Program Information

NASA Connect Segment featuring an online activity to show students how to design a planetary observer like the Mars Global Surveyor.

NASA CONNECT™ is a series of Emmy®-award-winning, math-focused programs. Each program supports the national math, science, and technology standards and has three components that include (1) a 30-minute television broadcast; (2) a companion educator's guide; and (3) an online activity that further explores topics presented in the broadcast. These programs establish a connection between the math, science, and technology concepts taught in the classroom to those same concepts used everyday by NASA researchers.

Transcript

[line ringing]

[modem crackling]

How would you like
to try your hand
at designing your own
Mars Global Surveyor?

Before introducing you to our
featured ed tech activity
and middle school,
I wanted to give you
a quick tour
of Norbert's lab.

You already know Norbert;
he's that funny character that
provides us with the cue cards
and other learning activities
and aids
to help us understand the math,
science, and technology concepts
presented in each
of the NASA Connect programs.

His lab is your interactive link
to activities and resources
on the web
so you'll get the most
out of NASA Connect.

Just click on the rooms
to enter areas
like Career Corner,
where you'll meet
some of our guests
and members
of our television team.

There's a study room,
with terms and definitions
related to the show
and a page with links
to other cool sites.

And this is where you'll get
to the online activity,
especially created
in partnership
with NASA's
Learning Technologies team.

To introduce us to
the web activity for this show,
let's pop in on a teacher
and her students
at Davis Middle School
in Hampton, Virginia.

Thanks, Shelley.

My name is Vivian Carr,
and I'm
a math and science teacher
here at Davis Middle School.

My students love
coming to the computer lab.

They use it
for reinforcement and enrichment
of many skills
in most of the content areas.

Now I'd like to introduce you
to Ruby Bruno.

Ruby, tell us,
how do you use technology?

Technology is a tool
that we use in several ways:
for communication with others
through email,
for conducting research
using the Internet,
for writing papers
and preparing electronic
presentations of our work,
and for participating
in problem-solving
online projects,
such as NASA Connect,
to reinforce what
we are learning in class.

In the online component
for this show,
we're learning what goes into
the design of a spacecraft
used for planetary observation.

To do this,
we learn about
different instruments
used for observing
planetary surfaces from space.

One of these is a camera.

We get to pick out what we think
are the right batteries to use,
as well as the size
of the solar panels required
to run the spacecraft.

We'll also have to consider
the cost and weight
of the vehicle
as we try to put together
the best possible
planetary observer we can
with all the variables
given to us in the activity.

Well, Jennifer,
the students here
at Davis Middle School
leave you and our viewers
with a challenge
to assemble and test
their very own Mars surveyor
in a cost-effective way
that produces the best results.

Viewers can find that challenge
in Norbert's lab
on the NASA Connect website.

See you on the Web.

Virginia Standards