DOWNEY - The Columbia Memorial Space Center, in collaboration with the NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center, is hosting teacher workshops this fall.The first workshop, Lunar and Meteorite Sample Certification, will be held Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. to noon and is recommended for teachers in grades K-12. This certification workshop is required "in order to bring the excitement of real lunar rocks and regolith samples to your students." NASA makes real moon rocks and regolith (moon dirt) available for teachers to borrow. The samples are from NASA's historic Apollo missions. On Nov. 6, the space center will host "Robotics and the Marsbound Challenge," a seminar for teachers in grades 5-12. Teachers will learn how to use the Marsbound Challenge board activity to teach students how to plan a mission to Mars, practice basic math skills and work in collaborative groups just like real engineers. In this activity, students begin with a $250 million budget and see what they can achieve. On Blooms Taxonomy, this activity is at the evaluation level. Both workshops are free but teachers must RSVP by calling (562) 231-1200.

********** Published: September 9, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 21