TI Education Manager and Master Instructors pose for a picture before touring the mission control centers at NASA Johnson Space Center.
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NASA and Texas Instruments (TI) announced the a new partnership between TI and NASA's Human Research Program Education Outreach (HRPEO) project at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference held in Austin, Texas.
The kick-off event for the partnership between HRPEO and TI was a workshop hosted by HRPEO personnel at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). The focus of this collaboration is to develop and implement new, supplementary educational content using real-world NASA applications and the excitement of space exploration to be enhanced by the latest technology and expertise that is uniquely TI.
The professional development division of TI is called T³, which stands for "Teachers Teaching with Technology™" and "Teachers Teaching Teachers." T³ has a rich history of providing high-quality professional development for teachers who want to integrate educational technology into their curricula. These instructors give presentations to math and science teachers nationwide using the TI technology. This national exposure will help HRPEO broaden the reach of the projects as well as affect students through T³ Instructors.
The Group receives instruction on Apollo Mission Control Center from Flight Controller.
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After a special tour of the Mission Control Centers for the Space Shuttle, ISS and Apollo Programs, the teachers were tasked with creating new versions of Exploring Space Through Math and Math and Science @ Work problems, incorporating the latest TI technology. HRPEO content from this collaboration will be posted on the TI Activities Exchange, a popular feature of the TI Web site where teachers can find activities posted by subject for their classrooms.
The T³ instructors and HRPEO project leads will present their new educational materials in March at the T³ International Conference in Atlanta. While attending they will continue collaborating on new problems and plan a week-long summer content development effort at JSC this June.
The HRPEO project, Exploring Space Through Math, focuses on Algebra I, geometry, Algebra II and pre-calculus, while the Math and Science @ Work project focuses on Advanced Placement (AP) physics, chemistry, biology, calculus and statistics. These projects provide supplemental educational materials designed to help students understand real-world applications of these courses. This type of education is referred to as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM.
TI and HRPEO team members in Apollo Mission Control Center with Flight Controller.
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Also of note, TI has a new handheld technology called the TI-Nspire. The T³ Instructors are creating Nspire versions of the existing problems. Since many schools have graphing calculators (TI-84’s or older versions) in their classrooms and some schools have the newer Nspire handhelds, both versions will be incorporated. This technological upgrade on traditional problems will create a wider audience for these high school STEM materials.
To find out more, visit:
› http://humanresearch.jsc.nasa.gov/education.asp
› http://www.education.ti.com