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NSTA Web Seminars:

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Preparing for the Journey to Space

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The first of two Web Seminars on NASA: Preparing for the Journey to Space was held on Thursday, October 27, 2005, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The session was presented by Dave McKissock, who is an Engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Among the participants were some teachers who had attended the face-to-face symposium at the NSTA Area Convention in Hartford, CT.


web seminar player screen shot

The session started with a general overview of the NSTA Web Seminar tools and how they can be used to facilitate interaction between the participants and the presenters. Seventeen participants were present in addition to the presenter and the NSTA staff. Participating educators represented the states of New Jersey, Idaho, Michigan, Connecticut, California, New York, Wyoming, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, and Indiana. Two participants joined the group from Canada and New Zealand.


Dave talked about the International Space Station (ISS) and how its solar arrays work. It was interesting to learn that the complete set of solar arrays has not yet been delivered to space. Like all the other components that make up the ISS, the solar arrays are built on Earth, transported to orbit by the Space Shuttle, and attached to the Station by astronauts.


Dave also talked about the different types of orbits -low Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit-and the potential damage to the solar arrays that can be caused by micrometeorites and space weather. Throughout the presentation there were several opportunities for the participants to interact with each other and with the presenter by answering poll questions, chatting, stamping, and marking.


Here are some comments provided by the participants at the end of the Web Seminar:


  • "Wonderful speaker who broke the terminology down so that it was easy to understand. It was interesting to learn about the solar panels because this is a topic that I know very little about."
  • "I never stopped to think about how the space station was powered. It was fascinating. It was also very well organized. My grandson, who is 8, was here with me and just loved the great slides of the station as well, and has quite a few questions about it."
  • "This was excellent. I would love to be involved in more events like this. The program was very organized with Flavio (NSTA moderator) taking questions and posing them to Dave. He was able to help people get into the Web Seminar quickly by placing the info in the chat area. Dave was very informative, and I like his laid-back style. You need that at 6:30 p.m."
  • "I especially appreciated the opportunity to ask questions in the chat area and have them answered when appropriate during the presentation. I didn't know that all of the solar arrays are not up on station yet."

Thanks to the participants and Dave for the learning opportunity, the interactions, and a job well done! Join us for the second NASA: Preparing for the Journey to Space Web Seminar scheduled to take place in January 19, 2006. The speaker will be Dr. Art Poland from George Mason University.


Web Seminar I Resources


Archive

See a recorded version of the Web Seminar.


PowerPoint Presentation

  • PC Download: To view online select link below to display in browser. To download PowerPoint slides to your desktop right click on the link below and select "save target as" from the drop down menu.
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  • Download File Web Seminar I
    PowerPoint Presentation (752 KB)

Websites



For more information contact webseminars@nsta.org


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