During the fall semester of 2022, I had the privilege of working with the Education Department at California Polytechnic University in Pomona, specifically with pre-service teachers taking coursework in Earth science. During our collaboration, the curriculum had the students split time in class between learning about geology and Earth’s history and then designing and engaging in classroom activities related to the technical content that they could take to their own classes in the future. This combination had Cal Poly students learning science and education hand-in-hand each week and led to some amazing classroom lessons and lab activities.

One group of young women in the program stood out as exceptionally passionate about their future careers. This team consisted of four seniors: Jacquelin Galvez-Coyt, hoping to someday teach kindergarten; Amie Gallardo, who is planning to teach fourth grade; Afiya Kindle, who is interested in teaching elementary or middle school; and Sofia Vallejo, who is interested in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Despite their interest in working with young students and collaborating to design lessons for those students, each of these pre-service teachers allowed their individuality to shape how they navigated lesson design and implementation. I recently sat down with them to ask about their instructional style and aspirations for classrooms of their own.

Now that we’re back to in-person classes, how is the transition going?

Sofia: Returning from remote instruction felt eerie at first, but it’s so nice to return to communicate with people and build connections in a non-digital way. In-person classes prepare you to communicate with colleagues in real life, build social skills, and read body language. All of these skills are critical for a teacher in order to understand and better help students to succeed.

Amie: Returning from remote instruction has been amazing. While it had its perks, I believe, as students, we learn a lot more while working hands-on with our projects than is possible in distance learning. If we’re trying to develop and assess activities we can do with kids, that really requires being face-to-face.

What are you most excited about when it comes to having your own classroom, and how will you get your kids excited about STEM?

Afiya: I am most confident about creating a genuine safe space for kids. I’ll be able to communicate how much I care about them and about our shared future, and I think there could never be enough genuinely kind and caring teachers in this world.

Jacquelin: I think my kids will be excited about STEM because of how easy it's become to incorporate activities. There are many resources out there for teachers to use for teaching math and science that don't rely solely on a textbook. Activities that use inexpensive materials or that require a little DIY skills go a long way for students.

Afiya: Exactly! I know I developed my love for science from being hands-on and actually somewhat “in charge” of an experiment on my own. Winning a science fair competition in seventh grade for a greenhouse I built really boosted my confidence and helped reassure me of my scholastic abilities as a kid.

You led a really cool lesson with your classmates where you had them use Oreos to model tectonic boundaries. How do you feel that lesson went?

Jacqueline: I was really proud of our group. After giving a lecture to the students about tectonic plate boundaries, we dispersed Oreos to everyone. We were set up around the classroom demonstrating the activity and giving verbal instructions for everyone to follow. My favorite part was when I saw two students by me go, “Oohhhh,” and smile once they got their Oreos to demonstrate the plate boundaries correctly.

Amie: I thought it went really well! All the students in our classroom enjoyed it. Although we, as adults, may know about plate tectonics, having our hands on the Oreos to understand it made it more enjoyable.

Afiya: Plus, who doesn’t love Oreos? They’re even vegan!

Which of the NASA-JPL lessons that you’ve implemented did you enjoy, and why?

Jacqueline: My favorite JPL activity we did was the Moon Phases activity. Having one team member to the side to give the instructions allows another student to view the different Moon phases. Then you switch so both students get to see that perspective. My second favorite activity was creating layers with different colored Play-Doh and demonstrating them as different plate boundaries and folds.

Amie: The NASA lesson that I enjoyed the most was the one we did on lunar eclipses. Much like myself, many students often have an early fascination with the Moon. Learning more about the Moon and lunar eclipses made me excited about the semester.

What’s next for you after you finish at Cal Poly Pomona?

Jacqueline: After I graduate at Cal Poly, I plan to attend UC Riverside to complete my credential program. While I am there, I would love to get my student teaching experience. Once I complete my credential program, I plan to apply to work at schools in the Inland Empire [in Southern California]. I want to be able to give back to the communities that influenced who I am today.

Sofia: My plans after Cal Poly are to take some time off to gain experience in the field as a substitute teacher. I also am looking to gain more volunteer experience, skills, and exposure. In the future, I want to enroll in UC Riverside to earn my teaching credential and master's degree.

Looking for ways to bring NASA STEM into your classroom or already have a great idea? The Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory serves educators in the greater Los Angeles area. Contact us at education@jpl.nasa.gov.

Explore More

• 
  Moon Phases

  Students learn about the phases of the moon by acting them out.

  Grades 1-6

  Time 30-60 minutes

• 
  When Do Lunar Eclipses Happen?

  Students use a paper plate to make a model that explains why lunar eclipses don’t occur during every full moon.

  Grades 4-8

  Time 30-60 minutes

• 
  Modeling Crustal Folds

  Students use playdough to model how Earth’s crust is bent and folded by tectonic plates over geologic time.

  Grades 6-12

  Time 30-60 minutes

TAGS: Teachers, School, Remote School, Classroom, Instruction, K-12, STEAM, Science, Math, resources, lessons

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Brandon Rodriguez, Educator Professional Development Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Brandon Rodriguez is the educator professional development specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of promoting STEM education, he enjoys reading philosophy, travel and speaking to your dog like it's a person.

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We just added the 180th lesson to our online catalog of standards-aligned STEM lessons, which means JPL Education now has a lesson for every day of the school year. To celebrate and help you make the year ahead stellar, we've put together this monthly calendar of upcoming NASA events along with links to our related lessons, Teachable Moments articles, and student projects you can use to engage students in STEM while they explore Earth and space with us all year long.

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August

The Voyagers Turn 45

The twin Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 on a journey to explore the outer planets and beyond – and they're still going. Now more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from Earth in a region known as interstellar space, they're the most distant human-made objects in space.

Get a primer on these fascinating spacecraft from Teachable Moments, then use it as a jumping off point for lessons on the scale, size, and structure of our solar system and how we communicate with distant spacecraft.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Collection

  Voyager Lessons for Educators

  Explore the science behind NASA's Voyager spacecraft with this collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons.

• 
  Collection

  Voyager Activities for Students

  These DIY projects, slideshows, and videos will get students exploring the science behind NASA's Voyager spacecraft.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  The Farthest Operating Spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, Still Exploring

  The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 on an epic journey through the solar system and beyond offer lessons in what it takes to travel farther than ever before.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Then There Were Two: Voyager 2 Reaches Interstellar Space

  Find out how the twin Voyager spacecraft took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to embark on a journey no spacecraft had before – or has since.

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September

Rendezvous with an Asteroid

A distant asteroid system 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth was the site of NASA's first attempt at redirecting an asteroid. On September 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission impacted the asteroid Dimorphos in an attempt to alter its speed and path around a larger asteroid known as Didymos. Dimorphos and Didymos do not pose a threat to Earth, which makes them a good proving ground for testing whether a similar technique could be used to defend Earth against potential impacts by hazardous asteroids in the future.

Get a primer on the DART mission and find related resources for the classroom in this article from our Teachable Moments series. Plus, explore our collection of standards-aligned lessons and activities all about asteroids to get students learning about different kinds of space rocks, geology, and meteoroid math.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Teachable Moments

  The Science Behind NASA's First Attempt at Redirecting an Asteroid

  Find out more about the historic first test, which could be used to defend our planet if a hazardous asteroid were discovered. Plus, explore lessons to bring the science and engineering of the mission into the classroom.

• 
  Collection

  Asteroids Lessons for Educators

  Explore a collection of standards-aligned lessons all about asteroids and craters.

• 
  Collection

  Asteroids Actvities for Students

  Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about asteroids.

A Closer Look at Europa

Just a few days later, on September 29, the Juno spacecraft that had been orbiting Jupiter since 2016 captured the closest views of Jupiter’s moon Europa in more than 20 years. The ice-covered moon is thought to contain a subsurface liquid-water ocean, making it an exciting new frontier in our search for life beyond Earth. NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2024 is designed to study the moon in more detail. But until Europa Clipper arrives at the Jovian system in 2030, these observations from Juno are our best chance to get a closer look at this fascinating moon.

Learn more about Europa and why it is interesting to scientists in this talk from our Teaching Space With NASA series featuring a Europa Clipper mission scientist. Then, explore our Ocean Worlds Lesson Collection for ideas on making classroom connections.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Collection

  Ocean Worlds Lessons for Educators

  Explore a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons all about ocean worlds throughout our solar system.

• 
  Collection

  Ocean Worlds Actvities for Students

  Learn about the ocean worlds throughout our solar system with these science and engineering activities for students.

• 
  Expert Talk

  Teaching Space With NASA – Robotic Oceanographers

  Hear from scientists exploring Earth's oceans and learn about how we use robotic explorers to collect data on how our oceans are changing as well as explore ocean worlds beyond Earth.

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October

Celebrate Halloween Like a Space Explorer

The month of October is the perfect time to get students exploring our STEM activities with a Halloween twist. Students can learn how to carve a pumpkin like a JPL engineer, take a tour of mysterious locations throughout the solar system, and dig into the geology inside their Halloween candy.

October 31 is also JPL's 86th birthday, which makes October a great time to learn more about JPL history, including the team of female mathematicians known as "human computers" who performed some of the earliest spacecraft-tracking calculations and the Laboratory's role in launching the first U.S. space satellite.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Collection

  Halloween Actvities for Students

  Explore student projects and slideshows that put a Halloween twist on STEM.

• 
  Project for Kids

  Pumpkin Stencils

  Celebrate the fall season and Halloween by making your very own space-themed pumpkins with these easy-to-use stencils from NASA's Space Place!

• 
  Teachable Moments

  When Computers Were Human

  Learn about the important but little-known role women played in the early days of space exploration, then try a math lesson inspired by their work.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Explorer 1 Anniversary Marks 60 Years of Science in Space

  The fascinating history of America’s first space satellite serves as a launching point for lessons in engineering design, motion and flight, and Earth science.

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November

Watch a Total Lunar Eclipse

Look up in the early morning hours of November 8 to watch one of the most stunning spectacles visible from Earth: a total lunar eclipse. This one will be viewable in North and South America, as well as Asia and Australia.

Learn more about lunar eclipses and how to watch them from our Teachable Moments series. Then, get students of all ages outside and observing the Moon with lessons on moon phases and the hows and whys of eclipses. Students can even build a Moon calendar so they always know when and where to look for the next eclipse.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Teachable Moments

  How to Watch a Total Lunar Eclipse and Get Students Observing the Moon

  There’s no better time to learn about the Moon than during a lunar eclipse. Here’s how eclipses work, what to expect, and how to get students engaged.

• 
  Collection

  Moon Lessons for Educators

  Teach students about the Moon with this collection of standards-aligned activities inspired by real NASA missions and science.

• 
  Collection

  Moon Activities for Students

  Learn all about the Moon with these projects, slideshows, and videos for students.

Artemis Takes a Giant Leap

NASA is making plans to send astronauts back to the Moon for the first time since 1972 – this time to establish a sustainable presence and prepare for future human missions to Mars. The first major step is Artemis I, which is testing three key components required to send astronauts beyond the Moon: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The uncrewed Artemis I mission marks the first test of all three components at once.

Get your K-12 students following along with lessons in rocketry and what it takes to live in space. Plus, register to follow along with the mission with resources and updates from NASA's Office of STEM Engagement.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Collection

  Artemis Lessons for Educators

  Get students engaged in NASA's Artemis Program with STEM lessons all about the Moon, rockets, space habitats, and more

• 
  Collection

  Artemis Activities for Students

  These STEM projects and activities for students will get them exploring the Moon, rockets, space flight and other facets of NASA's Artemis Program.

• 
  Public Event

  Join NASA Online for Artemis I

  Register to receive updates and resources related to Artemis I – the first in a series of Artemis Program missions designed to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon and prepare for future human missions to Mars.

• 
  Educator Resources

  Artemis Toolkit

  Explore Artemis resources for educators and students from NASA's Office of STEM Engagement.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of NASA's Apollo Moon Landing

  Explore the incredible history of the Apollo missions and find out what's in store for NASA's next mission to the Moon.

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December

Satellite Launches on a Mission to Follow the Water

As crucial as water is to human life, did you know that no one has ever completed a global survey of Earth’s surface water? That is about to change with the launch of the SWOT mission. SWOT, which stands for Surface Water Ocean Topography, will use a state-of-the-art radar to measure the elevation of water in major lakes, rivers, wetlands, and reservoirs. It will also provide an unprecedented level of detail on the ocean surface. This data will help scientists track how these bodies of water are changing over time and improve weather and climate models.

Engage your students in learning about Earth’s water budget and how we monitor Earth from space with these lessons. And be sure to check out our Teachable Moments article for more about the SWOT mission and the science of our changing climate.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  NASA Mission Takes a Deep Dive Into Earth's Surface Water

  Explore how and why the SWOT mission will take stock of Earth's water budget, what it could mean for assessing climate change, and how to bring it all to students.

• 
  Collection

  SWOT Lessons for Educators

  Explore the science and engineering behind the SWOT mission with this collection of standards-aligned lessons all about water.

• 
  Collection

  SWOT Actvities for Students

  Explore projects, videos, slideshows, and games for students all about the water cycle and sea level rise.

Prepare for the Science Fair

Before you know it, it'll be science fair time. Avoid the stress of science fair prep by getting students organized and thinking about their projects before the winter recess. Start by watching our video series How to Do a Science Fair Project. A scientist and an engineer from JPL walk your students through all the steps they will need to create an original science fair project by observing the world around them and asking questions. You can also explore our science fair starter pack of lessons and projects to get students generating ideas and thinking like scientists and engineers.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Video Series

  How to Do a Science Fair Project

  Learn all the ins and outs of crafting your very own science fair project.

• 
  Collection

  Science Fair Lessons for Educators

  Teach students how to craft their own science and engineering fair project with these video tutorials and lessons featuring NASA missions and science.

• 
  Collection

  Science Fair Activities for Students

  Learn how to design a science and engineering fair project and get inspired with our catalog of student projects featuring NASA missions and science.

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January

Explore STEM Careers

January is the time when many of us set goals for the year ahead, so it's the perfect month to get students exploring their career goals and opportunities in STEM. Students can learn more about careers in STEM and hear directly from scientists and engineers working on NASA missions in our Teaching Space video series. Meanwhile, our news page has more on what it takes to be a NASA astronaut and what it's like to be a JPL intern.

For students already in college and pursuing STEM degrees, now is the time to start exploring internship opportunities for the summer. The deadline for JPL summer internships is in March, so it's a good idea to refresh your resume and get your application started now. Learn how to stand out with this article on how to get an internship at JPL – which also includes advice for pre-college students.

Resources:

• 
  Expert Talks

  Teaching Space With NASA

  Hear from experts and education specialists about the latest missions and science happening at NASA and get your questions answered.

• 
  Articles

  Career Guidance

  Get advice from scientists, engineers and educators about what it takes to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and how to get a foot in the door.

• 
  Articles

  Meet JPL Interns

  These interns are pushing the boundaries of space exploration and science at the leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system.

• 
  Opportunities

  JPL Internships and Fellowships

  Discover exciting internships and research opportunities at the leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system.

• 
  Opportunities

  JPL Jobs: Opportunities for Students

  Start here to learn more about internship, fellowship, and postdoc opportunities at JPL and how to apply.

• 
  Opportunities

  NASA Internships

  Learn about internship opportunities at NASA centers across the U.S., and apply today!

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February

Mars Rover Celebrates 2-Year 'Landiversary'

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover celebrates its "landiversary" on February 18, which marks two years since the rover made its nail-biting descent on the Red Planet. The rover continues to explore Jezero Crater using science tools to analyze rocks and soil in search of signs of ancient microbial life. As of this writing, the rover has collected twelve rock core samples that will be sent to Earth by a future mission. Perseverance even witnessed a solar eclipse! Meanwhile, the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, which the rover deployed shortly after landing, has gone on to achieve feats of its own.

The Mission to Mars Student Challenge is a great way to get students of all ages exploring STEM and the Red Planet right along with the Perseverance rover. The challenge includes seven weeks of education content that can be customized for your classroom as well as education plans, expert talks, and resources from NASA.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Collection

  Mission to Mars Student Challenge

  Get K-12 students exploring Mars with NASA scientists, engineers, and the Perseverance rover as they learn all about STEM and design their very own mission to the Red Planet!

• 
  Teachable Moments

  NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars

  Learn how, why, and what Perseverance will explore on Mars, plus find out about an exciting opportunity for you and your students to join in the adventure!

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March

Take On the Pi Day Challenge

Math teachers, pie-lovers, and pun-aficionados rejoice! March 14 is Pi Day, the annual celebration of the mathematical constant used throughout the STEM world – and especially for space exploration. This year's celebration brings the 10th installment of the NASA Pi Day Challenge, featuring four new illustrated math problems involving pi along with NASA missions and science.

Explore the full collection of pi math lessons, get students learning about how we use pi at NASA, and hear from a JPL engineer on how many decimals of pi we use for space exploration at the links below.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Teachable Moments

  10 Years of NASA's Pi Day Challenge

  Learn more about pi, the history of Pi Day before, and the science behind the 2023 NASA Pi Day Challenge.

• 
  Collection

  Pi in the Sky Lessons

  Find everything you need to bring the NASA Pi Day Challenge into the classroom, including printable handouts of each illustrated math problem.

• 
  Student Project

  NASA Pi Day Challenge

  This collection of illustrated math problems gets students using pi like NASA scientists and engineers exploring Earth and space.

• 
  Article

  How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?

  While you may have memorized more than 70,000 digits of pi, world record holders, a JPL engineer explains why you really only need a tiny fraction of that for most calculations.

• 
  Article

  18 Ways NASA Uses Pi

  Whether it's sending spacecraft to other planets, driving rovers on Mars, finding out what planets are made of or how deep alien oceans are, pi takes us far at NASA. Find out how pi helps us explore space.

---

April

Celebrate Earth Day With NASA

You may not immediately think of Earth science when you think of NASA, but it's a big part of what we do. Earth Day on April 22 is a great time to explore Earth science with NASA, especially as new missions are taking to the skies to study the movements of dust, measure surface water across the planet, and track tiny land movements to better predict natural disasters.

Whether you want to focus on Earth’s surface and geology, climate change, extreme weather, or the water budget, we have an abundance of lessons, student projects and Teachable Moments to guide your way.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Collection

  Earth Lessons for Educators

  Discover a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons all about Earth and climate change.

• 
  Collection

  Earth Activities for Students

  Try these science and engineering projects, watch videos, and explore images all about the planet that we call home.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Climate Change Collection

  Explore this collection of Teachable Moments articles to get a primer on the latest NASA Earth science missions, plus find related education resources you can deploy right away!

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May

Summer Learning Adventures

As the school year comes to a close, send your students off on an adventure of summer learning with our do-it-yourself STEM projects. Additionally, our Learning Space With NASA at Home page and video series is a great resource for parents and families to help direct students' learning during out-of-school time.

Lessons & Resources:

• 
  Student Resources

  Summer Activities for Students

  Explore Earth and space with these hands-on projects, slideshows, videos, and more for K-12 students.

• 
  Student Resources

  Learning Space With NASA

  Explore space and science activities you can do with NASA at home. Find video tutorials, DIY projects, slideshows, games and more!

TAGS: K-12 Education, Teachers, Students, Lessons, Resources, Projects, Events, Artemis, Voyager, DART, Asteroids, Europa, Ocean Worlds, Halloween, History, Earth, Climate, SWOT, Lunar Eclipse, Science Fair, Career Advice, Mars, Perseverance, Pi Day, Earth Day, Summer STEM

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Kim Orr, Web Producer, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Kim Orr is a web and content producer for the Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her pastimes are laughing and going on Indiana Jones style adventures.
  

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Katherine Risbrough has been teaching high school math for almost 10 years. She began her teaching career in the Hickory Hill community of Memphis, Tennessee, where she taught everything from Algebra 1 to Calculus and served as a math coach for the district. Five years ago, she came to Los Angeles to teach Integrated Math and Calculus at Synergy Quantum Academy High School.

Outside of math, Ms. Risbrough is also a superfan of college football and never misses a game at her alma mater, the University of Southern California. Her fandom for making the game is rivaled only by her love of Harry Potter, having been to every midnight book and movie release.

I caught up with Ms. Risbrough to find out how she gets students excited about math, and I learned about a new strategy she used this past year: bridging math and science by teaming up with the AP Physics teacher. Her cross-discipline curriculum focused on helping students make connections between subjects and got them engaged as they returned from more than a year of remote learning.

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Math can be intimidating for students and it can be difficult to keep them engaged. How do you get your students excited about math?

Sometimes it's easier said than done, but math needs to be as hands-on and discussion-based as possible. We use a lot of the calc-medic curriculum, which is application and discovery first followed by a whole class discussion to share ideas and cement new learning. When students have to speak and defend a hypothesis or an argument, they are practicing mathematical reasoning, which is a skill they can take into all STEM coursework. I avoid lectures as much as possible. We also do a lot of flipped classroom learning (videos at home and practice in class), group work, use technology, and do activities that get students moving around the classroom.

I believe that learning mathematics should be a collaborative, exploratory process and that every student already has the skills necessary to become a successful mathematician. It’s my job to give them opportunities to show off and strengthen those skills, so that they can be just as successful with or without me present to help them.

This year you’ve introduced some interesting projects to make your class more interdisciplinary. Tell me a bit more about that.

I’ve really focused on keeping the math contextualized by being sure the content is interdisciplinary. For example, over half of my AP Calculus students are also taking AP Physics. This year, in particular, I was sure to coordinate with the physics teacher to see how we could align our curriculum in kinematics with what we were doing with integrals and derivatives. This began with students doing JPL’s additive velocity lesson in their physics class to set the stage for how calculus ties together acceleration, velocity, and displacement.

Both classes are so challenging for students, but when they see how strategies in one class can help lift them in another, it’s almost as if they are getting to see two different strategies to solve the same problem. Designing challenges that could be solved with both physics and math gave the students an ability to approach problems from either side. At first, they were pretty intimidated to see their two most challenging classes teaming up, but the end result was some incredible student projects and dramatic improvement in their ability to graph out relationships.

I also kick off new units by making connections to students' own life or even their future careers. They need to know the “why” beyond just, “because you’ll be tested on it.” We try to talk about STEM historical figures and current leaders (specifically mathematicians and scientists of color) as often as possible. For example, I use clips from the movies "October Sky" and "Hidden Figures" to set the stage and then lead into projects about rocket trajectories and elliptical orbits.

This year, in calculus, we started the year with the idea of “Agents of Change” and looked at thought leaders such as veteran astronaut Ellen Ochoa and climate scientist Nicole Hernandez Hammer and how their work relates to “instant rates of change” and “average rates of change” in calculus. Then, I had students think about moments of change in their life, and how that instant can be carried forward to a make a long term change in their careers and communities.

Coming back from COVID-19 and more than a year of remote instruction, how are your students adjusting to being back in the classroom?

Our students missed out on so many social and academic opportunities because of COVID, but they aren’t letting that stop them. The biggest struggle was starting off the school year and getting back into routines. Because of the demographics of our students, there have been more absences than usual, as many of our students help support their family at home. Many parents struggled to keep work through the pandemic, and a lot of my students work outside of school or take care of their siblings. The effects of caring for their families while still trying to focus on applying to college has really taken a toll on students.

I’m fortunate that so many kids are comfortable and open sharing feelings of increased anxiety, responsibility, or worry over the past two years. I believe it's important that my classroom and our group first and foremost be an escape from that space rather than an added stress. Their success in math – even a rigorous AP math class with a breakneck pace – comes from me being there for them as a person first and a teacher second. We focus so much on “catching them up” that we forget to take some time for them to process all they have had to manage.

As we move toward graduation, what is one story of success that you will take away from this year?

Honestly, it's the success of my students. They have jumped into AP Calculus after 1.5 years of distance learning and the social-emotional learning burdens of Covid, and have done amazing work. They are thoughtful, persistent, and often learning multiple grades worth of skills within one calculus lesson. I guess I'm a small piece of that, but all that I've really done is give them space to explore, discuss, and learn. It's what they've done with that space that has been the best thing to watch!

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Looking for ways to bring NASA STEM into your classroom or already have a great idea? The Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory serves educators in the greater Los Angeles area. Contact us at education@jpl.nasa.gov.

Explore More

• 
  Ion Propulsion: Using Spreadsheets to Model Additive Velocity

  Students develop spreadsheet models that describe the relationship between the mass of a spacecraft, the force acting on the craft, and its acceleration.

  Subject Science

  Grades 6-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Math Lessons

  Explore a collection of standards-aligned math lessons with links to NASA missions and science.

  Subject Math

  Grades K-12

  Time Varies

TAGS: Teachers, School, Classroom, Instruction, K-12, High School, Math, Calculus, Physics, Algebra, Lessons, Resources

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Brandon Rodriguez, Educator Professional Development Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Brandon Rodriguez is the educator professional development specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of promoting STEM education, he enjoys reading philosophy, travel and speaking to your dog like it's a person.

---

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole at its center, but we’ve never actually seen it – until now. The Event Horizon Telescope, funded by the National Science Foundation, has released the first image of our galactic black hole, Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A-star” and abbreviated Sgr A*).

Read on to find out how the image was acquired and learn more about black holes and Sagittarius A*. Then, explore resources to engage learners in the exciting topic of black holes.

How Black Holes Work

A black hole is a location in space with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it. A black hole’s outer edge, called its event horizon, defines the spherical boundary where the velocity needed to escape exceeds the speed of light. Matter and radiation fall in, but they can’t get out. Because not even light can escape, a black hole is literally black. Contrary to their name’s implication, black holes are not empty. In fact, a black hole contains a great amount of matter packed into a relatively small space. Black holes come in various sizes and can exist throughout space.

We can surmise a lot about the origin of black holes from their size. Scientists know how some types of black holes form, yet the formation of others is a mystery. There are three different types of black holes, categorized by their size: stellar-mass, intermediate-mass, and supermassive black holes.

Stellar-mass black holes are found throughout our Milky Way galaxy and have masses less than about 100 times that of our Sun. They comprise one of the possible endpoints of the lives of high-mass stars. Stars are fueled by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen, which forms helium and other elements deep in their interiors. The outflow of energy from the central regions of the star provides the pressure necessary to keep the star from collapsing under its own weight.

Once the fuel in the core of a high-mass star has completely burned out, the star collapses, sometimes producing a supernova explosion that releases an enormous amount of energy, detectable across the electromagnetic spectrum. If the star’s mass is more than about 25 times that of our Sun, a stellar-mass black hole can form.

Intermediate-mass black holes have masses between about 100 and 100,000 times that of our Sun. Until recently, the existence of intermediate-mass black holes had only been theorized. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has identified several intermediate-mass black hole candidates by observing X-rays emitted by the gas surrounding the black hole. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or LIGO, funded by the National Science Foundation, detected the merger of two stellar-mass black holes with masses 65 and 85 times that of our Sun forming an intermediate-mass black hole of 142 solar masses. (Some of the mass was converted to energy and about nine solar masses were radiated away as gravitational waves.)

Supermassive black holes contain between a million and a billion times as much mass as a stellar-mass black hole. Scientists are uncertain how supermassive black holes form, but one theory is that they result from the combining of stellar-mass black holes.

Our local galactic center’s black hole, Sagittarius A*, is a supermassive black hole with a mass of about four million suns, which is fairly small for a supermassive black hole. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes have determined that many galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center.

Why They're Important

Black holes hold allure for everyone from young children to professional astronomers. For astronomers, in particular, learning about Sagittarius A* is important because it provides insights into the formation of our galaxy and black holes themselves.

Understanding the physics of black hole formation and growth, as well as their surrounding environments, gives us a window into the evolution of galaxies. Though Sagittarius A* is more than 26,000 light years (152 quadrillion miles) away from Earth, it is our closest supermassive black hole. Its formation and physical processes influence our galaxy as galactic matter continually crosses the event horizon, growing the black hole’s mass.

Studying black holes also helps us further understand how space and time interact. As one gets closer to a black hole, the flow of time slows down compared with the flow of time far from the black hole. In fact, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the flow of time slows near any massive object. But it takes an incredibly massive object, such as a black hole, to make an appreciable difference in the flow of time. There's still much to learn about what happens to time and space inside a black hole, so the more we study them, the more we can learn.

How Scientists Imaged Sagittarius A*

Black holes, though invisible to the human eye, can be detected by observing their effects on nearby space and matter. As a result of their enormous mass, black holes have extremely high gravity, which pulls in surrounding material at rapid speeds, causing this material to become very hot and emit X-rays.

This video explains how Sagittarius A* appears to still have the remnants of a blowtorch-like jet dating back several thousand years. Credit: NASA | Watch on YouTube

X-ray-detecting telescopes such as NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory can image the material spiraling into a black hole, revealing the black hole’s location. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope can measure the speed of the gas and stars orbiting a point in space that may be a black hole. Scientists use these measurements of speed to determine the mass of the black hole. Hubble and Chandra are also able to image the effects of gravitational lensing, or the bending of light that results from the gravitational pull of black holes or other high-mass objects such as galaxies.

To directly image the matter surrounding a black hole, thus revealing the silhouette of the black hole itself, scientists from around the world collaborated to create the Event Horizon Telescope. The Event Horizon Telescope harnesses the combined power of numerous telescopes around the world that can detect radio-wave emissions from the sky to create a virtual telescope the size of Earth.

Narrated by Caltech’s Katie Bouman, this video explains how she and her fellow teammates at the Event Horizon Telescope project managed to take a picture of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), a beastly black hole lying 27,000 light-years away at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Credit: Caltech | Watch on YouTube

In 2019, the team released the first image of a black hole's silhouette when they captured the glowing gasses surrounding the M87* galactic black hole nearly 53 million light-years (318 quintillion miles) away from Earth. The team then announced that one of their next endeavors was to image Sagittarius A*.

To make the newest observation, the Event Horizon Telescope focused its array of observing platforms on the center of the Milky Way. A telescope array is a group of telescopes arranged so that, as a set, they function similarly to one giant telescope. In addition to the telescopes used to acquire the M87* image, three additional radio telescopes joined the array to acquire the image of Sagittarius A*: the Greenland Telescope, the Kitt Peak 12-meter Telescope in Arizona, and the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array, or NOEMA, in France.

This image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy representing an area roughly 400 light years across, has been translated into sound. Listen for the different instruments representing the data captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope. The Hubble data outline energetic regions where stars are being born, while Spitzer's data captures glowing clouds of dust containing complex structures. X-rays from Chandra reveal gas heated to millions of degrees from stellar explosions and outflows from Sagittarius A*. Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory | Watch on YouTube

The distance from the center of Sagittarius A* to its event horizon, a measurement known as the Schwarzschild radius, is enormous at seven million miles (12,000,000 kilometers or 0.08 astronomical units). But its apparent size when viewed from Earth is tiny because it is so far away. The apparent Schwarzschild radius for Sagittarius A* is 10 microarcseconds, about the angular size of a large blueberry on the Moon.

Acquiring a good image of a large object that appears tiny when viewed from Earth requires a telescope with extraordinarily fine resolution, or the ability to detect the smallest possible details in an image. The better the resolution, the better the image and the more detail the image will show. Even the best individual telescopes or array of telescopes at one location do not have a good enough resolution to image Sagittarius A*.

The addition of the 12-meter Greenland Telescope, though a relatively small instrument, widened the diameter, or aperture, of the Event Horizon Telescope to nearly the diameter of Earth. And NOEMA – itself an array of twelve 15-meter antennas with maximum separation of 2,500 feet (760 meters) – helped further increase the Event Horizon Telescope’s light-gathering capacity.

Altogether, when combined into the mighty Event Horizon Telescope, the virtual array obtained an image of Sagittarius A* spanning about 50 microarcseconds, or about 1/13th of a billionth the span of the night sky.

While the Event Horizon Telescope was busy capturing the stunning radio image of Sagittarius A*, an additional worldwide contingent of astronomical observatories was also focused on the black hole and the region surrounding it. The aim of the team, known as the Event Horizon Telescope Multiwavelength Science Working Group, was to observe the black hole in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum beyond radio. As part of the effort, X-ray data were collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope (NuSTAR), and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, additional radio data were collected by the East Asian Very Long-Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) network and the Global 3 millimeter VLBI array, and infrared data were collected by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.

The data from these multiple platforms will allow scientists to continue building their understanding of the behavior of Sagittarius A* and to refine their models of black holes in general. The data collected from these multiwavelength observations are crucial to the study of black holes, such as the Chandra data revealing how quickly material falls in toward the disk of hot gas orbiting the black hole’s event horizon. Data such as these will hopefully help scientists better understand black hole accretion, or the process by which black holes grow.

Teach It

Check out these resources to bring the real-life STEM of black holes into your teaching, plus learn about opportunities to involve students in real astronomy research.

• 
  Educator Guide: Dropping In With Gravitational Waves

  Students develop a model to represent the collision of two black holes, the gravitational waves that result and the waves' propagation through spacetime.

  Subject Science

  Grades 6-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Teachable Moments: How Scientists Captured the First Image of a Black Hole

  Find out how scientists created a virtual telescope as large as Earth itself to capture the first image of a black hole's silhouette.

• 
  Teachable Moments: Gravitational Waves Detected for the First Time

  Find out how researchers proved part of Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, then create a model of the Nobel Prize-winning experiment in the classroom.

Explore More

Articles

• 
  Teachable Moments: Learn About the Universe With the James Webb Space Telescope

  Get a look into the science and engineering behind the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built while exploring ways to engage learners in the mission.

• 
  JPL Education ‘Teachable Moment’ Inspires Winning Science Fair Project

  A “teachable moment” turned into a science fair win for an eighth-grader in Ontario, Canada, who based his project on a classroom activity from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Educator Guides

• 
  How Do We See Dark Matter?

  Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.

  Subject Science

  Grades 6-12

  Time < 30 mins

Student Activities

• 
  Black Holes: By the Numbers

  What are black holes and how do they form?

  Subject Science

  Grades 4-12

  Time Less than 30 mins

Check out these related resources for students from NASA’s Space Place

• What is a Black Hole?

Across the NASA-Verse

• Educator Guide: Black Hole Math
• NASA/IPAC TeacherArchive Research Program
• Student Resources: Chandra
• Articles: Hubble - Black Holes
• Audio: Sonification of the Milky Way galactic center
• Audio: Sonification of the M87 black hole
• Interactive: Sagittarius A*
• Videos: Hubble - Black Holes
• Website: NASA Science - Black Holes
• Download: A Galaxy Full of Black Holes Presentation
• Expert Talk: Imaging a Black Hole Lecture
• Website: NASA - Black Holes
• Article: Black Hole Image Makes History
• Graphic: Anatomy of a Black Hole

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This Teachable Moment was created in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning. Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

TAGS: Black hole, Milky Way, galaxy, universe, stars, teachers, educators, lessons, Teachable Moments, K-12, science

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ota Lutz, K-12 Education Group Manager, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Ota Lutz is the manager of the K-12 Education Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When she’s not writing new lessons or teaching, she’s probably cooking something delicious, volunteering in the community, or dreaming about where she will travel next.

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A NASA instrument launched to the International Space Station this summer will explore how dust impacts global temperatures, cloud formation, and the health of our oceans. The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, or EMIT, is the first instrument of its kind, designed to collect measurements from space of some of the most arid regions on Earth to understand the composition of soils that generate dust and the larger role dust plays in climate change.

Read on to find out how the instrument works and why scientists are hoping to learn more about the composition of dust. Then, explore how to bring the science into your classroom with related climate lessons that bridge physical sciences with engineering practices.

Why It’s Important

Scientists have long studied the movements of dust. The fact that dust storms can carry tiny particles great distances was reported in the scientific literature nearly two centuries ago by none other than Charles Darwin as he sailed across the Atlantic on the HMS Beagle. What still remains a mystery all these years later is what that dust is made of, how it moves, and how that affects the health of our planet.

For example, we now know that dust deposited on snow speeds up snow melt even more than increased air temperature. That is to say, that dust traveling to cold places can cause increased snow melt.

Dust can affect air temperatures as well. For example, dust with more iron absorbs light and can cause the air to warm, while dust with less iron reflects light and is responsible for local cooling. Iron in dust can also act as a fertilizer for plankton in oceans, supplying them with nutrients needed for growth and reproduction.

Floating dust potentially alters the composition of clouds and how quickly or slowly they form, which can ultimately impact weather patterns, including the formation of hurricanes. That’s because clouds need particles to act as seeds around which droplets of moisture in the atmosphere can form. This process of coalescing water particles, called nucleation, is one factor in how clouds form.

Thanks to EMIT, we’ll take the first steps in understanding how the movements of dust particles contribute to local and global changes in climate by producing “mineral maps”. These mineral maps will reveal differences in the chemical makeup of dust, providing essential information to help us model the way dust can transform Earth’s climate.

› Learn more about what EMIT will do from JPL News

How It Works

NASA has been exploring how dust moves across the globe by combining on-the-ground field studies with cutting-edge technology.

Dr. Olga Kalashnikova, an aerosol scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-investigator for EMIT, has been using satellite data to study atmospheric mineral dust for many years, including tracking the movements of dust and investigating trends in the frequency of dust storms.

As Dr. Kalashnikova describes, “From the ground, we can see what types of dusts are lifted into the atmosphere by dust storms on a local scale, but with EMIT, we can understand how they differ and where they originally came from.”

EMIT is the first instrument designed to observe a key part of the mineral dust cycle from space, allowing scientists to track different dust compositions on a global scale, instead of in just one region at a time. To understand dust’s impact on Earth’s climate, scientists will use EMIT to answer key questions, including:

• How does dust uplifted in the atmosphere alter global temperatures?
• What role do dusts play in fertilizing our oceans when they are deposited?
• How do dust particles in the atmosphere affect cloud nucleation; the process by which clouds are ‘seeded’ and begin to coalesce into larger clouds?

To achieve its objectives, EMIT will spend 12 months collecting what are called “hyperspectral images” of some of the most arid regions of our planet selected by scientists and engineers as areas of high dust mobility, such as Northern Africa, the Middle East, and the American Southwest.

These images are measurements of light reflected from the Earth below, calibrated to the distinct patterns, or spectra, of light we see when certain minerals are present. The EMIT team has identified 10 minerals that are most common, including gypsum, hematite, and kaolinite.

Why are these minerals important? One key reason is the presence or absence of the element iron, found in some minerals but not others.

Dr. Bethany Ehlmann is a planetary scientist and co-investigator for the EMIT project at Caltech and explains that when it comes to heating, “a little bit of iron goes a long way.” Iron in minerals absorbs visible and infrared light, meaning that even if only a small amount is present, it will result in a much warmer dust particle. Large amounts of warm dust in our atmosphere may have an impact on temperatures globally since those dust particles radiate heat as they travel, sometimes as far as across oceans!

Collecting images from space is, of course, no easy task, especially when trying to look only at the ground below. Yet it does allow scientists to get a global picture that's not possible to capture from the ground. Field studies allow us to take individual samples from tiny places of interest, but from space, we can scan the entire planet in remote places where no scientist can visit.

Of course, there are some complications in trying to study the light reflected off the surface of Earth, such as interference from clouds. To prevent this problem, the EMIT team plans to collect data at each location several times to ensure that the images aren’t being obscured by clouds between the instrument and the minerals we’re looking for.

The data collected by EMIT will provide a map of the compositions of dust from dry, desert environments all over the world, but the team involved won’t stop there. Knowing more about what the dust is made of sets the stage for a broader understanding of a few more of the complex processes that make up our global climate cycle. Upon completion of this study, EMIT's mineral maps will support further campaigns to complete our global dust picture. For example, NASA hopes to couple the data from EMIT with targeted field campaigns, in which scientists can collect wind-blown dust from the ground to learn more about where dust particles move over time and answer questions about what types of dust are on the go.

Furthermore, missions such as the Multiangle Imager for Aerosols, or MAIA, will allow us to better understand the effects of these dust particles on air-quality and public health.

Teach it

Studying Earth’s climate is a complex puzzle, consisting of many trackable features. These can range from sea level to particles in our atmosphere, but each makes a contribution to measuring the health of our planet. Bring EMIT and NASA Earth Science into your classroom with these lessons, articles, and activities to better understand how we’re exploring climate change.

Educator Guides

• 
  Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game

  Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-6

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Modeling the Water Budget

  Students use a spreadsheet model to understand droughts and the movement of water in the water cycle.

  Subject Science

  Grades 5-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Graphing Global Temperature Trends

  Students use global temperature data to create models and compare short-term trends to long-term trends.

  Subject Math

  Grades 5-12

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Using Light to Study Planets

  Students build a spectrometer using basic materials as a model for how NASA uses spectroscopy to determine the nature of elements found on Earth and other planets.

  Subject Science

  Grades 6-11

  Time > 2 hrs

• 
  Cloud Computing: A 'Pi in the Sky' Math Challenge

  In this illustrated math problem, students use pi to calculate how much water could be contained within a cloud.

  Subject Math

  Grades 6-12

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  More Earth Science Lessons for Educators

  Explore a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons for students that get them investigating Earth science along with NASA.

Student Activities

• 
  The Types of Clouds and What They Mean

  Learn about cloud types and how they form. Then help NASA scientists studying clouds.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-3

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Make a Cloud in a Bottle

  Have you ever wondered how clouds form? In this activity, you can make your own cloud to see for yourself!

  Subject Science

  Grades 4-12

  Time < 30 mins

• 
  Video Series: NASA's Earth Minute

  Learn about the science behind climate change and the NASA missions studying it in these short videos.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time < 30 mins

• 
  The Change of Seasons: Views from Space

  See how seasonal changes affect our planet.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time < 30 mins

• 
  More Earth Science Activities for Students

  Explore Earth science with these projects, videos, and slideshows for students.

Articles

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Reflecting On Greenland’s Melting Glaciers as OMG Mission Concludes

  Explore how the OMG mission discovered more about what's behind one of the largest contributors to global sea level rise.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Earth Satellite Joins NASA Fleet to Monitor Sea Level, Improve Weather Forecasts

  Learn about the mission and find out how to make classroom connections to NASA Earth science – plus explore related teaching and learning resources.

• 
  Teachable Moments

  Climate Change Collection

  Explore this collection of Teachable Moments articles to get a primer on the latest NASA Earth science missions, plus find related education resources you can deploy right away!

Websites

• NASA Climate Change
• NASA Earth Observatory - Images of Dust and Haze
• NASA Climate Kids
• Recursos En Español: NASA Climate Change

TAGS: Earth, climate, geology, weather, EMIT, Teachers, Classroom, Lessons, Earth Science, Climate Change, Dust, Global Warming, Educators, K-12, Teachable Moments, Climate TM

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Brandon Rodriguez, Educator Professional Development Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Brandon Rodriguez is the educator professional development specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of promoting STEM education, he enjoys reading philosophy, travel and speaking to your dog like it's a person.

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Jackie Prosser is a fourth-grade teacher in Fairfield, California, finishing her second year as a classroom teacher. She is a recent graduate of the University of California, Riverside, where she simultaneously received her teaching credential and her master's in education. This was where I was fortunate enough to meet Miss Prosser, through a collaboration between the Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and UCR designed to help new teachers incorporate STEM into their future classrooms. She and her cohort immediately struck me as passionate future teachers already exploring unique ways to bring space science into their teaching.

But it's been a challenging transition for Miss Prosser and teachers like her who started their careers amid a pandemic. She began her student-teaching in person only to find that she would have to switch to teaching remotely just four months into the job. Now, she's back in the classroom but facing new challenges getting students up to speed academically while reacquainting them with the social aspects of in-person learning.

I caught up with her to find out how she's managing the transition and developing creative ways to support the individual needs of her students and, at the same time, incorporating science and art into her curriculum with the help of STEAM resources from the JPL Education Office.

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What made you want to become an elementary school teacher?

Originally, I became a teacher because I love to see that moment of light when a concept finally clicks in a kid’s mind. I am still a teacher (even after the craziest two years ever) because every kid deserves someone to fight for them, and I know I can be that person for at least 32 kids a year.

I love to teach young kids especially for two reasons. The first is their honesty; no one will tell you exactly like it is like a nine-year-old will. The second is that I love the excitement kids have for learning at this age.

It has been a bumpy couple years, especially this past school year when it was unclear if we would be remote again or back in the classroom. How has it been coming back from remote learning?

Coming back from remote learning has been an incredible challenge, but we’ve come a long way since the beginning of the year. Students really struggled being back in a highly structured environment. It was very hard to balance meeting the individual needs of each student and getting them used to the structure and expectations of the classroom.

My fourth graders were online for the last part of second grade and a vast majority of third grade. This is when students really start to solve conflicts and regulate their emotions with less support from adults. I have seen a lot more problems with emotion regulation and conflict among my students this year than in years past.

There is a lot of pressure on teachers right now to make up for all the learning loss and for students being behind on grade-level standards. But I don’t think enough people talk about how much joy and social interaction they also lost during remote learning. Teachers are also feeling the pressure of that. I want to help my students be the very best versions of themselves and being happy and comfortable with themselves is a huge part of that.

How do you structure your class to get students back in the flow of a school setting?

I use a lot of manipulatives in my math lessons and try to make their learning as hands-on as possible. I also teach math in small groups to be able to better meet the individual needs of my students. I have one group with me learning the lesson, one group doing their independent practice of the skill, and one group on their computers. Then, the students switch until each group has done each activity.

You’re a big fan of science and came to several JPL Education workshops while you were still in school yourself. Are there JPL Education resources that you have found particularly impactful for your students?

I have always loved teaching science. It is so often left behind or pushed aside. I think a lot of time that happens because teachers feel like they do not have enough background knowledge to teach high-quality science lessons or they think that the lessons will add to the already enormous workload teachers have. My district does not have an adopted or prescribed curriculum for teachers to follow, so we have a lot of freedom for when and how to make the time for STEAM.

The education resources [from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory] have made it so easy for me to teach and get kids excited about science, and my kids absolutely love them. Our favorites always seem to be Make a Paper Mars Helicopter and Art and the Cosmic Connection.

I also am part of my district’s science pilot program. It has been so cool to be able to decide what curriculum to pilot and watch my students test it out and give feedback on their learning. Last year, I had the amazing opportunity to teach science for two elementary schools’ summer programs. My partner teacher and I got to create the curriculum for them, and we pulled a ton of lessons from the JPL Education website. It was by far the most fun I have ever had at a job.

Despite being a new teacher, you’ve already seen so much. How have you navigated the changing landscape?

I have an amazing network of teachers supporting me at every turn. My grade-level team and my friends from my credential program are some of the most amazing people and educators I have ever met. There is no way I would be able to get through the more difficult aspects of teaching without them.

I am also coaching the boys soccer team, directing the school’s "Lion King Jr." play, contributing to the science pilot program, and serving on the social committee for teachers and staff. I love using these different roles to make connections with not just my students, but also students from all grades.

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Looking for ways to bring NASA STEM into your classroom or already have a great idea? The Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory serves educators in the greater Los Angeles area. Contact us at education@jpl.nasa.gov.

Explore More

• 
  Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Art and the Cosmic Connection

  Students use art to describe and recognize the geology on planetary surfaces.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-12

  Time 1-2 hrs

TAGS: Teachers, School, Remote School, Classroom, Instruction, K-12, Fourth Grade, STEAM, Science, Math, Art, UC Riverside, resources, lessons

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Brandon Rodriguez, Educator Professional Development Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Brandon Rodriguez is the educator professional development specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of promoting STEM education, he enjoys reading philosophy, travel and speaking to your dog like it's a person.

Update: March 15, 2022 – The answers are here! Visit the NASA Pi Day Challenge slideshow to view the illustrated answer keys for each of the problems in the 2022 challenge.

In the News

No matter what Punxsutawney Phil saw on Groundhog Day, a sure sign that spring approaches is Pi Day. Celebrated on March 14, it’s the annual holiday that pays tribute to the mathematical constant pi – the number that results from dividing any circle's circumference by its diameter.

Every year, Pi Day gives us a reason to not only celebrate the mathematical wonder that helps NASA explore the universe, but also to enjoy our favorite sweet and savory pies. Students can join in the fun by using pi to explore Earth and space themselves in our ninth annual NASA Pi Day Challenge.

Read on to learn more about the science behind this year's challenge and find out how students can put their math mettle to the test to solve real problems faced by NASA scientists and engineers as we explore Earth, the Moon, Mars, and beyond!

How It Works

Dividing any circle’s circumference by its diameter gives you an answer of pi, which is usually rounded to 3.14. Because pi is an irrational number, its decimal representation goes on forever and never repeats. In 2021, a supercomputer calculated pi to more than 62 trillion digits. But you might be surprised to learn that for space exploration, NASA uses far fewer digits of pi.

Here at NASA, we use pi to understand how much signal we can receive from a distant spacecraft, to calculate the rotation speed of a Mars helicopter blade, and to collect asteroid samples. But pi isn’t just used for exploring the cosmos. Since pi can be used to find the area or circumference of round objects and the volume or surface area of shapes like cylinders, cones, and spheres, it is useful in all sorts of ways. Architects use pi when designing bridges or buildings with arches; electricians use pi when calculating the conductance of wire; and you might even want to use pi to figure out how much frozen goodness you are getting in your ice cream cone.

In the United States, March 14 can be written as 3.14, which is why that date was chosen for celebrating all things pi. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution officially designating March 14 as Pi Day and encouraging teachers and students to celebrate the day with activities that teach students about pi. And that's precisely what the NASA Pi Day Challenge is all about!

The Science Behind the 2022 NASA Pi Day Challenge

This ninth installment of the NASA Pi Day Challenge includes four brain-busters that get students using pi to measure frost deep within craters on the Moon, estimate the density of Mars’ core, calculate the water output from a dam to assess its potential environmental impact, and find how far a planet-hunting satellite needs to travel to send data back to Earth.

Read on to learn more about the science and engineering behind the problems or click the link below to jump right into the challenge.

› Take the NASA Pi Day Challenge

› Educators, get the lesson here!

Lunar Logic

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission is a small satellite that will seek out signs of frost in deep, permanently shadowed craters around the Moon’s south pole. By sending infrared laser pulses to the surface and measuring how much light is reflected back, scientists can determine which areas of the lunar surface contain frost and which are dry. Knowing the locations of water-ice on the Moon could be key for future crewed missions to the Moon, when water will be a precious resource. In Lunar Logic, students use pi to find out how much surface area Lunar Flashlight will measure with a single pulse from its laser.

Core Conundrum

Since 2018, the InSight lander has studied the interior of Mars by measuring vibrations from marsquakes and the “wobble” of the planet as it rotates on its axis. Through careful analysis of the data returned from InSight, scientists were able to measure the size of Mars’ liquid core for the first time and estimate its density. In Core Conundrum, students use pi to do some of the same calculations, determining the volume and density of the Red Planet’s core and comparing it to that of Earth’s core.

Dam Deduction

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT mission will conduct NASA's first global survey of Earth's surface water. SWOT’s state-of-the-art radar will measure the elevation of water in major lakes, rivers, wetlands, and reservoirs while revealing unprecedented detail on the ocean surface. This data will help scientists track how these bodies of water are changing over time and improve weather and climate models. In Dam Deduction, students learn how data from SWOT can be used to assess the environmental impact of dams. Students then use pi to do their own analysis, finding the powered output of a dam based on the water height of its reservoir and inferring potential impacts of this quick-flowing water.

Telescope Tango

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is designed to survey the sky in search of planets orbiting bright, nearby stars. TESS does this while circling Earth in a unique, never-before-used orbit that brings the spacecraft close to Earth about once every two weeks to transmit its data. This special orbit keeps TESS stable while giving it an unobstructed view of space. In its first two years, TESS identified more than 2,600 possible exoplanets in our galaxy with thousands more discovered during its extended mission. In Telescope Tango, students will use pi to calculate the distance traveled by TESS each time it sends data back to Earth.

Teach It

Celebrate Pi Day by getting students thinking like NASA scientists and engineers to solve real-world problems in NASA Pi Day Challenge. Completing the problem set and reading about other ways NASA uses pi is a great way for students to see the importance of the M in STEM.

Pi Day Resources

• 
  Pi in the Sky Lessons

  Here's everything you need to bring the NASA Pi Day Challenge into the classroom.

  Grades 4-12

  Time Varies

• 
  NASA Pi Day Challenge

  The entire NASA Pi Day Challenge collection can be found in one, handy slideshow for students.

  Grades 4-12

  Time Varies

• 
  How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?

  While you may have memorized more than 70,000 digits of pi, world record holders, a JPL engineer explains why you really only need a tiny fraction of that for most calculations.

• 
  18 Ways NASA Uses Pi

  Whether it's sending spacecraft to other planets, driving rovers on Mars, finding out what planets are made of or how deep alien oceans are, pi takes us far at NASA. Find out how pi helps us explore space.

• 
  10 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day With NASA on March 14

  Find out what makes pi so special, how it’s used to explore space, and how you can join the celebration with resources from NASA.

• 
  Infographic: Planet Pi

  This poster shows some of the ways NASA scientists and engineers use the mathematical constant pi (3.14) and includes common pi formulas.

• 

  Downloads

  Can't get enough pi? Download this year's NASA Pi Day Challenge graphics, including mobile phone and desktop backgrounds:

  • Pi in the Sky 9 Poster (PDF, 11.2 MB)
  • Lunar Flashlight Background: Phone | Desktop
  • Mars InSight Lander Background: Phone | Desktop
  • SWOT Mission Background: Phone | Desktop
  • TESS Mission - Downlink Background: Phone | Desktop
  • TESS Mission - Science Background (not pictured): Phone | Desktop
  • Medley Background (not pictured): Phone | Desktop
• 
  Pi Day: What's Going 'Round

  Tell us what you're up to this Pi Day and share your stories and photos on our showcase page.

Plus, join the conversation using the hashtag #NASAPiDayChallenge on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Recursos en español

• 
  18 Maneras en Que la NASA Usa Pi

  Pi nos lleva lejos en la NASA. Estas son solo algunas de las formas en que pi nos ayuda a explorar el espacio.

Related Lessons for Educators

• 
  Planetary Egg Wobble and Newton's First Law

  Students try to determine the interior makeup of an egg (hard-boiled or raw) based on their understanding of center of mass and Newton’s first law of motion.

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30 min to 1 hour

• 
  Whip Up a Moon-Like Crater

  Whip up a moon-like crater with baking ingredients as a demonstration for students.

  Grades 1-6

  Time 30 min to 1 hour

• 
  Exploring Exoplanets with Kepler

  Students use math concepts related to transits to discover real-world data about Mercury, Venus and planets outside our solar system.

  Grades 6-12

  Time 30 min to 1 hour

• 
  Tracking Water Using NASA Satellite Data

  Using real data from NASA’s GRACE satellites, students will track water mass changes in the U.S.

  Grades 4-8

  Time 30 min to 1 hour

• 
  Modeling the Water Budget

  Students use a spreadsheet model to understand droughts and the movement of water in the water cycle.

  Grades 5-8

  Time 30 min to 1 hour

Related Activities for Students

• 
  NASA's Earth Minute: Mission to Earth?

  NASA doesn't just explore outer space! It studies Earth, too, with a fleet of spacecraft and scientists far and wide.

  Type Video

  Subject Science

• 
  Look at the Moon! Journaling Project

  Draw what you see in a Moon Journal and see if you can predict the moon phase that comes next.

  Type Project

  Subject Science

• 
  Mars in a Minute: Are There Quakes on Mars?

  Are there earthquakes on Mars – or rather, "marsquakes"? What could they teach us about the Red Planet?

  Type Video

  Subject Science

Explore More

Infographic

• Mars Quick Facts

Facts and Figures

• Earth's Moon
• Mars
• Earth
• Exoplanet Discoveries Dashboard

Missions and Instruments

• Mars InSight Lander
• TESS Mission
• SWOT Mission
• Lunar Flashlight

Websites

• Exoplanets Exploration
• Mars Exploration
• NASA Climate
• NASA Science: Earth's Moon
• Artemis

TAGS: Pi Day, Pi, Math, NASA Pi Day Challenge, Moon, Lunar Flashlight, Mars, InSight, Earth, Climate, SWOT, Exoplanets, Universe, TESS, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Students, Lessons, Activities, Resources, K-12

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lyle Tavernier, Educational Technology Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Lyle Tavernier is an educational technology specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When he’s not busy working in the areas of distance learning and instructional technology, you might find him running with his dog, cooking or planning his next trip.

---

Grades K-2

• 
  Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  What Tools Would You Take to Mars?

  Students decide what they want to learn from a robotic mission to Mars and what tools they will put on their robot to accomplish their goals.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-2

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Rockets by Size

  Students cut out, color and sequence paper rockets in a simple mathematics lesson on measurement.

  Subject Math

  Grades K-2

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Rocket Math

  Students use rocket manipulatives to help them develop number sense, counting, addition and subtraction skills.

  Subject Math

  Grades K-1

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Tangram Rocket

  Students use tangrams to create rockets while practicing shape recognition.

  Subject Math

  Grades K-1

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Student Project: Build a Rover and More With Shapes

  Use geometric shapes called tangrams to build a rover and other space-themed designs!

  Subject Math

  Grades K-2

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Student Project: Build a Rocket and More With Shapes

  Use geometric shapes called tangrams to build a rocket and other space-themed designs!

  Subject Math

  Grades K-2

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  What Do You Know About Mars?

  Students decide what they want to learn from a robotic mission to Mars.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-2

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Melting Ice Experiment

  Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Parachute Design

  Students design and test parachute landing systems to successfully land a probe on target.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-2

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Planetary Poetry

  In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Student Project: Write a Poem About Space

  Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game

  Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-6

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Simple Rocket Science Continued

  Students gather data on a balloon rocket launch, then create a simple graph to show the results of the tests.

  Subject Math

  Grades K-2

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta

  Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Student Project: Building With Spaghetti

  Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Simple Rocket Science

  Students perform a simple science experiment to learn how a rocket works and demonstrate Newton’s third law of motion.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-2

  Time 30-60 mins

Grades 3-5

• 
  Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Soda-Straw Rockets

  Students study rocket stability as they design, construct and launch paper rockets using soda straws.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 4-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Straw Rocket

  Create a paper rocket that can be launched from a soda straw – then, modify the design to make the rocket fly farther!

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 4-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Rocket Activity: Heavy Lifting

  Students construct balloon-powered rockets to launch the greatest payload possible to the classroom ceiling.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Design a Robotic Insect

  Students design a robotic insect for an extraterrestrial environment, then compare the process to how NASA engineers design robots for extreme environments like Mars.

  Subject Science

  Grades 3-5

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Design a Robotic Insect

  Design a robotic insect to go to an extreme environment. Then, compare the design process to what NASA engineers do when building robots for Mars!

  Subject Science

  Grades 3-5

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  How Far Away Is Space?

  Students use measurement skills to determine the scale distance to space on a map.

  Subject Math

  Grades 3-7

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: How Far Away Is Space?

  Stack coins and use your measurement skills to figure out the scale distance from Earth's surface to space.

  Subject Math

  Grades 3-7

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Melting Ice Experiment

  Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Planetary Poetry

  In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Student Project: Write a Poem About Space

  Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Planetary Travel Time

  Students will compute the approximate travel time to planets in the solar system using different modes of transportation.

  Subject Math

  Grades 4-6

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  The Ring Wing Glider

  In this simple engineering design lesson, students turn a piece of paper into an aircraft wing and then try to improve upon their design.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Paper Glider

  Turn a piece of paper into a glider inspired by a NASA design.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game

  Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-6

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta

  Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Student Project: Building With Spaghetti

  Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-8

  Time 30-60 mins

Grades 6-8

• 
  Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

  Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Soda-Straw Rockets

  Students study rocket stability as they design, construct and launch paper rockets using soda straws.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 4-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Straw Rocket

  Create a paper rocket that can be launched from a soda straw – then, modify the design to make the rocket fly farther!

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 4-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Rocket Activity: Heavy Lifting

  Students construct balloon-powered rockets to launch the greatest payload possible to the classroom ceiling.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  How Far Away Is Space?

  Students use measurement skills to determine the scale distance to space on a map.

  Subject Math

  Grades 3-7

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: How Far Away Is Space?

  Stack coins and use your measurement skills to figure out the scale distance from Earth's surface to space.

  Subject Math

  Grades 3-7

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Melting Ice Experiment

  Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Planetary Poetry

  In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Student Project: Write a Poem About Space

  Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Planetary Travel Time

  Students will compute the approximate travel time to planets in the solar system using different modes of transportation.

  Subject Math

  Grades 4-6

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  The Ring Wing Glider

  In this simple engineering design lesson, students turn a piece of paper into an aircraft wing and then try to improve upon their design.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Make a Paper Glider

  Turn a piece of paper into a glider inspired by a NASA design.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades 3-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game

  Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.

  Subject Science

  Grades K-6

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta

  Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-8

  Time Less than 30 mins

• 
  Student Project: Building With Spaghetti

  Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.

  Subject Engineering

  Grades K-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  How Do We See Dark Matter?

  Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.

  Subject Science

  Grades 6-12

  Time Less than 30 mins

Grades 9-12

• 
  Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment

  Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

• 
  Melting Ice Experiment

  Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Planetary Poetry

  In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 1-2 hrs

• 
  Student Project: Write a Poem About Space

  Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Let's Go to Mars! Calculating Launch Windows

  Students use advanced algebra concepts to determine the next opportunity to launch a spacecraft to Mars.

  Subject Math

  Grades 9-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  How Do We See Dark Matter?

  Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.

  Subject Science

  Grades 6-12

  Time Less than 30 mins

Explore More

Find our full collection of more than 250 STEM educator guides and student activities in Teach and Learn.

For games, articles, and more activities from NASA for kids in upper-elementary grades, visit NASA Space Place and NASA Climate Kids.

Explore more educational resources and opportunities for students and educators from NASA STEM Engagement.

TAGS: Lessons, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Substitutes, Activities, Students, Science, Engineering, Quick and Easy

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Kim Orr, Web Producer, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Kim Orr is a web and content producer for the Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her pastimes are laughing and going on Indiana Jones style adventures.
  

---

After six years investigating the effects of warming oceans on Greenland's ice sheet, the Oceans Melting Greenland, or OMG, mission has concluded. This airborne and seaborne mission studied how our oceans are warming and determined that ocean water is melting Greenland’s glaciers as much as warm air is melting them from above.

Read on to learn more about how OMG accomplished its goals and the implications of what we learned. Then, explore educational resources to engage students in the science of this eye-opening mission.

Why It's Important

Global sea level rise is one of the major environmental challenges of the 21st century. As oceans rise, water encroaches on land, affecting populations that live along shorelines. Around the world – including U.S. regions along the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Seaboard and in Alaska – residents are feeling the impact of rising seas. Additionally, freshwater supplies are being threatened by encroaching saltwater from rising seas.

Sea level rise is mostly caused by melting land ice (primarily glaciers), which adds water to the ocean, as well as thermal expansion, the increase in volume that occurs when water heats up. Both ice melt and thermal expansion result from rising global average temperatures on land and in the sea – one facet of climate change.

This short video explains why Greenland's ice sheets are melting and what it means for our planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | Watch more from the Earth Minute series

Greenland’s melting glaciers contribute more freshwater to sea level rise than any other source, which is why the OMG mission set out to better understand the mechanisms behind this melting.

How We Did It

The OMG mission used a variety of instruments onboard airplanes and ships to map the ocean floor, measure the behemoth Greenland glaciers, and track nearby water temperature patterns.

Join JPL scientist Josh Willis as he and the NASA Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team work to understand the role that ocean water plays in melting Greenland’s glaciers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | Watch on YouTube

Early on, the mission team created a map of the ocean floor, known as a bathymetric map, by combining multibeam sonar surveys taken from ships and gravity measurements taken from airplanes. Interactions among glaciers and warming seas are highly dependent on the geometry of the ocean floor. For example, continental shelf troughs carved by glaciers allow pathways for water to interact with glacial ice. So understanding Greenland's local bathymetry was crucial to OMG's mission.

To locate the edges of Greenland's glaciers and measure their heights, the mission used a radar instrument known as the Glacier and Ice Surface Topography Interferometer. Every spring during the six-year OMG mission, the radar was deployed on NASA’s Gulfstream III airplane that flew numerous paths over Greenland’s more than 220 glaciers. Data from the instrument allowed scientists to determine how the thickness and area of the glaciers are changing over time.

Finally, to measure ocean temperature and salinity patterns, scientists deployed numerous cylindrical probes. These probes dropped from an airplane and fell through the water, taking measurements from the surface all the way to the ocean floor. Each probe relayed its information back to computers onboard the plane where ocean temperatures and salinity were mapped. Then, scientists took this data back to their laboratories and analyzed it for trends, determining temperature variations and circulation patterns.

What We Discovered

Prior to the OMG mission, scientists knew that warming air melted glaciers from above, like an ice cube on a hot day. However, glaciers also flow toward the ocean and break off into icebergs in a process called calving. Scientists had the suspicion that warmer ocean waters were melting the glaciers from below, causing them to break off more icebergs and add to rising seas. It wasn’t until they acquired the data from OMG, that they discovered the grim truth: Glaciers are melting from above and below, and warming oceans are having a significant effect on glacial melt.

This narrated animation shows warm ocean water is melting glaciers from below, causing their edges to break off in a process called calving. Credit: NASA | Watch on YouTube

What this means for our Earth's climate is that as we continue burning fossil fuels and contributing to greenhouse gas accumulation, the oceans, which store more than 90% of the heat that is trapped by greenhouse gases, will continue to warm, causing glaciers to melt faster than ever. As warming ocean water moves against glaciers, it eats away at their base, causing the ice above to break off. In other words, calving rates increase and sea level rises even faster.

Our oceans control our climate and affect our everyday lives, whether or not we live near them. With the pace of the melt increasing, our shorelines and nearby communities will be in trouble sooner than previously expected. And it’s not just the beaches that will be affected. If Greenland’s glaciers all melt, global sea levels will rise by over 24 feet (7.4 meters), bringing dramatic change to the landscapes of major cities around the world.

› Read more about OMG’s findings and how scientists are continuing their research through ongoing initiatives and projects.

Teach It

Check out these resources to bring the real-life STEM behind the mission into your teaching. With lessons for educators and student projects, engage students in learning about the OMG mission and NASA climate science.

Educator Guides

• 
  Melting Ice Experiment

  Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  What's Causing Sea-Level Rise? Land Ice Vs. Sea Ice

  Students learn the difference between land ice and sea ice and make a model to see how the melting of each impacts global sea level.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Lessons in Sea-Level Rise

  What is sea-level rise and how does it affect us? This "Teachable Moment" looks at the science behind sea-level rise and offers lessons and tools for teaching students about this important climate topic.

  Subject Science

  Grades 5-12

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Collection: Climate Change Lessons for Educators

  Explore a collection of standards-aligned STEM lessons for students that get them investigating climate change along with NASA.

Student Projects

• 
  How Melting Ice Causes Sea Level Rise

  Learn the difference between land ice and sea ice, then do an experiment to see how the melting of each contributes to global sea level rise.

  Subject Science

  Grades 2-8

  Time 30-60 mins

• 
  Collection: Climate Change Activities for Students

  Learn about climate change and its impacts with these projects, videos, and slideshows for students.

Articles

• 

  NASA Greenland Mission Completes Six Years of Mapping Unknown Terrain

  To learn how ocean water is melting glaciers, NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland mission extensively surveyed the coastline of the world’s largest island.

Explore More

Websites

• NASA Climate Change
• NASA Earth Observatory
• NASA Climate Kids
• OMG Mission Website
• NASA Sea Level Change
• NASA Cambio Climático en Español

Facts & Figures

• NASA Climate Change: Evidence
• NASA Earth Science Missions

Videos

• Earth Minute Video Series
• Teaching Space - Monitoring Earth From Space

Interactives

• Earth Now

Image Gallery

• NASA climate images, videos, and graphics
• Images of Change

Articles

• Climate articles from NASA
• Ask NASA Climate
• NASA People - Josh Willis, Principal Investigator, Oceans Melting Greenland
• NASA People - Earth

Podcast

• On a Mission

TAGS: Teachable Moment, Climate, Earth Science, Glaciers, Greenland, Ice, Sea Level Rise, Teachers, Educators, Parents, Lessons, Missions, Earth, Climate TM

• 

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ota Lutz, K-12 Education Group Manager, NASA-JPL Education Office

  Ota Lutz is the manager of the K-12 Education Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When she’s not writing new lessons or teaching, she’s probably cooking something delicious, volunteering in the community, or dreaming about where she will travel next.