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Enhancing Earth Science with Space-Age Perspectives
The 20 students at Brunswick Junior High School in Brunswick, ME, trained well for their mission with the International Space Station (ISS). Working as a team, with each student having his or her own responsibilities, they learned to identify targets and communicate them to the ISS. On October 9, 2001, they brought sleeping bags and munchies to the school's library and set up a Student Mission Operations Center (SMOC). For the next 24 hours, they directed a digital camera onboard the ISS in photographing deserts, volcanoes, cities, weather patterns and other features of Earth.
These students were participating in ISS EarthKAM, an innovative NASA program that empowers middle-school students to learn about Earth and to direct an Earth-pointing camera in space orbit. Originally, the camera was mounted in the Space Shuttle, where it was available only during Shuttle missions. Now it resides in the ISS and is available more often, increasing the program's scalability.
ISS EarthKAM illustrates how advanced technologies, like visualizations, image analysis tools, the Web and the ISS, can enhance classroom education. EarthKAM's imagery enables teachers of such disciplines as Earth science, geography, meteorology, mathematics, history and social studies to enhance curricula and add a vital dimension and timeliness to content.
Initiated in 1994 by Dr. Sally Ride and other partners, EarthKAM is funded by NASA and is operated by a partnership between the University of California at San Diego, NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and TERC.
And what did the students in Brunswick photograph? They selected sites ranging from such natural features as the Himalayan Mountains and the Amazon, Ganges and Mississippi rivers to human developments like the Great Wall of China and, yes, Disney World. They selected these sites as part of student-defined investigations in a variety of topics in Earth science and human geography.
www.earthkam.ucsd.edu/
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