LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

NASA's Quest Project

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/

Provider: NASA


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NasaQuest includes chat and webcast sessions to put students in touch with the current efforts in space science. NASA Quest is an excellent site for teachers and media specialists working to integrate information and technology skills into their curriculum. Video Webcasts, chats and forums put classes in touch with teams of experts in the areas of Aerospace, Space, the Solar System, Deep Space and Women of NASA. Each area provides background information, biographies, a Kid’s Corner, and Lounge areas and lesson plans for teachers.

“NASA Quest offers a wide range of FREE online tools and resources for teachers, students, parents and others including Web and print lesson plans, educator guides and workbooks.”

Videoconferences, streaming audio and video, and real-time Web-based communications are some of the new ways students are expected to receive information. The Information Skills curriculum asks students to use these communication technologies to collaborate with others, and the Computer Skills curriculum requires students to “Evaluate information found via telecommunications for content and usefulness.” NASA Quest is an excellent launching point for explorations that address these areas of the curriculum – for technology students in the Developing a Planetary Flight Vehicle Webcast, Earth Science students exploring volcanic formations throughout the Solar System, or any class chatting with NASA scientists to provide a role model for young women interested in math, science, engineering and technology.

Interactive projects are ongoing and usually last for a full year. NASA projects include these online resources:

  • biographies of NASA experts and stories about their work days
  • several chats per month
  • an e-mail service in which individual questions get answered
  • audio/video programs over the Internet
  • lesson plans and student activities
  • collaborative activities in which kids work with one another
  • areas for students to publish on NASA’s Web
  • background and photo sections
  • places where teachers can meet one another