Mark is exactly right. This is the problem. The typical ham on the street is not going to walk into a school, get an audience with the administrator or a teacher. At least not in the big city. I did it in my sons school in a mid sized district but I was already a "known" entity from other volunteer work I did in the school. Forget about walking in blind. This seems to be the attitude from on high, regardless of where the on high is, that you as a ham just simply walk into a school and make the pitch. Does not work folks. If you know a teacher, you have a foot in the door. If they have tenure, so much the better. I worked a school radio club for three years as part of our ARISS contact. Three of the four teachers were not tenured and asking them for anything resulted in the deer inthe headlights look of fear. We also found that it was VERY VERY hard to inject any outside material into the curriculum. We we ended up doing was taking over the four display cases in the main hallway and installed a changing series of displays. Some were interactive like a solar panel, volt meter and light bulb with a switch on the outside of the case the kids could push. This was a K-5 school. For six months we hams handled the design and installation of these displays. Once the contact was over the funding(teachers got $$ since they had to be there after school) was reallocated and out the door we went. I know some of those kids and they are juniors in HS now and several are in the electronics classes ( taught by a ham ) so you do reach the students, but it's often a difficult path because the educators do not know where to find the material. I often asked the question 'If I were a teacher, how would I find out about ARISS' there never seemed to be an answer. At least with the new NASA involvement in ARISS there is some publicity and mailing/emailing to schools. So one thing that must be improved is that the organizations themselves, ARRL & AMSAT have to make the push, as national orzanizations they have the credibility we as the ham on the street need to get in the door. Most non ham teachers are not going to go to a hamfest to see a demo. If your neighbor is a PTA member, a teacher or you know a school board member, something along these lines, you have a path a well. Bring a prop with you, a PC running SatPC32 or something to draw their attention while you talk.
John
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Mark L. Hammond marklhammond@gmail.comwrote:
Hi All,
While at this moment I can't give my full appeal/rationale, what Roger says below echoes my key point stated during conversations at the recent Symposium; he has hit the nail on the head!! Any of us that are married to K-12 educators (or are themselves one) know this is precisely true:
With all the emphasis on testing and measurable results in the classroom, teachers have scant time to develop interesting science projects that are outside the state and federal "frameworks" and won't be tested for at the end of the year.
If we want to fulfill our (AMSAT's) educational mission, we *must* make it extremely easy and more applicable to the standards our teachers are teaching to. The GOOD NEWS is that most states are coming on board with a common set of core standards for K-12 education. Details are here: http://www.corestandards.org/
Math is specifically addressed: http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Math%20Standards.pdf If you've heard of STEM, the "M" is math.
The connections between us launching satellites and what our nation's teachers are teaching have to made. Right now, he Common Core State Standards are our best hope, because nearly every state has agreed to adopt them!! It's a golden opportunity and timing is perfect--and it's now.
In layman's terms: We desperately need AMSAT folks/satellite operators who are K-12 educators---or are married to them (my wife is a 4th grade teacher in North Carolina) who can work collaboratively to develop specific lesson plans (using satellite telemetry data for example) to meet the mathematics Common Core State Standards. For example, we're talking plotting, graphing, explaining, analyzing data from *any* satellite up there now, or that we'll launch in the future (Fox-1, 2, etc.) Data can be obtained live (copying FM voice telemetry from ARISSat-1), from telemetry servers, from the archives, etc. The challenge is pulling this off. Ideally, we need to partner with ARRL and NASA on this, but we can lead the pack. We have the people to do this---and without it, it's going to be hard to get a "free launch."
Anyhow, I have a reasonable grasp of the big picture--and there is lots to do. But done in a directed and intentional manner, we can establish a framework for fulfilling our educational mission, while at the same time helping justify (and pay for) the launches of our satellites.
Time to go back to my real work for now :) More later---but hopefully you wall see where we're headed....
73,
Mark N8MH
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 8:52 AM, Roger Rogerkola@aol.com wrote:
Hi Clint...
As the husband of a Middle School Math/Science teacher, I could use
links to
Lesson Plans built around any of the receivable satellites that would
help
garner interest in these kids during their "formative" years.
With all the emphasis on testing and measurable results in the classroom, teachers have scant time to develop interesting science projects that are outside the state and federal "frameworks" and won't be tested for at the end of the year.
There must be a treasure trove of pre-existing lesson plans and incorporation ideas which she could tap into bringing Amateur Satellites
or
satellites in general into the classroom.
Roger WA1KAT
-----Original Message----- From: Clint Bradford Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 5:39 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: In School ARSSat Demos / lessons
... With ARISSat-1's main mission being Educational I would like to
hear
about people's experiences with schools in using ARISSat-1 as a
teaching
tool ...
What do you need? Classroom lessons abound for all aspects of amateur radio as it applies to the satellites - from elementary school to
college
classrooms.
Each ARISS contact has a lot of work "behind the scenes" at the
campuses.
There are phenomenal teachers and school administrations who really get behinds their ARISS projects.
Be a little more specific with what you need - and I can either assist you, or point you towards excellent resources.
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
-- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb