NASA Langley STEM Digital Badges
NASA Langley Research Center will turn 100 years in 2017 being the very first of all the NASA centers. With a legacy of atmospheric research since 1917 with Orville Wright as a member of the initial committee, NASA Langley holds experts in all things atmosphere. From traveling through Earth’s atmosphere with airplane and green aviation, to understanding Earth’s Energy Budget, and experts on how to enter, descend through the atmosphere of Mars to land safely rovers on Mars. STEM digital badges on these three topics were developed for teachers and students in grades 5-9 aligned to Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core so that you can join in the celebration.
Digital badges are an online learning tool that allows lifelong learners to demonstrate new knowledge and understandings. Educators may earn up to 15 hours of professional development through the completion of all three badges or the NASA Langley Centennial Mission. The first 1,000 educators to complete all three badges between November 2016 and April 2017 will receive a NASA insignia iron-on patch. The student digital badges will be available from November 2016 through April 2017.
The three digital badges available focus each on different content areas. The Earth Right Now digital badges for students and teachers focuses on science allowing participants to discover the role of cloud types in the Earth’s Energy Budget. The Journey to Mars digital badges focus on the engineering design process allowing participants to design and build a capsule that uses the force of drag to land the Mars 2020 rover safely on the surface of Mars. The Aeronautics digital badge focuses on mathematics and science asking participants to test and generate data on the flight of three paper airplane models made using three different paper types. Participants have to graphically provide evidence of the best paper type for a paper airplane model.
Interested in participating? Visit NASA EPDC Digital Badging site by going to https://nasatxstate-epdc.net. Click on the ‘Explore’ icon and type ‘NASA Langley’ in the search area to find and select the NASA Langley Centennial Mission. If you would like more information, please contact NASA education specialist Marilé Colón Robles at [email protected].
Marilé Colón Robles
Education Specialist, NASA STEM EPDC
NASA Langley Research Center