AskERIC's Multimedia NASA Lesson Plans (fwd)

[Peter Milbury <pmilbur@EIS.CALSTATE.EDU>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

                              AskERIC announces
                         NASA Multimedia Lesson Plans
                     for Middle and High School students.
                            [http://eryx.syr.edu]

AskERIC in Cooperation with NASA's JPL has placed a two to three week
course guide to accompany on-going shuttle and radar imaging missions.
The lesson plans are now available in WWW/Mosaic format (soon in gopher
and ftp as well).

The lessons are made up of material provided in the SIR-CED CD-ROM
provided by NASA.

Presently the introduction and Module 1 (of 5) of the teachers guides are
available. The rest of the teachers guide will be available in the next
week, with student guides quickly following.

The lessons include some beautiful images, and soon a little animation.

Please take a look and let us know what you think.

The lessons can be accessed through WWW/Mosaic through the following URL:

http://eryx.syr.edu

Below is a description of the project from the CD.


What is SIR-CED?

SIR-CED is based around NASA's imaging radar program. Imaging radar is a
key technology used by scientists to monitor the earth's environment.
SIR-C, or Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C, is the latest generation of imaging
radars produced by JPL for NASA, and is scheduled to fly on the Space
Shuttle in April 1994, with two follow-on flights planned in 1994 and
1995. SIR-C represents the state-of-the-art in radar imaging technology,
and will offer scientists a unique look at the earth  from space.
Scientists will use the radar images provided by SIR-C to view areas of
the earth that are normally obscured by clouds, to monitor deforestation,
 to search for buried river channels in the Sahara Desert, and to estimate
the extent of flooding in river basins, among other things. The SIR-CED
program is designed to help meet some of the goals set out in NASA's
Strategic Plan for Education (see Further Reading). In putting together
this initiative, NASA and JPL's aim is to reach as many Middle School and
High School students as possible in the Southern California area and
across the nation in order to:

1. Carry the message that NASA is actively pursuing Earth observation
programs under the umbrella of 'Mission to Planet Earth'.

2. Teach them that imaging radars are an important and current part of
these programs.

3. Show how imaging radars work and how they are used to monitor the
world around us.

4. Develop practical experiments and procedures to assist educators in
teaching earth science, computing and mathematical principles to Middle
School and High School students, in Southern California and across the
United States.

Although some segments of the SIR-CED program are based around the SIR-C
mission, the program is designed to be used with data from a wide range of
imaging radars. Examples of data from earlier imaging radar missions can
be found in the CD-ROM accompanying this package, including images from
Magellan of the planet Venus. The software included in the SIR-CED
package should be flexible enough to handle radar image data from future
missions, too. The SIR-CED program should be useful as an introduction to
imaging radar and its role in monitoring the earth's environment over the
next decade or so.


...........................................................
: "Virtual" Dave Lankes           rdlankes@ericir.syr.edu :
: AskERIC Researcher "This is not your father's Internet" :
: School of Information Studies       Syracuse University :
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