FAIRMONT – NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program’s Education Resource Center hosted a successful Digital Day in the Park STEM event for the second year in a row this week.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this STEM learning event took place in-person at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center. While organizers and students do miss that level of presenter engagement, the socially distanced virtual format has come with several benefits.
“The virtual format enabled easy access for presenters and student groups that otherwise may not have been able to travel to the I-79 tech park,” Josh Revels, the IV&V Facility’s education outreach specialist, said. “The archive of sessions and resources on the dip.nasaivverc.org website is a durable resource that educators can continue to use, integrating into their teaching when they teach related standards.”
Across the three-day event there were presentations and activities on telescopes, aviation, and robotics. This included representatives from the Green Bank Observatory meeting with a gifted program in Fairmont and enabling them to collect authentic data with the 20 meter telescope. The video display allowed for viewers to see the results of the observation of Mercury and showed the class maneuvering the 20-meter telescope in real time onsite at the observatory.
It was a virtual format that took lessons from last year and made advancements for all in attendance, according to IV&V Facility Education Specialist Emily Helton.
“This year we narrowed our focus to three topics: Robotics, Telescopes, and Planes that highlight NASA’s missions and the work of area businesses,” she said. “We had excellent participation from both scientists and local companies, and our broadcast hours, from 8 a.m. to noon, better matched school schedules to make it easier for educators to attend.”
Fifty-nine educators completed The Day in the Park registration form this year, and they estimated as many as 2,800 students would view Day in the Park in 24 West Virginia counties. In addition, the dip.nasaivverc.org website serves as a standing resource for educators beyond the live event – from re-showing recorded presentations or re-visiting activities.
“Whether they chose to view live or recorded, this is well beyond what we could accommodate at an in-person event,” Revels said. “ We have a system now for including classes with presenters and aim to do more of that in a future virtual event.”
For more on Day in the Park and to view this year’s recorded sessions, visit: https://dip.nasaivverc.org/.
For more info:
Clarissa R. Cottrill
Communications Specialist
Clarissa.r.cottrill@nasa.gov