This summer I have an internship working with the Digital Learning Network (DLN) at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia. When I found out I would be spending my summer here about a month and a half ago, I was thrilled! I have always been a HUGE fan of NASA and math, of course, so this internship is a dream come true. The DLN provides free interactive math or science lessons, called modules, in real time to students all over the country from one of NASA's ten research centers. I am working with my mentor, Caryn, to learn how to present two of the "modules," and by the end of the summer I will have created a new module connecting math concepts to NASA.
Today is my third day at NASA and I could not be happier. Caryn has given me many reading materials and mini-assignments to familiarize me with terms and concepts necessary to further my research and progress with the module I am creating. I will also be able to use this information to help me with teaching math in the future.
In the past three days, I have been able to sit in on many modules as they were presented from other research centers. It is really interesting to watch the reactions of the classes when they learn about the distance between Earth and the Moon, for example, when they are being taught in a fun and interesting way. On Monday I watched Toys in Space from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Yesterday I watched Directive: Mapping the Moon with WALL-E from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and Moon Math from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Today, I watched Our Magnificent Sun from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and The Scientific Method: An Investigation of Impact Craters from Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. All of the presenters have been engaging, clear, clever, and interesting in their deliveries of the modules. I am hoping to gain some of these skills this summer so I can use them in teaching math.
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