WASHINGTON – July 15, 2019 – The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which accelerates good practice and promotes the use of technology to solve tough problems in education, honors the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by highlighting free NASA resources to educators to ignite interest in STEM.

For nearly a decade, ISTE has collaborated with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission; it provides educators with resources to engage students in ISTE Standards-ready research and engineering-design activities that seamlessly connect them to scientific study with real-world significance.

At ISTE19 in Philadelphia, nearly 20,000 members took part in a NASA Playground that featured the planetarium show “Apollo and Beyond: Conquering Gravity.” NASA personnel gave presentations and answered questions at six stations covering virtual and augmented reality, digital learning environments, digital fabrication and design (3D printing and 2D modeling), mobile sensors in smartphones, coding and electronics, and assistive technologies with Eclipse Soundscapes.

“Working with ISTE has been instrumental to reaching and inspiring educators over the past years. Being able to build a NASA Playground at the most important education innovation conference in the world while we celebrate the Apollo anniversary was an honor,” said Dr. C. Alex Young, director of NASA Space Science Education

Consortium (NSSEC).

“The space race unleashed international interest in motivating students to conquer what seemed impossible,” said ISTE CEO Richard Culatta. “All of the world benefited from the U.S. space program’s accomplishment a half-a- century ago. Future adventures await us, but to keep our future scientists inspired we need to connect our educators with the incredible learning opportunities provided by these NASA programs. ISTE is proud to play a key role in ensuring educators around the world can take advantage of these transformative learning experiences.”

ISTE is part of a coalition working to raise awareness about the NASA Space Science Education Consortium by sharing NASA space science activities and resources.

ISTE’s materials include NASA resources at your fingertips, ISTE’s NASA resource poster and a series of blog posts about NASA’s citizen science lessons.