Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA) - Science & Learning Collaborations

NASA's Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program aims to measurably enhance student STEM learning & engagement via professional development (PD) for high school science teachers provided in collaboration with selected school districts. An important criterion for school district and teacher selection is demographic diversity of their students.

AAA teacher PD consists of: (1) blended content learning via webinars, asynchronous content delivery, and in-person workshops, (2) a week-long STEM immersion experience at NASA's science research aircraft facility in Palmdale, Calif., including science flights on SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), and (3) ongoing interactions with NASA astrophysics & planetary science Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

A two-week electromagnetic spectrum & multi-wavelength astronomy curriculum aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has been developed by program staff. This curriculum is provided to the AAA teachers for post-flight classroom delivery.

We will report the results of controlled measurements of student gains in standards-based learning plus changes in student attitudes toward STEM resulting from the AAA curriculum as well as from the excitement of having their teachers participate in the NASA SOFIA mission.

Funded by NASA: NNX16AC51