SPACEX STUCK THE LANDING

Will for sure include this into my elementary school hour of code lesson!

Do an Hour of Code with Disney’s Moana!

Today Code.org and Disney revealed a new Hour of Code tutorial featuring characters from the upcoming Disney animated film Moana. We are thrilled to be able to offer this activity to teachers across the globe as they prepare to do an Hour of Code with their classrooms between December 5-11 to celebrate Computer Science Education Week—and no experience with code is required to teach it.

We’ve partnered with Disney and Lucasfilm in the past on Hour of Code activities featuring Frozen and Star Wars™ characters—some of our most popular ever. We were particularly excited that both of these beloved tutorials featured strong female characters, which helped the Hour of Code introduce female students around the world to computer science.

The Hour of Code has now reached over 50 million girls, a milestone in female participation for computer science. We look forward to continuing that momentum with “Moana: Wayfinding with Code,” which features a strong female character and a male companion.

We also recently announced that we’re teaming up with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Lucasfilm to create Frozen and Star Wars-themed puzzles for our Computer Science Fundamentals curriculum on Code Studio. The puzzles will be developed and integrated into our curriculum over the next year.

We’ve found that kids are much more likely to try computer science if it contains topics they are interested in, like their favorite Disney stories and characters. Our work with Disney over the past two years has helped Hour of Code reach record numbers, inspiring millions of children of all ages to try coding and pursue an education in computer science.

The story of the “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial centers around Moana and Maui as they sail through unknown territory across the ocean. As students follow Moana and Maui’s travels, they learn basic coding commands that help steer the boat. Along the way, students are introduced to conditionals, sequences and loops while they master the art of navigation. When Moana and Maui are suddenly attacked by the Kakamora – coconut-clad warriors—they must use their coding skills to dodge their pirate projectiles and penetrate their defenses.

The “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial is available in more than 180 countries and 23 languages, including Samoan Polynesian. Educators can also find Hour of Code toolkits in English and Spanish on the tutorial’s website!

Thank you to Disney for helping us give children all over the world the opportunity to learn the basics of coding.

Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11, 2016) is almost here! Sign up your Hour of Code event here and check out all the new activities that you can filter on our site based on grade level, experience level, subject area, and more. Find the perfect activity for your class at https://code.org/learn.

Hadi Partovi, Code.org

This movie is going to be amazing! And I will be at NASA when it comes out! "HIDDEN FIGURES is the incredible untold story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe)—brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big." - 20th Century Fox

Spectacular!

Watch: The trailer for ‘Hidden Figures’ is here — and it looks incredible.

follow @the-movemnt

Just got my planet stamps from the US Postal Office today for some summer letter writing. They are beautiful!

Space Stamps

Coming in to a post office near you: new “Views of Our Planets: Forever stamps featuring iconic images of the planets in our solar system, including the well-known “Blue Marble” photo of Earth.

New “Pluto Explored” Forever stamps commemorating the July 2015 flyby of Pluto by our New Horizons spacecraft are also being issued for online purchase.

The May 31 first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Pluto and planetary stamps will be in New York City at the World Stamp Show. This international gathering of stamp collectors occurs only once each decade in the United States, and – with more than 250,000 visitors expected to attend – is the largest stamp show in the world.

The Pluto stamps are of special significance to the New Horizons team, which placed a 20-cent 1991 “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” stamp on board the spacecraft. On July 14, 2015, New Horizons carried the stamp on its history-making journey to Pluto and beyond, as jubilant members of the mission team celebrated with a large print, striking the words “not yet.”

The above pane of 16 Forever stamps, the Postal Service showcases some of the more visually compelling historic, full-disk images of the planets obtained during the last half-centruy of our space exploration. Eight new colorful Forever stamps – each shown twice – feature Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

This isn’t the first time that space has been featured on postal stamps. In the past, many different space images and missions have been highlighted on the tiny pieces of paper you stick on the corner of your mail.

Here’s a look at a few space stamps of the past:

Nebulae

Stamps depicting multiple nebulae seen by the Hubble Space Telescope were released in 2000. 

Pioneer 10 

Launched in 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and obtain close-ups of Jupiter

U.S. Launches Satellites 

This stamp, released in 1999, depicts the post World War II race in space exploration. 

Alan Shepard: First American in Space

This stamp, released in 2011, featured Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Flying on the Mercury spacecraft, Shepard launched, flew 116 miles high and came back to Earth. His flight lasted about 15 and a half minutes. 

MESSENGER Mission

MESSENGER, launching in 2004, was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. This stamp, released in 2011, highlighted this mission and its importance. Understanding Mercury and how it formed is critical to better understanding the conditions on and evolution of the inner planets.

The new “Views of our Planets” stamps will be widely available across the U.S. at post offices and for online purchase beginning May 31. The Pluto – Explored Forever stamps will only be sold online or by calling 800-782-6724.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Stowage Success: NASA Co-Op #3 Week 16

Last week at my third Co-Op tour at NASA Johnson concluded with successful handover and continuation of the stowage app. I passed on development leadership to a full-time employee after receiving  green light from managers. I consider this outcome to be a mission accomplished.

After receiving feedback from non-biased data takers, I met with app developers to prioritize how to move forward with app development. As a result the development team wants to designate a point of contact to learn about stowage ops just as I have to understand what the customer, crew member, would benefit the most from. The developers plan to take the feedback to refine app functionality and interface to make it more intuitive. Additionally, after comments from users like, “what do I do next?”, implement a procedure based app and conduct more user tests after refinements with an explicit tutorial.

Following my exit pitch to management about the stowage app I was awarded a Flight Operations Challenge Coin earned by exemplifying Mission Control values during my Spring Co-Op tour with the Inventory and Stowage Officers. These values include; discipline, competence, confidence, responsibility, toughness, teamwork, and vigilance.

Res Gesta Per Excellentiam -

Achieve through Excellence

This tour has been the most challenging and enjoyable so far. This fall I will be joining OSO (Operations Support Officer) team in Mission control.

You thought volunteering at Houston FIRST Robotics Championships was enough robots for me?

WRONG

I attended the St. Louis Championship too on my way home from Houston! My "Robot" Mater the Duluth East Daredevils and local team Esko Subzero Robotics competed.

It's good that we are moving the St.Louis Championship to Detroit next year because the roof started leaking on the field! Note the plastic tarp covering part of the field.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

This week at NASA < 3 minute video summary.

First ever virtual career summit Wednesday May 24th hosted by NASA with insight on internships.

Why Co-Op during college?

Astronaut Jack Fischer chats with MIT students about space life.

Johnson Space Center Director, Ellen Ochoa, is inducted in astronaut hall of fame.

In addition to tech stuff I enjoy drawing to! All doodles by me.

Looking Forward to Grace Hopper 2015

Unsure of whether to call it the Grace Hopper Conference or Celebration I’m going to postulate that it is both. Grace Hopper Celebration of  Women in Computing (GHC) is a collection of conferences where computer scientists can learn about the latest technology, participate in tech workshops, network and build soft skills. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and the Association for Computing Machinery initiated GHC named after the computer scientist Grace Hopper. Hopper coined the term debugging, after picking bugs out of her computer and invented the first compiler, allowing programming languages to be more human-like.

Aspiring or seasoned computer scientist GHC sounds like the place to be, described by my peers in NCWIT (National Center for Women and Information Technology). In high school I became one of NCWIT’s MN State Affiliate Aspiration in Computing Award winners and since then have heard of networking stories, tales of learning experience and good times from GHC goers.

As a current Co-Op at NASA’s Johnson Space Center I have been sent on a mission to learn as much as I can and share with my department how these acquired skills will help them. As an NCWITer I will be able to connect with other like-minded women and attend their networking events. I have been browsing through the conference schedule and crafted a comprehensive itinerary filled with keynote presentations, professional development, and hands on tech projects.

Sessions on my itinerary I am most excited for include “Communicating for Impact and Influence”, “Design and Development Considerations in Serious Games”, “Bank of America Technical Women Luncheon”, “Speed Mentoring Breakfast with Microsoft”, and “Data Science: NASA”.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

I will be live tweeting and live blogging the event

Check out this year’s sessions and think about joining in next year

Watch keynotes from past events

National Conference for College Women Student Leaders 

NCCWSL Wrap Up

Little broccoli shoots - the young trees sprout, compared to the elder trees spared by loggers. The broccoli are proof of an investment, confidence that the Iron Range's timber is desired. With Norway Pines lit like honey mead and faults of farmland irrigation exposed by a birds eye view, I descend upon Range Regional Airport. The NCCWSL leadership conference sprouted its own investment in hopes that we will become leaders that initiate positive change. Our definition of positive change was shaped by NCCWSL's keynote speakers, workshops, excursions, exchanges, and interpretations. If these experiences were taken at face value I do not believe "that" definition of positive change is best for our country. If taken with a grain of salt, a packet of pepper and a squirt of ketchup then a rational, moderate, and welcomed definition of positive change can be found.

Messaging

As reflected in this week's workshop titles and bios of speakers, this conference resonated primarily with the hopes and dreams of left-wing thinkers. Right-wing thinkers and the bipartisan curious may have been dissuaded by the polarity, thus surrendering the awesome opportunity to meet and be empowered by tenacious women who also strive to strengthen America. This conference did a stellar job energizing women with the same beliefs but did not teach us how to listen to, work alongside and communicate with those in strongest opposition. Like a fancy Sunday picnic I was equipped with metaphorical seasonings. I softened the extreme rhetoric and enhanced rudimentary flavors - ideas that reasonable human beings could get behind. For example, Melissa Harris-Perry is a passionate speaker, PhD, professor, and author. The delivery of her ideas, catered toward the conference goers, may shut down audiences she might want to persuade the most. Sifting through her flourishes, I found motivation to learn more about American history and search for the history of individuals lost from the pages of public school textbooks. I hope future NCCWSLs tackle the challenging task of teaching future leaders the ability to effectively and respectfully communicate with individuals with different beliefs.

Leadership

Meeting former chiefs of staff exemplified the presence of influential women on Capitol Hill. This brief panel and 2017 Women of Distinction Awards celebrating the success of five women gave conference goers a tangible illustration of successful professional women. With the presence of seasoned leaders, I did not learn any new leadership strategies to take back to my Co-Ops. Despite marketing the conference for "college student leaders" only a third of workshops and lectures claimed to be leadership focused. The third of leadership focused content did not offer content that challenged my understanding of leadership like I hoped for. Leadership is a challenging topic to teach effectively without elementary group activities, polarizing rhetoric, and parroting TED Talk clips. Equipped with the network of so many influential women leaders NCCWSL could recruit seasoned leaders to mentor conference goers to provide experience based leadership education.

Civic Action

Aspiring astronaut, sexual assault survivor and author of a bill of rights - Amanda Nguyen was my favorite speaker at the NCCWSL conference. Nguyen described how she drafted the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act of 2016, persisted to ensure it was passed in the Senate, unanimously passed in the House, and ultimately signed into law October 7th, 2016. Nguyen continues to write law into existence through Rise - which she founded. AAUW (American Association of University Women), parent organization of NCCWSL, has be active in formulating women's rights since 1881 including actions around Title IX. Despite this rich history with civic engagement NCCWSL offered no opportunity to draft law or engage with state representatives to make change. During this conference there was a lot of identification of problems with few avenues and instruction to find a solution. Workshops and lectures could be focused around finding solutions and our tourist outings to D.C. could be replaced with constructive meetings with Senators and Congressmen. Conveniently held in our nation's capitol NCCWSL has a unique opportunity to get young leaders engaged with constructing civic solutions.

Clickety clack I could type my opinions on NCCWSL all day. NCCWSL attendees and my actions moving forward is what will make the difference for future conferences. NCCWSL will send out a survey for feedback where conference goers can express their ideas for next year. Additionally there is an opportunity to become a student leader and help shape the curriculum for NCCWSL. My idea for a component of a future NCCWSL includes...

*Creating a theme around the conference such as working women, parental leave or equal pay.

*Prior to the conference students would draft legislation or thoughts to share with state representatives.

*First day of the conference students would meet in groups to refine legislation and their message.

*Second day students would meet with leaders on Capitol Hill to introduce ideas and/or legislation.

*Last day students would be to debrief and brainstorm next steps and action items for post conference.

I am thankful that AAUW Duluth chapter sponsored my NCCWSL journey. I am also thankful for the opportunity to meet other student leaders, hear their stories and get connected. No matter how involved I will be with this conference in the future, I am motivated to improve my communication with individuals with different beliefs, find new effective practices of leadership I can apply at my Co-Op, and learn how my civic action can improve our nation.

Ideas for Teachers: Programming Lesson Plan 

When I return back to my hometown I will be visiting schools to share about my NASA experience and teach programming. I will be sharing my lesson plans here for a day of programming and a day of space related learning. Let’s start with programming. One of my first stops will be my Mom’s Kindergarten class so you will notice my lesson plan is catered for elementary students.

Morning: What is programming?

After your usual morning activities; “G-O-O-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G Good Morning Aye Aye Good Morning *clap* *clap”, drawing sticks and telling about your weekend, introduce students to the concept of programming. Ask students, “What do you think programming is?” Write down the answers on the white board. After answer along the lines of “Programming is telling a computer to do things - make a video game, control a robot, create an App, and more!” Next I would show them a short video with our current stars in technology.

Lets Start Coding

“Enough talk about programming let’s do it!” A great introduction to coding is a Made With Code project. The Yeti project is my favorite of these activities. Students take turns dragging and dropping blocks of code assigning attributes to the Yeti fur color and feet size. After assigning attributes the students can watch the Yeti dance. When I have had students write yeti code they enjoy changing the colors and dance many times!

Afternoon: Code Related Rotations

Skills needed to program are not only found in front of a screen but working in a team, time for activity rotations. (These will be the centers I will have but you all can have different ones.) At one center I will have my LEGO robot for the students to program. There will be objects that the robot can pick up or avoid. At the second center 3D printed puzzles will be available for students to solve. At the third center an activity with half a blank page and half a lined page. Students can draw a picture of what they think would be cool to program and write about it. Last center create a robot out of construction paper, foil, or other mediums.

Now You Try

Take a trip to the computer lab and let students try to program on their own. Hour of Code is a great resource where students can learn programming at various levels. Two activities I tested out an enjoyed was a Flappy Bird Game Creator and Star Wars Drone Game. Students can code on their own or work in a group to help each other figure things out.

Have fun teaching students about programming! In the future I hope to get a Sphero, 3D printer, and Arduino type kit. Maybe you all have other ideas for a programming lesson plan.

STEAMworks: Robotics Game Theories

Teaser trailer for the 2017 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition for Science and Technology) Robotics Competition was released late September revealing a Steampunk theme. Now is the time for my annual game conspiracy post about what I think teams can expect based on nuanced clues and veteran FIRST experience.

FLYING MINI BOTS - "Prepare to take flight!" was the closing statement of the 2017 FIRST STEAMworks Teaser video. Could minibots be coming back with quadcopter features? Minibots was a successful and entertaining aspect of the 2011 FIRST challenge Logo Motion. At the end of the Logo Motion teams' primary 120lb robot deployed smaller minibots to climb a tower. A FIRST inspired robotics competition, Collegiate Aerial Robotics Demonstration (CARD), launched at the 2011 World Championship with the hope to start a College-Level FIRST competition. According to CARD's Wikipedia page the competitions were held between 2011 and 2013. In the teaser video the flying contraptions illustrated have circular quadcopter like rioters. With the growing interest in quadcopters, drones and other flying robots it would be easier FIRST to suppliers for teams' Kit Of Parts and easier to find mentoring help from college students and companies than years prior.  

STEAM (Science Technology Engineering ART and Math) - Within the past decade educators and professionals have realized that the arts do indeed belong in STEM education. FIRST appears to be adopting the trend by imagining STEAMworks. Even a paint brush is visible in the STEAMworks game logo. What would life be without music and art? (My father is a high school art teacher and both of my parents and myself play stringed instruments). The Beautility factor or engineering, when something is aesthetic while serving a purpose, is due to the blend of STEAM disciplines. FIRST could include arts in the 2017 season by adding a Beautility award, challenging teams to combine their brand with the game's theme, continue the team website competition and add scholarships to their ~200 already offered that include students in the arts.

PNEUMATICS - It would be disappointing if STEAMworks did not emphasize the use of pneumatic devices. Although water is a component that makes steam happen a water game does not seem feasible... I'm imagining teams trying to isolate electronics from water reservoirs... don't get your hopes up. Likely, FIRST will require teams to have at least one pneumatic device. In past seasons pneumatics have been used for championship winning actuators but primarily underutilized. In the teaser trailer a gauge showing 40psi was visible, a possible operating pressure for Kit of Parts pneumatics parts (that est. 1989 is the year Dean Kamen Founded FIRST).

Hopefully these theories get you excited about the upcoming season!

Kick Off Saturday, January 7, 2017 at 9:00 amCT, will update with broadcast link before 1/9/17.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Find a local team to help.

Mentor a team.

Check out my past robotics team.