Let's Go to Space: BLUE-SKY Learning

Today we meet with Bev Berekian a middle school science and college level Earth Science. She has been teaching for over 17 years and began at the Community College level while she was earning a Masters Degree in Geology. Bev has participated in several space-related programs , and has presented and attended multiple conferences. She is a Department of Defense STEM Ambassador, a NASA/SETI Airborne Astronomy Ambassador, a Space Center Houston Teacher Crew Member, and a Space Foundations International Teacher Liaison. She is also an ISS National Lab Ambassador and a JPL/NASA Solar System Ambassador. Her current project is helping junior high school students to design experiments to fly in microgravity and she is working with Dr. Kevin Crosby of Carthage College and the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium to accomplish her space goals. We look forward to the conversation today and invite you to stay tuned after for the takeaway.

www.aerospacehigh.org

Today we meet with Kirstin Bunting, a kindergarten teacher at Roosevelt Elementary on Florida’s Space Coast. Kirstin has a strong passion for STEM but especially all things space! She strives to educate and inspire the Artemis generation and beyond to appreciate and understand the world of space. Through her university course work, Kirstin is creating professional development in STEM topics so other teachers can also inspire their students to reach for the stars. In her free time, Kirstin enjoys spending time at the beach and of course watching rocket launches from her backyard or the parking lot of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

Sign up for summer camp interest at our website:

website: www. aerospacehigh.org.

Be a Patreon supporter here!

In this episode, Kevin and I meet with Fraser Cain, a space and astronomy journalist and publisher of amazing astronomy content through his website, Universe Today ,In addition, Fraser is the co-host of the Astronomy Cast Podcast and hosts a long-running series of space and astronomy videos on YouTube. He lives under beautiful dark skies on Vancouver Island in Western Canada which no doubt are a source of continuous inspiration. Stay tuned for the duration and be inspired yourself and learn more about how you can follow Fraser’s work.

Aerospace and Innovation Academy website

Summer Session Camp Google Form Registration

Today we meet with PAEMST recipient and teacher of the year for multiple organizations including the Civil Air Patrol, the Air & Space Forces Association and the AIAA , Megan Tucker. Ms. Tucker is a veteran STEM teacher of 19 years who loves to engage students in the Engineering Design Process as well as to have a growth mindset. Megan has written and edited national aerospace STEM curriculum for the Civil Air Patrol and has served as a Dean of Curriculum, a K-5 STEAM Specialist, and a professional development facilitator among many other impressive titles. She is currently designing national STEM curriculum with AVID, which drives student success through engaging, rigorous, and student-centered learning environments.

Megan is passionate about teaching through the lens of aerospace and loves using the latest technology to hook our young learners She says her job is all about providing real world situations where scholars have to use 21st Century Skills to solve a problem, and have fun while doing it!.

We are prepared to learn a lot and we know you will too.

Link to Civil Air Patrol:

Link to Aerospace & Innovation Academy website

Link to Summer Session Registration Form

Email the cohost or to find out more about AIA:

While we know that space settlements of the future are a necessity, how we go about creating them frequently becomes a subject of debate. Most importantly, what countries will be represented in the settlements of the future, and can we insure we all work together to create a peaceful society in space? Today, we are joined by three very important people in the realm of this debate, with a focus on student voice.

Frances Dellutri joins us once again. In one of many roles, She is serves as National Space Society Director of Education. In this role she founded and facilitated the NSS Student spUN (space policy and Universalization) Debate program starting in 2017 Students ages 12-18 debate space policy on international teams

Frances is a life-long learner and educator. Her training as a chemist, project manager and science educator enable her to marry technical aspects of the NSS education programs with real-world opportunities for students.

Jordan Strudwick serves as the Project Manager for the National Space Society’s groundbreaking University Level International spUN Debate. A Howard University School of Law graduate, Jordan not only founded the pioneering Space Law Society, the first Space Law organization at any HBCU, but also played a pivotal role in establishing the first-ever Space Law course at an HBCU Law School.

A proud native of Washington, DC, Jordan's expertise encompasses an impressive range of fields, including technology startup companies, international development, and human rights. He is excited to help shape the the future of both the public and private space sector.

Representing the high school sector, Apoorva Bangalore Ravispravad is a sophomore college student pursuing Astrophysics and Astrobiology at the University of Florida.

Lots of great information for student, parents, and teachers alike so stay tuned after for the take away.

Important links:

spUN Debate Website: https://space.nss.org/spun-debates/
University Debate Website: https://spacedge.academy/course/view.php?id=296

University Direct Application Link: https://go.nss.org/spunapplication-univ

Jordan Strudwick's Email: [email protected]

Apoorva Raviprasad: [email protected]

Michael D’Egidio grew up on Long Island, New York. He attended Columbia University in the City of New York where he majored in computer science. Michael has worked as a consultant for Sony Corporation of America producing graphics, copy, and web content for Sony.com, as well as a full-stack software engineer for a small e-commerce startup in Manhattan.

Michael has always felt drawn to the possibilities in education, so he made the move to the teaching world where he developed a robust and innovative computer science curriculum for a prestigious private school in Palm Beach County, Florida. His classes focus on programming languages and their utility in real-world applications such as game development, web application development and more. He was also instrumental in developing coursework in the use of TensorFlow, which is industry-standard software for machine learning and artificial intelligence programming.

Integral to Michael’s educational philosophy is the belief that all students deserve to feel a strong sense of belonging at school. Since 2020, Michael has been led school initiatives in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion where he coordinates student educational opportunities as well as professional development. In short, Michael sees computer science as a way to give back, to be a super hero so to speak helping students to view problems as a way to embrace grit, to affect change, and ultimately to have a voice. Stay tuned after for our takeaway.

Today we meet with Jiangdou (Ginger) Chen. She  is a Ph.D student at Florida Institute of Technology majoring in STEM Education with a primary focus  on Computer Information Systems.  A native to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, Ginger is dedicated to balance social equity and the advocacy of marginalized communities. Her dissertation details female astronauts' interest in STEM studies in relation to their  career development.  Ginger is passionate about encouraging more young women to enter the space industry. In addition to her academic pursuits, Ginger runs track, cross-country, and participates on the swim team for Florida Tech.  As always, stay tuned after the interview for our take-awayl

Today, we meet with Jackie Blumer-- a Nationally Board Certified educator with over 25 years of STEM experience. She currently teaches Earth/Space Science for 6th graders at Greenville Jr. High School in Illinois. Jackie is also the. St. Louis STEM Chair for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Jackie was recently selected as a Limitless Space Institute Limitless Educator and was one of 20 educators worldwide to receive this honor. The mission of LSI is to inspire and educate the next generation to travel beyond our solar system and support the research and development of enabling technologies.  We look

Link to Limitless Space Institute:https://www.limitlessspace.org/

Jen Jones is an 8th grade STEM teacher, a Space Foundation Teacher Liaison, a Solar System Ambassador, and a Space ward Bound Educator. She regularly presents on space topics to civic groups, libraries, and schools around northern Utah, and has hosted and organized 5 well-respected annual Space/STEM community outreach nights. Ms. Jones believes in teaching from a real world perspective to promote classroom engagement and to help fill the Stem Pipeline of the future. One example is NASA research project called Growing Beyond Earth which Jones will present to Teacher Liaisons at the Space Symposium in April.

Jenn and her students also work internationally for educational organizations such as African Independence Development or AID to help raise money and awareness for a modernized high school where Jenn could still help train teachers long after she returns home. And these are just a few of the many experiences she provides for her students. We see Jen Jones as one who emulates a BlueSky Learning philosophy and know you will enjoy this episode as much as we will.

Stay tuned after for takeaway.

Today, we meet with Mark Wallace. Mark wrote his first computer program in 1965, and has written a lot of them since, using languages ranging from Assembler to SQL. His interest in zero defect software led him to study software engineering methods such as Structured Design and Object-Oriented Design, and ways to adopt them using Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools. In recent years, he has taught robotics to middle and high school students, and served as a judge in the World Robot Olympics and First Lego League competitions. He is now retired in Boynton Beach, but volunteers to teach computer programming to high school students through a Microsoft-sponsored charity. We met Mark recently while we were all judging student robot presentations and we were quite impressed. We know you will be too and we hope you stay tuned after for the takeaway.  

Link for the Microsoft program mentioned in the podcast:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/teals/about