Course Syllabus

Welcome to the Texas Aerospace Scholars Curriculum!

Scholars are required to register for the program with a hotmail account by December 4, 2000. Use the password and URL sent to you in your acceptance letter.

Please mail your Scholar Commitment form and Parental Consent to NASA that you received in the mail right away

Scholars should then access the Activities link from the Scholars home page. There are 12 assignments and a final project.

The due dates are given at the bottom of this syllabus.

Each lesson is composed of 4 sections:

Liftoff – Reading material, multimedia links and tutorials

Mission – Assignments (due every two weeks) – reviewed by science teachers according to the performance criteria (not graded) in the Mission.

Extended Mission – Optional links and information (good sources for final projects).

Quick Quiz – One per assignment, graded.

There are 6 lessons in the Shuttle Station Moon section and then 6 more lessons in the Earth to Mars section. These are due every two weeks from December until May.

You have a final project that is due two weeks before your summer workshop. The project will be posted on the website and reviewed by your NASA engineering mentor by e-mail.

Each assignment has a research and/or engineering design challenge and a math problem. These should be submitted as a text file in the Comm Link. Assignments that require you to submit a drawing should be attached as a jpg file.

Please do the following for each assignment:

• Read the section called Liftoff. It is composed of 5-7 chapters.

• Complete the Quick Quiz. There are 8 questions in each Quiz that come from the chapters. You will receive your grade immediately. These are kept in your file. You may only take the quiz once.

• Lastly, read and submit your assignment called "Mission" via the Comm Link. Your teacher reviewer will send you your comments within two weeks after the due date. Try to submit your assignments on time.

All scholars will be invited to a chat in January on the Shuttle and Station lessons and a chat in March on the Moon and Mars lessons hosted by a NASA engineering mentor. After your week and team selection in April you will have a team chat session to get to know your team and mentor and prepare for your on-site project.

A weekly tutorial chat session will be hosted by one of the teacher reviewers beginning the week of November 27th on Fridays at 5pm. The first tutorial session will be on December 1st. These chats will allow you to ask questions about your mission and any other questions you may have about the program. The chat room is closed at other times.

For other questions please post them to the Bulletin Board and our Deputy, Douglas Goforth will post an answer. Students are allowed to answer and post to each other’s bulletins. Strict guidelines have been posted at the Bulletin Board that you need to read and respond to before you start to use the Board.

The chat and bulletin board links are found at the Comm Link. You will need your user name and password to access the Comm Link.

Lesson Due Dates

December

Scholars complete on-line registration and Activity 1 by December 4, 2000.

Activity 2 due December 15, 2000.

Activity 3 due December 29, 2000.

January

4th activity due January 12, 2001. Incomplete primary scholars replaced by completed alternates.

Alternates notified of change in status January 15, 2001.

On-line discussions (Shuttle/Station) week of January 22nd.

5th activity due January 26, 2001.

February

6th activity due February 9, 2001.

7th activity due February 23, 2001.

March

8th activity due March 9, 2001. Incomplete primary scholars replaced by completed alternates.

Alternates notified of change in status March 12, 2001

On-line discussions (Moon/Mars) week of March 19, 2001.

9th activity due March 23, 2001.

April

10th activity due April 6, 2001.

Travel and Week Selection on-line form DUE by April 16, 2001 (to qualify for free airfare or mileage reimbursement.)

11th activity due April 20, 2001.

Week and Team assignments April 30, 2001.

May

12th activity due May 4, 2001.

Weekly Team and Theme Chats begin week of May 21, 2001.

Scholar Final Projects Due beginning May 20, 2001.

June 3rd - August 3rd

Summer workshops (8 week-long sessions)

September

Year One and Year Two scholars maintain contact with JSC engineers, NASA and legislators.

 

Last Updated: 09/07/01