Vol 66, No. 4 - International Technology and Engineering Educators ...

ITEA and NASA Team
Up Again To Advance
Technological
Literacy
As an extension of the Human
Exploration Curricular
Project, ITEA is working
with NASA to develop
educational Design Challenges
to coordinate with Space Shuttle
Endeavour’s STS-118 mission.
This shuttle flight is scheduled
for June 2007 and will deliver a
payload to the International Space
Station. The six-person crew will
Barbara Morgan
include Barbara Morgan. Ms.
Morgan is an ITEA member who
was selected by NASA in January 1998 as the first Educator
Astronaut. An Educator Astronaut is fully qualified as an
astronaut and also brings to bear his or her expertise in
K-12 education. Ms. Morgan and NASA are dedicated to
inspiring the next generation of explorers and finding ways
to connect space exploration with K-12 classrooms. The
Design Challenges will be developed for elementary, middle,
and high school students and will focus on greenhouse
design in space. They
will be offered both
as a design-and-build
challenge and as a
design-only challenge.
A second Phase will
coordinate with the
Design Challenge to offer
a science experiment
on the growing of
seeds. Watch for more
information as this
project develops.
Engineering
byDesign (EbD):
A Model for Career
Clusters
While the philosophical foundation of Standards
for Technological Literacy is that all students
need to study technology, the focus of the EbD
model program is on the practical implementation
of the standards. An important aspect of that practical
implementation is serving as a model for developing themes
in the STEM and IT Clusters. EbD delivers this, and so
much more. The courses in the program create awareness
and competence over time as they build on learned
knowledge and skills. In the Pathway Program, schools
adopt the articulated sequence of courses in a STEM and/
or IT-themed academy. The EbD components can also
be modularized and adapted to ensure that career themes
are aligned with Cluster Knowledge and Skills. In these
ways, EbD provides authentic learning to students who
are looking toward future careers in technology as well as
those students who are uncertain about their future plans.
In fact, EbD provides a valuable basis for any future career,
and may encourage some students to consider careers in
technology. The offerings of EbD are many and varied, and
are indisputably based on standards. To find out more about
the implications EbD holds for your program, contact
Barry Burke, ITEA-CATTS Director, at (301) 482-1929 or
via email at bburke@iteaconnect.org
A previous space launch.
• The Technology Teacher • December/January 2007