Location
Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel
Start Date
28-4-1998 2:00 PM
Description
This paper provides an overview of a program at Boeing's Reusable Space Systems unit which was created and designed to show educators and students how science and engineering classes, lessons, and education can be made "fun" while teaching not only basic scientific principles, but how the principles may be applied in the real world. This program, called DiscoverE, for Discover Engineering, is an offshoot of the national program administered by the National Engineers Week organization which is comprised of several corporate affiliates, of which Boeing is one. The Discover Engineering program at Boeing-RSS consists of three basic segments and is a year-round activity. The three segments are an Educator Enrichment Day (EED), classroom visitations by Boeing engineers, and a Summer Science Camp. EED is normally scheduled to coincide with Engineers Week in February, and provides over 500 elementary and middle school educators with lessons, lesson plans, and access to resources with which they may not have been familiar. Science Camp is scheduled annually over three consecutive Fridays and Saturdays in July and August and typically has over 200 participants. Classroom visitations by engineers occur on an as requested basis year-round. The program leverages the expertise of the engineers, the corporate presence of Boeing, access to space related resources, and volunteerism to create a showcase program that, judging by reviews of the educators and students touched, is very successful. The program is described, workshop outlines and sample lessons are provided, and a student project which flew on the Space Shuttle is described.
Paper Session I-D Leveraging Space for Improved Science Programs
Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel
This paper provides an overview of a program at Boeing's Reusable Space Systems unit which was created and designed to show educators and students how science and engineering classes, lessons, and education can be made "fun" while teaching not only basic scientific principles, but how the principles may be applied in the real world. This program, called DiscoverE, for Discover Engineering, is an offshoot of the national program administered by the National Engineers Week organization which is comprised of several corporate affiliates, of which Boeing is one. The Discover Engineering program at Boeing-RSS consists of three basic segments and is a year-round activity. The three segments are an Educator Enrichment Day (EED), classroom visitations by Boeing engineers, and a Summer Science Camp. EED is normally scheduled to coincide with Engineers Week in February, and provides over 500 elementary and middle school educators with lessons, lesson plans, and access to resources with which they may not have been familiar. Science Camp is scheduled annually over three consecutive Fridays and Saturdays in July and August and typically has over 200 participants. Classroom visitations by engineers occur on an as requested basis year-round. The program leverages the expertise of the engineers, the corporate presence of Boeing, access to space related resources, and volunteerism to create a showcase program that, judging by reviews of the educators and students touched, is very successful. The program is described, workshop outlines and sample lessons are provided, and a student project which flew on the Space Shuttle is described.
Comments
Session Chairman: William Evan Lavinghousez, School Board of Brevard County
Session Organizer: Dr. Gale Allen/Jane Masconi