Comets and Asteroids Educator Conference Details

Comets and Asteroids Educator Conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
February 5, 2011
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Recommended for Grades 5 - 8 Educators

Comets and Asteroids Educator Conference at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Join NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Education Office for an education conference being held Feb. 5, 2011, near Pasadena, Calif. The conference will focus on comets, asteroids and protoplanets. These objects are the leftover building blocks of planets, which may have contributed water and organic material to ancient Earth, thus aiding the start of life. By observing these small bodies up close, scientists better understand the formation and evolution of our solar system and how life came to exist here on Earth.

This daylong conference will feature a series of presentations, as well as introduction to hands-on activities mainly targeted for grades 5-8. However, activities can be adapted for both lower and higher grade levels. Instructional materials and resources will be shared and hands-on activity materials will be provided.

This conference is open to all formal and informal educators interested in Earth and space science and exploration. Students in high school and college also may attend.

Pre-registration is required. Participants must register by Feb. 1, 2011. Walk-up registration will not be possible for this conference.

For registration questions, please call the JPL Education Office at 818-393-0561. For other questions, please call the JPL Educator Resource Center at 909-397-4420.



Speakers

+ Schedule

	Speaker # 1 8:00am - 8:45am PST Dr. Paul Chodas, Near Earth Objects Program Presentation: Small Bodies 101: Asteroids, Comets, Meteorites, and Protoplanets
	Speaker # 2 9:15am - 10:00am PST Mr. Robert Mase, Dawn Project Manager Presentation: Exploring Our Solar System’s Smaller Bodies + See Bio
	Speaker # 3 10:45am - 11:30am PST Dr. Claudia Alexander, Rosetta Project Scientist Presentation: Instruments, Chemistry, Minerals, and the Periodic Table + See Bio
	Speaker # 3.5 10:45am - 11:30am PST Dr. Murthy Gudipati, Principal scientist, JPL + See Bio

Activity Resources	Additional Resources
ELEMENTARY + Comet Mystery Box + Comet on a Stick + Modeling Asteroid Vesta + Vesta Flip Book MIDDLE + Extreme Navigation + Seeing in 3-D + Cooking Up a Kitchen Comet + The Hunt for the Missing Planet: In Search of... + Active Accretion + Where Are You? Scale Modeling of Vesta and Ceres HIGH SCHOOL + Comet Lingo Bingo + Comparing Comets + Interactions of Energy and Matter: CSI	+ Ion Propulsion + Find a Meteorite + Asteroid and Comet Encounter Timeline + Solar System Bead Activity Mission Factsheets + Rosetta + Dawn + EPOXI + Stardust-NExT + Discovery Mission Websites + Rosetta + Dawn + EPOXI + Stardust-NExT + Discovery