Catch a Falling Star!

LiftOff '99
A Texas Space Grant Consortium
Summer Institute for
Middle and Secondary School Teachers

July 19-23, 1999

PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT
Catch a Falling Star Schedule
LiftOff Quick Hits
Program Highlights
Program Features
Eligibility Requirements
Additional Requirements
Program Summary
Photo Album

Past LiftOff Programs

Beginning in the summer of 1990, the Texas Space Grant Consortium initiated a summer series of educational/training workshops for teachers. These aerospace workshops have the general title of LiftOff and emphasize science, mathematics, and engineering learning experiences by incorporating a different NASA mission area as the central theme each year. Teacher participants are provided with knowledge, materials, and experience (in the form of hands-on activities and field trips) to enrich their classroom with aerospace activities.

Program Highlights

We, as children, are raised on the nursery rhyme " catch a falling star and put it in your pocket".

Do you know the difference between a comet, meteorite, and asteroid?

The past summer saw two major movies that made the public more aware of the size and possible global destruction from asteroids. In real life, NASA has launched a satellite to obit an asteroid in 1999 (the NEAR Mission) , while another (Stardust) awaits launch in 1999 to collect samples of dust from a comet. The Earth, our moon, and many other planets have scars from meteorite impacts.

In 1999, the 10th anniversary year of LiftOff, the theme will be "Catch a Falling Star." It will expand on the above mentioned topics by studying comets, meteorites, and asteroids.

Program Features

Sponsored by the Texas Space Grant Consortium and held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute Center for Advanced Space Studies, LiftOff '99 will feature:
  • presentations by astronauts, scientists, and engineers
  • discussion groups and hands-on activities
  • free classroom activities and materials
  • tours of local space and planetary facilities and Space Center Houston
  • World-Wide Web and e-mail access

Eligibility Requirements

All teachers must: 1) currently teach middle and/or high school students in a school system in their state, 2) have at least two years teaching experience in math or science at the middle and/or high school grade level in their state, and 3) demonstrate a willingness to participate in follow-up activities.

Texas teachers must: submit a completed application, no later than February 26, 1999, to:

LiftOff
Texas Space Grant Consortium
3925 W. Braker Lane, Suite 200
Austin, Texas 78759
Phone: 512-471-6922

E-mail: lewis@tsgc.utexas.edu

Non-Texas teachers must:1) obtain a recommendation from their state's Space Grant Consortium, and 2) submit a completed application, no later than February 26, 1999, to TSGC at the address listed above.

Additional Information

Registration Fee: There is no registration fee for selected Texas participants. Out-of-state participants must pay a $400 registration fee, which covers lodging (double occupancy), meals, shuttle transportation during the meeting, and airport transfers in Houston.

Contact information for other Space Grant Consortia can be obtained from the Directory Of Space Grant Contacts web page or by contacting Allen Lewis, Texas Space Grant Consortium, phone: 512-471-6922, E-mail: lewis@tsgc.utexas.edu

Applications (Acrobat Reader) may be downloaded from the Texas Space Grant Consortium home page (http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/). If you have any problems downloading the application and would like to receive a paper copy please e-mail Allen Lewis

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Last Modified: Mon Sept 20, 1999
CSR/TSGC Team Web