NES

The NASA Explorer Schools Program (NES) establishes a three (3)-year collaborative relationship between the NASA and school teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators from diverse communities across the country. NES teams acquire and use new teaching resources and technology tools for elementary and middle school students using NASA's unique content, experts and other resources. During the three (3)-year program period, NASA Explorer Schools develop an implementation plan to incorporate the use of the NASA technology grant, knowledge, and skills gained at professional development opportunities, and access mission content and educational resources to reach school improvement goals in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) content areas.

Program elements for the NASA Explorer Schools include:

  • Summer professional development workshops for teams of teachers and school administrators at the nine NASA Field Centers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; one week of intensive training provides opportunities to begin integration of NASA content into existing school curricula and culminates in the development and implementation of action plans to meet local education challenges.

  • Ongoing research-based professional development during the school year, in collaboration with organizational partners and other federal agencies; this activity, coordinated by a network of teacher leaders and trainers, includes NASA aerospace education specialists, Space Grant consortia, educator resource centers and NASA Education networks.
  • Student programs that provide opportunities for active participation in research, problem solving and design challenges relating to NASA's missions and involve students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics explorations to encourage the use of scientific tools and methods; challenges will be grade-specific, supporting national and state standards. In addition, in-flight opportunities and competitions will provide access to unique NASA resources and personnel.

  • The NASA Explorer Schools Web site includes NASA resources; science, technology and mathematics investigations; collaborative tools; and opportunities to share student and school program results.


 Rocket Home of Saturn V
NES

"It is exciting because you get to learn about things we did not know. " Rianon , 4th Grade

"It is fun because we get to do experiments." Jacob, 4th Grade

"We get to do projects we normally would not have the opportunity to do if we weren’t a NASA school."
Josh, 4th Grade

"The experiments, amount of learning, and challenge of doing activities about space are all exciting."
Jonae, 4th Grade

"I think that being at a NASA Explorer School is the best school I've ever been to. I can't think of any other school that interacts with space, rocket science, and a network called a DLN. A DLN is a network that gets to interact with other states and schools like Texas. My favorite was when we talked about the moon and meteors."
Justin, 6th Grade

"What I like about being a NASA Explorer School is the DLNs and when we go on field trips because we learn about space." Alex, 6th Grade

"What's good about being a NASA Explorer School is that it isn't a regular school. It's a special school with special teachers and that we always are learning experiments and that's awesome."
Joey, 6th Grade