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NASA eClips, a promising start

By teacher ⋅ September 22, 2008 ⋅

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NASA has always spent a good chunk of it’s multi-billion dollar budget on educational outreach, but they have just announced a new program called eClips. This is NASA’s contribution the growing online educational world.

eClips is divided into 4 general areas,

Our World, grades K-5
Real World, grades 6-8
Launchpad, grades 9-12
NASA 360, general public

Each of those areas are further subdivided into specific topics areas. The upper school sections are a little sparse at the moment, but the offerings that are available are very promising. Not only are there interesting, well produced video clips available, but each section has a pdf which amounts to a well thought out lesson plan based on the 5E Teaching Model.

The living in space entry, “Staying Cool”, uses the astronauts need for practical work suits with built in cooling and heating to introduce the concept of specific heat. There’s a lab, links to other videos, student handouts, and a challenging engineering project for the student to work on. Three 55 minute classes are required, but I don’t think I’d try it in under a week.

NASA has always been a great resource, they’re getting better.
Check it out!