NASA’s Michoud Education
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The St. Tammany Parish Public Schools system was invited to help develop a professional development program for teachers that could be duplicated with other parishes in Southeast Louisiana. Since the pilot year in 2008-2009, the Zachary Community Schools system has been added to the collaboration.
The NASA Michoud Education Fellow Program seeks to provide teachers an inside look at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) and to provide teachers an opportunity to see the importance of science, math, and literacy to the jobs at NASA MAF.
The teachers complete an intensive two week summer internship at MAF and Stennis Space Center and then continue the program as they communicate the information, experiences, and lessons learned to their students during the following school year.
The value of this unique opportunity for professional development within NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility is the opportunity it offers teachers to see an exemplary working model of what they want their students to be able to do in a real world setting.
Our teachers are seldom given the opportunity to study the final product of education, the workplace. The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) provides that vision for our teachers. Many of the skills that are necessary to be successful in any career are present at MAF: attention to detail, proper and accurate measurements, design and analysis, creativity, communication, collaboration, problem solving, team work, ability to produce a quality product. These are also the skills we want our graduates to take with them when they leave
our school system.
Through the program’s collaboration with the Channel 13 Studios, Michoud Education Fellows produce videos of interviews they have conducted with Michoud Assembly Facility employees to be shared specifically with the students of St. Tammany Parish
Public Schools.
Patch Designs
The first mission patch of the NASA/LaSpace
Michoud Education Fellows Program
Teachers are encouraged to design their own mission patch (see above). St. Tammany Parish Public Schools had the honor of being represented on MEF-1, the inaugural patch for this exemplary NASA education outreach program.
Click here for more information on the Michoud Assembly Facility, a component of the Marshall Space Flight Center. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view PDF File) |
Teacher Interviews with Employees
from
the Michoud Assembly Facility
Now Available Online
Click here for list of all available videos
MEF-4 Team Meets With Astronauts
From
Final Space
Shuttle Flight
MEF-2 Prepares for Interviews
NASA Michoud Education Fellows Produce Videos
Science teachers from the St. Tammany Parish Public School System taking part in the NASA/Michoud Education Fellow Program have videotaped interviews with a variety of Michoud employees at the New Orleans East facility over the past few years.
Working with Channel 13, the educators who participated in the summer internship at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility have produced educational television programs featuring the interviews they video-taped with engineers, multi-media specialists, scientists, and other professionals during the two-week professional development program.
The videos illustrate for students how science, mathematics and communication skills are used by the scientists, engineers and other professionals at the Michoud Assembly Facility.
MEF-3 and Orion Capsule Engineers
Photos from the Program
MEF-1 With STS-124 Astronauts
MEF-2 With STS-125 Astronauts
MEF-3 With STS-134 Astronauts
MEF-4 With STS-135 Astronauts
MEF-3 and External Fuel Tank
Interviews with Michoud Employees
Video-taped and Edited
MEF-2 Receives Training from Channel 13
MEF-1 Editing Interviews In Channel 13 Studios
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In The News.....
Inaugural MEF-I Summer Briefing Group Photo
Powerpoint PDF File Showcasing LaSpace and the MEF-1 Program
Presented September, 2011, at Space Grant Regional Meeting in North Carolina
From Marshall Space Flight Center Website
Louisiana Teachers Recognized for Participation in LaSpace/NASA Michoud
Education Fellow Program at Michoud Assembly Facility
Five Louisiana teachers were recognized July 25, 2008, for their participation in the LaSpace/NASA Michoud Education Fellow Program at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. For the 2008-2009 school year, these teachers were paired for three, two-week sessions with department heads, engineers, chemists and welders at Michoud to learn first hand about science and technology careers available to their students in their own backyard of New Orleans. The educators teach earth science, physics and physical science to students in eighth through 12th grade and took their experiences back to the classroom, reaching over 700 students. This program is a partnership between the state of Louisiana, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and NASA. Participating in the ceremony were from left, front row: Shelia Cloud, Michoud transition director; Steve Turner, Michoud safety and health manager; back row: Paul Chandler, a physical science and chemistry teacher at Slidell High School in Slidell, La.; Deborah Nunez, a physics teacher at Covington High School in Covington, La.; Dr. Paulette Perrin, a curriculum specialist for St. Tammany Board of Education in Slidell, La.; Ruth Hill, an earth science teacher at Monteleone Junior High School in Mandeville, La.; Crystal Drake, an earth science teacher at St. Tammany Junior High School; JoAnne Hobson, an earth science teacher at Slidell Junior High School in Slidell, La.; and Dr. Pam Blanchard, representative of Louisiana State University. (Photo: Lockheed Martin/MAF)
From LaSpace Newsletter, Fall 2010
Education Fellowship Program Continuing To Thrive at Michoud Assembly Facility
From National Center for Advanced Manufacturing Website
June 9, 2010 Michoud Education Fellows Tour NCAM (Click here for PDF Version)
From Michoud Messenger Newsletter
February 1, 2010 Astronaut Jan Davis Shares Her Experiences With Local Students
July, 2011 Michoud Education Fellows Kicks off 4th Year
From The School Board Website
August 20, 2008: Teachers Get Inside Look At Michoud Facility
September 19, 2008: NASA Michoud Tour Teachers Producing Videos
January 27, 2009 Six St. Tammany Educators Receive NASA Recognition
February 5, 2010: Former Astronaut Visits Classrooms of NASA Teacher Fellows Program
August 17, 2011 Michoud NASA Education Fellows Meet Final Four Astronauts
St. Tammany Parish Public School System teachers who are taking part in the Michoud Education Fellows MEF-4 Program attended a briefing August 10 at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where they met the Final Four STS-135 astronauts who had just returned from the very last Space Shuttle flight. The astronauts were at Michoud to brief the employees and share their personal stories for one last time. Pictured above, from left to right, are Dr. Pam Blanchard of LSU; John Thacker of Covington High School; Sandy Magnus, mission specialist; Doug Hurley, pilot; Rex Walheim, mission specialist; Chris Fergusen, commander; Dr. Paulette Perrin, St. Tammany Parish Public Schools; and Kristie Milligan, Creekside Jr. High School.
