Earth orbit, and none have traveled beyond the orbit of the Moon. Achieving humans' further progress into the solar system had proved far more difficult than imagined in the heady days of the Apollo missions, but the potential rewards remain substantial. During its more than 50-year history, NASA's success in human space exploration has depended on the agency's ability to effectively address a wide range of biomedical, engineering, physical science, and related obstacles-an achievement made possible by NASA's strong and productive commitments to life and physical sciences research for human space exploration, and by its use of human space exploration infrastructures for scientific discovery. The Committee for the Decadal Survey of Biological and Physical Sciences acknowledges the many achievements of NASA, which are all the more remarkable given budgetary challenges and changing directions within the agency. In the past decade, however, a consequence of those challenges has been a life and physical sciences research program that was dramatically reduced in both scale and scope, with the result that the agency is poorly positioned to take full advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the now fully equipped and staffed ISS laboratory, or to effectively pursue the scientific research needed to support the development of advanced human exploration capabilities. Although its review has left it deeply concerned about the current state of NASA's life and physical sciences research, the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space is nevertheless convinced that a focused science and engineering program can achieve successes that will bring the space community, the U.S. public, and policymakers to an understanding that we are ready for the next significant phase of human space exploration. The goal of this report is to lay out steps and develop a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight-thereby enabling the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good.


Science Teachers' Learning

Science Teachers' Learning

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-01-15

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0309380189

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Currently, many states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or are revising their own state standards in ways that reflect the NGSS. For students and schools, the implementation of any science standards rests with teachers. For those teachers, an evolving understanding about how best to teach science represents a significant transition in the way science is currently taught in most classrooms and it will require most science teachers to change how they teach. That change will require learning opportunities for teachers that reinforce and expand their knowledge of the major ideas and concepts in science, their familiarity with a range of instructional strategies, and the skills to implement those strategies in the classroom. Providing these kinds of learning opportunities in turn will require profound changes to current approaches to supporting teachers' learning across their careers, from their initial training to continuing professional development. A teacher's capability to improve students' scientific understanding is heavily influenced by the school and district in which they work, the community in which the school is located, and the larger professional communities to which they belong. Science Teachers' Learning provides guidance for schools and districts on how best to support teachers' learning and how to implement successful programs for professional development. This report makes actionable recommendations for science teachers' learning that take a broad view of what is known about science education, how and when teachers learn, and education policies that directly and indirectly shape what teachers are able to learn and teach. The challenge of developing the expertise teachers need to implement the NGSS presents an opportunity to rethink professional learning for science teachers. Science Teachers' Learning will be a valuable resource for classrooms, departments, schools, districts, and professional organizations as they move to new ways to teach science.


Space Shuttle Missions Summary (NASA/TM-2011-216142)

Space Shuttle Missions Summary (NASA/TM-2011-216142)

Author: Robert D. Legler

Publisher: www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK

Published: 2011-09-01

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9781782662235

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Full color publication. This document has been produced and updated over a 21-year period. It is intended to be a handy reference document, basically one page per flight, and care has been exercised to make it as error-free as possible. This document is basically "as flown" data and has been compiled from many sources including flight logs, flight rules, flight anomaly logs, mod flight descent summary, post flight analysis of mps propellants, FDRD, FRD, SODB, and the MER shuttle flight data and inflight anomaly list. Orbit distance traveled is taken from the PAO mission statistics.


Autonomous and Autonomic Systems: With Applications to NASA Intelligent Spacecraft Operations and Exploration Systems

Autonomous and Autonomic Systems: With Applications to NASA Intelligent Spacecraft Operations and Exploration Systems

Author: Walt Truszkowski

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-11-12

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1846282330

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In the early 1990s, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center started researching and developing autonomous and autonomic ground and spacecraft control systems for future NASA missions. This research started by experimenting with and developing expert systems to automate ground station software and reduce the number of people needed to control a spacecraft. This was followed by research into agent-based technology to develop autonomous ground c- trol and spacecraft. Research into this area has now evolved into using the concepts of autonomic systems to make future space missions self-managing and giving them a high degree of survivability in the harsh environments in which they operate. This book describes much of the results of this research. In addition, it aimstodiscusstheneededsoftwaretomakefutureNASAspacemissionsmore completelyautonomousandautonomic.Thecoreofthesoftwareforthesenew missions has been written for other applications or is being applied gradually in current missions, or is in current development. It is intended that this book should document how NASA missions are becoming more autonomous and autonomic and should point to the way of making future missions highly - tonomous and autonomic. What is not covered is the supporting hardware of these missions or the intricate software that implements orbit and at- tude determination, on-board resource allocation, or planning and scheduling (though we refer to these technologies and give references for the interested reader).