Social, Cultural and Educational Legacies - ER - NASA

Students as Virtual AstronautsEarthKAMEarthKAMOperationsCenterSTARTJohnson Space CenterMission Control CenterStudent requestsEarth imagery.EarthKAMImage Server atJet PropulsionLaboratoryFINISHStudent receivesrequested Earthimagery.Students on Earth obtained photos from orbit by using computers to request images of specific locations from the Earth Knowledge Acquired byMiddle School Students (EarthKAM) on the Space Shuttle.methods. Students prepared a solidresearch proposal outlining the topicthey wanted to study. The programwas similar to a time-share facility.Schools were to take a certain numberof photographs. During the SpaceShuttle Program, students set up a24-hour classroom Mission Controloperation to track the shuttle’s orbit.By calculating latitude and longitude,they followed the shuttle’s route andmonitored weather conditions. Afterchoosing photo targets, students relayedthose instructions over the Internet toUniversity of California at San Diegooperations unit. Undergraduatevolunteers wrote the code that instructedthe camera when to acquire imagery.The students received their photoimages back through the Web site andbegan analyzing their data.Since its first launch in 1996, EarthKAMflew on six shuttle missions and nowcontinues operations on the InternationalSpace Station. To date, more than73,000 students from 1,200 schools in17 countries have participated in theprogram. This exciting adventure ofEarth exploration from space is a greathit at schools all over the globe. Whileyoungsters can learn latitude, longitude,and geography from a textbook, whentheir lesson comes first-hand from theSpace Shuttle, they really pay attention.“In 20 years of teaching,” says SierraVista Middle School (California)teacher Mark Sontag, “EarthKAM is byfar the most valuable experience I’veever done with kids.”Social, Cultural, and Educational Legacies475