Digital Learning Network Introduction by Julie Mules

Monday, June 25th, 2012

10:30am-11:30am

The second presenter was Julie Mules, a representative of NASA's Digital Learning Network.  The Digital Learning Network is a NASA-run network committed to providing resources, activities, and more for the classroom from and connected to the space program.

The great thing about this program is that it brings the power and knowledge of NASA right into your classroom.  It is funded by the government, so it is a free resource for teachers.

To use this resource, you need to go to their website http://dln.nasa.gov/dln and register as an educator.  After you are registered, you would have full access to the activities that support and guide your regular curriculum.  To view your options, click on the Event Catalog link on the right side of the main page.

There are activities for grades K-12, as well as guides for the teachers.

To take part in these events, educators can sign up for specific dates and times they want their class to participate in the activity.  When the date and time arrives, the class will be able to have a video conference or web-based chat (e.g. Skype) with an actual employee from NASA, who will give information, discuss the topic, and take questions.  The guide also offers pre-conference and post-conference activities for the class to participate in.

Some of the activities that really stood out to me for primary students included:

• Mapping the Moon with Wall-E - Students are able to explore the moon with their favorite Pixar character, Wall-E
• My Big Book About Space - Three topics to choose from: Our Magnificent Sun, Our Solar Neighborhood, Spacesuits
• The Adventures of Amelia the Pigeon - An interactive story (not a web chat) about a pigeon who gives a bird's eye view of the earth.  A great way to look at the earth from space.

There are also more intricate and longer lessons designed for older students, such as a two-conference design challenge where students are challenged to make a flying vehicle from a shoe box, then meet again some time later to show and discuss their inventions with their NASA coordinator.  This is called the Can A Shoebox Fly Challenge.

I encourage you to view the website and browse through the resources.  Although I mainly discussed primary activities available, there are plenty more secondary activities that promote a career and further education about the math, science, engineering, technology, and the space center.

One last resource I wanted to share is called the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC).  Ms. Mules shared this website and list with us and let us know that it was a great place to find additional educational places that offer video conferences.  Although some of these places charge money for their conferences, some are free and a great opportunity for students to learn using a different medium.  I browsed through this list, and some of the opportunities that stood out to me were the schools all over the country (and the world) that you can collaborate with in your own classroom.  This would be a great opportunity for students to learn about different cultures and make connections with children from similar classrooms in a different part of the world.