Project Title: Astrobiology in Secondary Classrooms ACS
Curriculum Development Project
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's
Goddard Center for Astrobiology
Origin and Evolution of Organics in Planetary Systems

Project Overview

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will lead the effort to discover if comets supplied the raw material for the origin of life on Earth, and if they could do so for alien worlds, as part of its participation in NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) research. NAI selected this team of scientists at NASA Goddard for a five-year research effort that will explore how organic molecules are created in interstellar clouds and delivered to planets as they form. Dr. Michael Mumma leads a team that is focusing on the early environments of the Earth, before and during the period when life arose, including the origin of the Earth and other planets and investigation of sources of water and of the prebiotic chemicals on the ancient Earth.

Curriculum Development

A team of high school teachers along with scientists from NASA Goddard, and college professors from the Minority Institute Astrobiology Collaborative (MIAC) will develop interdisciplinary astrobiology teaching materials in astrochemistry. These materials will be designed for use by middle and high school students. The first summer institute will be held June 28-July 2, 2004 to begin the curriculum development process.

The goal of the project is to develop an activity guide for teachers by the summer of 2006 and to begin professional development training with the curriculum that will continue through 2008.

During the summer of 2004 and 2005 the curriculum development team will design the activity guide based on the Goddard Center for Astrobiology. The curriculum development will continue during a second summer institute in 2005 at NASA Goddard. During the three consecutive years 2006-2008, summer institutes will be developed to introduce the activity guide to middle and high school teachers at different MIAC institutions. The summer institutes in the professional development phase of the project will rotate among three of the MIAC colleges and universities.

Project Goal

The goal of the Curriculum and Professional Development Project in Astrochemistry is to provide secondary teachers with the content and skills to integrate astrochemistry, chemistry, biology, astronomy, earth and space science in an interdisciplinary approach into their science courses. Participating teachers will:

•  Use astrochemistry materials with their students in science classes

•  Map astrobiology concepts to national science standards

•  Engage in opportunities to share knowledge with other teachers

•  Increase use of interdisciplinary, hands-on, methods that develop inquiry skills in their students

•  Increase the inclusion of information on careers in the area of astrobiology into the curriculum

•  Increase the use of sophisticated and engaging technology in the classroom

•  Increase use of NASA-resources including web-based materials found on SpaceLink and the Space Science Resources Directory