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The Educator Ambassadors Program

NASA Education and Public Outreach

Educator Ambassadors Handbook


Table of Contents:

Introduction:
What is an Educator Ambassador?
Why we picked you

Your Role:
Workshops
Reporting
Materials
Term Renewal
Presentation Proposals

Business:
Payment
Travel
Forms

Meetings and Training:
Contacts:

INTRODUCTION
What is an Educator Ambassador?

An Educator Ambassador (EA) is a NASA Education and Public Outreach (EPO) representative. This person is paid to help design, review, and disseminate the science and educational materials for the mission or missions they represent. Dissemination is in the form of workshops and educational/scientific conferences, aimed primarily at training other teachers. It is also acceptable to do outreach directly to students. However, NASA EPO places great emphasis on highly leveraging trained representatives such as the EAs by having them train teachers, who will then train more teachers, etc. They do not give as many brownie points for working directly with students. Public lectures are also encouraged.
In return for the ongoing support of their efforts, each Educator Ambassador will assist the mission/missions science team members in developing engaging educational materials for high school students that are aligned with the national science and mathematics standards. These materials will also be tested in the classroom environment by the EAs, and/or in other forms as appropriate.
Each EA is required to have his or her own plans (via teacher in-services, public lectures, museum programs, educator conferences, etc.) to routinely disseminate their mission/missions’ materials throughout the year.

Why we picked you

EAs were selected for a variety of reasons. Each EA showed:

· an active interest in astronomy
· a genuine desire to share knowledge about astronomy
· a demonstrated background in science and/or mathematics education at the high school level
· the proven ability to develop materials that are aligned with national science standards for high school students
· a contribution to the geographic and institutional diversity of the group
· the potential for a dissemination plan that reaches out to under-represented groups
· the ability to submit a well-thought-out, complete application
· a willingness to report on events in a timely manner using an on-line form provided

The selected EAs come from diverse backgrounds and professions including, but not limited to, science/mathematics teaching, science centers or museums, and planetaria. Qualified, energetic individuals who propose a viable plan for leading workshops, helping science team members develop curriculum materials for high-school students, and disseminating NASA materials may be appointed to a one-year annually renewable term as an Educator Ambassador.

Your Role
Workshops

An EA is expected to do many workshops throughout the year. The workshop topics must be related to the mission science that the EA represents. These workshops are not just intended for the EA to hand out materials: they are educational workshops that teach educators and the public about the mission or its science.
To fulfill your role as an EA, you must present at least four pre-approved workshops relating to your mission during the course of the year, each EA will receive $750 for each of the four workshops. We will pay for travel, room and board for at least one presentation at a national workshop (such as the NSTA, NCTM or AAPT, regional workshops do count) annually (Up to $1000). However, in order to receive travel support, we must pre-approve all of your abstracts and the regional workshops must be in your region of the country. Since most workshop abstracts are typically submitted almost a year in advance of the meeting, it will pay (literally) to plan ahead for the big meetings. We will also supply you with materials necessary for the workshop; see the “Materials” section below. Please order your materials at least a month in advance to make sure we have enough time to get them to you.
You may submit your presentation proposals at any time prior to the workshop. You may submit these proposals even before you have been confirmed to present. I recommend submitting these proposals to me when you submit your request to the organization hosting the conference. You can submit your presentation proposals here: http://epo.sonoma.edu/edcats/preconf_master.php.

To find all forms for pre and post conference reporting please visit: http://epo.sonoma.edu/edcats/

To Clarify the some categories. An abstract is a brief advertisement of the workshop you will do. The Presentation description is a DETAILED description of your workshop. This should include but is not limited to the amount of time you will spend talking, when you will be talking, when you will do what activity, and a general schedule of your workshops. Click here to see an example of a good abstract approval form.

Materials

There is a web site from which you can order NASA EPO materials. It is located at http://epo.sonoma.edu/orderformeas.html (please do not give this to the public). We have also created a site just for the public as well: http://epo.sonoma.edu/orderforms/orderformpublic.html.
There are rules to what we can and cannot give out to the public, so please look at these sites carefully; let us know if you have any questions. There have been some questions and concerns regarding what people can and cannot have. We are running out of many materials, so please make sure that people know when going to this site that they are only allowed to order one item per classroom. In addition, please stress to the teachers that we are firmly holding to this “one item per classroom” principle and are keeping track of to whom we send what. You should also point out to teachers that there are printable versions of almost all of our items on our web sites. The posters are the only things that teachers cannot print themselves.

This is the method that the students in our office will be using to send your order, please read this as it requires you to help them. How to send materials to the EAs?

Reporting

You must fill out an EdCats report for every workshop/presentation you do in which you mention or hand out materials for one or more of the missions in the Universe theme area. This form is located at http://epo.sonoma.edu/edcats/postconf_master.php and the directions are self-evident. If you used the website to submit your abstract approval request, then your entry can simply be updated when you return to do your final reporting on your workshops. In addition to the EdCats form, you must also submit your workshop sign in sheets and evaulation forms which are available below.

Activity Review

We are constantly writing and rewriting our materials to create the best possible educational materials we can. We ask that you also review our materials for content, instructional design, and usefulness in the classroom. You can be paid for up to one review a year, to replace a workshop/presentation. For a review, you must submit a written detailed account of your comments and ideas for revision on the material you are reviewing. A one-paragraph review is not sufficient; we need something to work with.

Term Renewal

The initial term for an EA is one year, and is renewable every year. We will review the performance of each individual EA annually, and renew the terms of those who have met or exceeded our expectations. Remember, this is NASA: we expect nothing but the best, which is why we chose you in the first place. EAs not meeting our expectations will be replaced as necessary. Although we have minimum performance requirements, there is no defined maximum. You are encouraged to perform well above the minimum requirements.

 

Business
Payment

To receive $750 per workshops, for the first four qualifying activities (workshops) during a year, you must follow the steps below to receive your funds:

Travel
In order to be reimbursed for travel expenses up to $1000 to at least one national (or very large regional) meeting per year, the abstract and conference must first have been approved through the online workshop system prior to making the arrangements. Here is the travel approval checklist:

Forms

Form 204: You can find this form here (all current EAs have this on file):
http://www.sonoma.edu/cms/forms/docs/std204.pdf

Workshop Payment Form:
EA_Workshop_invoice_120407.xls

Travel Reiumbursement Forms:
EA_TravelReimbursement _120507.xls

 

Send all invoice and forms to our mailing address:

 

NASA E/PO- Laura Chase
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928

Meetings and Training

Every other year you will be required to come to a week-long training meeting at Sonoma State University which will include new materials and other NASA related topics. The next will be held in the summer of 2008.
For all EAs, we will pay for your travel and lodging for these meetings.

Contacts

Dr. Lynn R. Cominsky lynnc@universe.sonoma.edu 707-664-2655
Laura Chase laurac@universe.sonoma.edu 707-664-3261
Aurore Simonnet aurore@universe.sonoma.edu 707-664-3262
 

FAX #: 707-664-3263