Undergraduates and K-12 teachers collaborating to develop classroom activities
Many K-12 teachers do not have adequate resources to teach STEAM topics in a way that meets learning standards and engages their students. Cornell’s Spacecraft Planetary Image Facility (SPIF) is well suited to address this need by leveraging its 40+ years of providing K-12 resources and the community partnerships they have built.
In this project, SPIF connects undergraduates in physical science and engineering majors with local elementary teachers. The Cornell students listen to the needs of the teachers, and then work with them to develop classroom activities to meet those needs. The activities have themes in space exploration and are applicable to curricular components beyond those specific topics. The teachers are then able to incorporate these activities into their lesson plans for years to come, with continued support from SPIF.
- Zoe Ponterio, Spacecraft Planetary Image Facility (SPIF), Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science
- Community partner: Ithaca City School District, Northeast Elementary
- Community partner: NY State 4-H, Cornell Cooperative Extension
Providing seed support for a wide range of community-engaged learning projects