Fall Space Day – an Educational Outreach and Professional Development Program Model
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AC 2007-2402: FALL SPACE DAY – AN EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM MODEL Cindy Mahler, The Boeing Company CINDY MAHLER is an International Space Station systems integration engineer at the Boeing Company in Houston, Texas. She is the founder of Purdue Fall Space Day and has a vision for creating a National Organization to expand Fall Space Day not only geographically but also to use the model to reach out to students in other subject areas. While working at United Space Alliance in spaceflight training, Cindy was awarded a Silver Snoopy, the highest award given by Astronauts to less than 1% of the workforce, for the successful integration of the U.S. and Russian Guidance, Navigation, and Control Astronaut Training Program. Cindy attended the International Space University Summer Session Program in Adelaide Australia and received a Graduate Certificate in Applied Science & Space Studies from the University of South Australia. She has an MBA from Rice University and a BS in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University. Ann Broughton, Purdue University ANN BROUGHTON has been the Fall Space Day coordinator at Purdue University since 2000, and is instrumental in expanding the program to other universities. She is a staff member of the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics and the Indiana Space Grant Consortium. She has a BA degree from Bristol University, U.K. in Business Administration. Barrett Caldwell, Purdue University Dr. BARRETT CALDWELL PhD is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Purdue, and Director of the NASA Indiana Space Grant Consortium. His research examines human factors engineering aspects of how people get, share, and use information well, with focuses on space flight mission operations and healthcare delivery. He has two BS degrees from MIT (Astronautics, Humanities), and a PhD in social psychology from the Univ. of California-Davis. Page 12.738.1 Page © American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Fall Space Day – An Educational Outreach and Professional Development Program Model Abstract An emerging aspect of engineering outreach is service-based learning and outreach. In the service learning model, university level students take active and leading roles in community- based outreach activities. For over 10 years, Purdue’s Fall Space Day (PFSD) has been a successful outreach program to excite third through eighth grade school students about science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and space-related careers. PSFD was developed by the Purdue University chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (Purdue SEDS) and has been sponsored annually by the Purdue University School of Aeronautics & Astronautics and the Indiana Space Grant Consortium (INSGC). Inaugurated on Saturday November 9, 1996, approximately 3000 grade school students have benefited from PFSD and approximately 900 university students have volunteered their time. PFSD 2006 was held on Saturday November 11 and welcomed 500 third through eighth grade school students to Purdue’s campus, a significant increase from the 150 grade school students who attended the first program in 1996. Purdue Fall Space Day has gained recognition across the state of Indiana as an exceptional space-related educational outreach event. Since its inception, PFSD has been developed and run by undergraduate students, except for very limited staff involvement (0.5 FTE) to perform university-required budgetary tasks. Sponsorships enable PFSD to provide an entire day’s worth of space, science, and engineering centered, age-appropriate hands-on activities for third through eighth graders at no cost to the participants. This provides the students an opportunity to see the technical challenges associated with space flight. All activities are taught by university students and are accompanied by lesson plans designed to facilitate the children’s understanding of space technology and exploration. In addition to the third through eighth grade school students benefiting through PFSD participation, the university student volunteers gain valuable experiences that remain with them long after their time as Purdue students. These experiences include providing a community service as a role model and learning the organizational, project supervision, and professional development tasks required to plan and implement a successful PFSD each year. Parents and teachers are exposed to the excitement of spaceflight through the eyes of their children and students, respectively. The University shares the quality of its campus and student volunteers with the community and benefits from the future enrollment of PFSD participants as university students. Assessment results received from surveys filled out by the students, parents, and volunteers are integrated into the next PFSD program thus benefiting from lessons learned and sustaining PFSD for the next generation. Ten years of experience, assessment, and lessons learned have been compiled by PFSD alumni and staff as an ongoing resource base for succeeding PFSD leadership teams. As the success of PFSD has grown, other campuses in Indiana and elsewhere have expressed interest in developing the program at their location. The evolution of PFSD is 12.738.2 Page therefore now addressing controlled expansion to other universities within the State of Indiana. Introduction For decades Purdue University students have come together to inspire the next generation. One specific program, Purdue Fall Space Day (PFSD), is now in its twelfth year and is an opportunity for students in grades three through eight to come to the Purdue campus and learn about astronautical engineering and space exploration with the university student volunteers. Purdue Fall Space Day has gained recognition across the State of Indiana as an exceptional space-related educational outreach event. This high profile event reflects well on Purdue University and the event’s sponsors and receives significant media coverage. In order to allow other universities across the globe to learn about PFSD and successfully implement their own student-led service education event based on the PFSD model it is important to share the PFSD model, including ideas for funding through grant proposals and business sponsorship, and the lessons learned in sustaining PFSD. Fall Space Day Overview The basic premises behind the Purdue Fall Space Day program was to provide local students (within 50 miles of the university campus) an opportunity to become excited about or increase their enthusiasm for the nation’s space program through hands on activities interaction with an astronaut. The Fall Space Day founder was raised in Northern Indiana and was energized about the space program. In her senior year of high school, the founder was excited about a rare opportunity to hear an astronaut speak in person about his space experiences. As a sophomore engineering student, the founder developed the idea to create Fall Space Day, thereby enabling students from the surrounding area to feel the excitement and energy that surrounds space exploration and engineering through opportunities the current college students only dreamed about. Organized by university students, Purdue Fall Space Day is an annual educational outreach program held on a Saturday, which provides grade school students the opportunity to learn about science, technology, engineering, math and space exploration by participating in age-appropriate activity sessions. PFSD was inaugurated on Saturday November 9, 1996 by the Purdue University chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and has grown to accommodate over 500 third through eighth grade students with volunteer support from over 160 university students representing over 28 majors. Since 1996, over 3000 grade school students have participated in PFSD with support from over 900 university student volunteers, high school students and university staff. For logistical reasons, PFSD is held on a Saturday in late October or early November when there is an away football game. Third through eighth grade students from surrounding counties arrive early in the morning for registration, meet their groups in the lecture hall, and excitedly await the official start of the event. The students are organized into groups of approximately 20 students which area each assigned a university student Group Leader. The groups are split into the following grade ranges: 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. The Group Leader is responsible for spending the day with the students as they move from one activity to the next. The safety of the students is the responsibility of the Group Leader who has a sign in/out sheet which is used to release the 12.738.3 Page students for both lunch and at the end of the day to their parents and chaperones. To many, the highlight of the day is the attendance of a Purdue Alumnus Astronaut who starts PFSD with a presentation providing the students first hand information about his/her space flight experience. Purdue University has played a leading role in providing the nation with engineers who have designed, built, tested and flown the many vehicles that have changed the face of space exploration during the 20 th Century and at the beginning of this second century of flight. Purdue University is justifiably proud to be known as the “Cradle of Astronauts”, and has now produced 22 graduates to be selected as NASA astronauts. Past guest astronauts include : John Blaha, Mark Brown, John Casper, Guy Gardner,