Welcome to a second post that gives another short break in a series of articles dedicated to PLN’s, Twitter, Curriculum Curation, and Social Networks in Education! In this break I thought I would share a new NASA STEM website that connects with thousands of resources.! Before reading about this discovery, please take a moment to subscribe by email or RSS to my 21centuryedtech Blog and also give me a follow on Twitter at mjgormans. I have more great resource filled posts coming your way involving 21st century skills, PBL, STEM, Web 2.0, and educational transformation. Enjoy this post!! – Mike Gorman (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com)
It appears that NASA is providing an outstanding resource that is certainly with in the scope of STEM educators. Now is the time for you to explore NASA Wavelength, an initiative dedicated to providing education a digital collection of Earth and space science resources for educators of all levels. The incredible resources at Nasa Wave length were developed through funding of the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD). You will find that all the resources have undergone a rigorous peer-review process. Collaboratively,educators and scientists worked ensure reliable and practical content for your classroom. Let’s take a closer look.
A first stop might include discovering the vast amount of resources. Jump in and perform a a search that covers over 2000 resources. You can also looked at resources by audience or topic. You may wish to explore some of the featured resources such as, Monitoring the Global Activities, Building Perspectives with Active Galaxies, The Sun as a Star, What is the Difference between Heat and Temperature, or Black Hole Orbits. The activities include guides, cost and material needs, resources, assessments, and so much more. My search on Volcanoes supplied nine amazing resources while a search on Oceans supplied me with 117 activities. Further exploration revealed that NASA Wave length connects educators with some amazing web resources, incredible nonfiction readings, awesome multimedia, outstanding hands-on activities, and some engaging simulations and activities. You will discover inquiry based units of student that bring out the best practices found in project, problem,and inquiry based learning.
Be sure to visit the News And Information Link to discover great webinars, events, contests and upcoming activities. You will be overwhelmed at all the opportunities for teachers and students. But wait… there is so much more! Take a moment (or more) and discovery all of the possibilities in the NASA Science Data and Images resources collection. Here you will discover the following three categories as described by NASA Wave length:
- Introductory: These NASA science images, animations, and visualizations don’t need special software or tools to access and use. These resources can be used to illustrate a concept, to engage students, to develop an educational exhibit, program or product, learn about the latest science discoveries and more.
- Intermediate: Access science data and tools designed for use in the classroom, informal education settings, and by citizen scientists.
- Advanced: Access full scientific data sets and/or analysis tools for conducting research and analysis.
Some of the amazing sites you will visit include Earth from Space which is an online database includes selected astronaut-acquired imagery of Earth and is searchable by clickable map, as well as by city, Earth landscapes, hurricanes and weather, geographic regions, Earth’s water habitats, distinctive features and more. Another site, NASA Climate Change explores a collection of climate news, visualizations, FAQ’s, interactives and resources related to the changing climate and NASA’s role in studying climate change. Remember this is just two of about 30 amazing collections.
Don’t forget to visit the ScienceCasts which are brief videos about fun, interesting, and unusual science topics that have been a part of NASA’s science missions over the years. There is also a link to NASA eClips which “are short, relevant educational video segments inspiring and engaging students while allowing them see real world connections. NASA produces new video segments weekly exploring current applications of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, topics. NASA also produces some amazing Apps for both the iPad and Droid marketplace. Check out this link to discover some of these neat applications such as Rocket Science 101. Last, be sure to view the image of the day. These images can provide a launching spot for valuable and authentic inquiry and research.
Please note that NASA Wavelength was developed by a team from the Space Sciences Laboratory and Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), and the Adler Planetarium under NASA Cooperative Agreements . The development team has worked with educators across the country to define, test and launch NASA Wavelength. The NASA Wavelength site is currently in beta testing and welcomes your feedback.
Hope you enjoyed this opportunity to explore an amazing resouce that is just out of this world, Please remember to subscribe to this blog by RSS or email and follow me on twitter at mjgormans. I have exciting resource filled posts coming your way. I also appreciate your sharing of this post and any retweets. Keep up the amazing work and please enjoy the wonderful world of current educational resources I try to bring your way. Welcome to the Future! – Mike Gorman
21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning 
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Thanks for sharing!