March 3, 2011
WSGC Newsletter for Educators
The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium's electronic newsletter for teachers provides curriculum ideas, Internet links and other resources to help you better meet the Washington EALRs and the National Science Education Standards.TABLE OF CONTENTS
-- ASTRONOMY: NW TEACHING EXCHANGE (11-14)
-- YEAR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM (K-12)
-- ASTROBIOLOGY FOR TEACHERS (9-12)
-- STATEWIDE SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR (1-12)
The NASA Center for Astronomy Education Northwest Teaching Exchange for teachers of high school and college astronomy classes will take place April 16 at the University of Washington Seattle.
The program includes a demonstration of the WorldWide Telescope software by Curtis Wong of Microsoft and a science talk on Red Dwarf Stars by Suzanne Hawley, cahir of UW's astronomy department. Rick Kang of the Pine Mountain Observatory in Oregon will coordinate demonstrations on the size and shape of the universe.
The one-day meeting is free and includes lunch. For more information, visit
or contact Julie Lutz at email@example.comYEAR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM (K-12)
Ancient Astronomers/Modern Tools: Celebrating Sun-Earth Day focuses on our past and present observations of the sun. Sun-Earth Day is a combination of events and programs that occur through the year, ending with a grand Sun-Earth Day celebration on or near the Spring Equinox in March. This year Sun-Earth Day is March 19.
Resources include webcasts, other multi-media, and print materials for use by school and informal educators. For more information, see
Would you like to learn more about the interdisciplinary field of Astrobiology? Applications are now open for the Astrobiology Summer Science Experience for Teachers (ASSET), offered July 17-23 by the SETI Institute.
The ASSET experience will be interactive and content rich, with presentations by leading astrobiology researchers from the SETI Institute, NASA, and California Academy of Sciences. Participants receive the Voyages Through Time curriculum.
All expenses are covered by grant funds. For more details, go to
The Washington State Science and Engineering Fair (WSSEF) offers students an opportunity to participate in a premiere educational fair. This year the fair will award more than $1 million prizes and scholarships, including two awards from Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium.
The fair will take place April 1 and 2 at Bremerton High School. The competition is open to all public, private and homeschooled students in grades 1-12. Registrations must be postmarked by March 19.
For more information, visit
Ideas, comments and Web sites of interest to other teachers should be sent to Irene Svete, newsletter editor, at
If you are not a regular subscriber and would like to receive our newsletter, simply go to UW's Mailman and fill in a subscription form.
Concerned about spam? Please note Space Grant does not sell its address lists.