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2010 Annual Science Report

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Icy Worlds Reporting  |  SEP 2009 – AUG 2010

EPO Activity: Icy Worlds E/PO: Teacher Professional Development

Project Progress

Teacher Professional Development:


Nikki Chambers, a high school teacher at West High School in Torrance, California, gave a presentation about teaching high school astrobiology at the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA) conference in Palm Springs, California in October 2009. At CSTA, she met Rachel Zimmerman-Brachman, and this led to a year-long collaboration between the Icy Worlds E/PO team and Nikki Chambers’ class. Nikki made connections in the NAI community, invited Icy Worlds team members to speak in her astrobiology class, arranged a JPL tour for her advanced students, presented at the Astrobiology Science Conference, came to JPL Open House, made connections that led to participation in HISTAR in Hawaii, and brought back what she learned to share with her students. We plan to maintain a close relationship with Nikki’s class again this year, and we hope to establish similar relationships with other high school astrobiology teachers in the coming year.

The Icy Worlds E/PO team participated in a day-long Astrobiology training for Houston-area teachers following the Astrobiology Science Conference, in collaboration with E/PO leads from all of the current NAI teams.

The Icy Worlds E/PO team participated in a two-day Astrobiology professional development for Solar System Educators at NASA Ames in July 2010. Teachers from 23 states participated in the training.