Comments on: NASA wants smart high school kids

By: How NASA, DARPA Are Keeping Kids Interested In Space | Fast Company

How NASA, DARPA Are Keeping Kids Interested In Space | Fast Company — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:03:53 +0000

[...] involved–something you don't get from watching shuttles on TV. NASA and DARPA will have to do a lot more of this sort of thing, however, if they want to keep a full reserve of highly motivated and [...]

By: NASA wants smart high school kids | Bad Astronomy | News Asked

NASA wants smart high school kids | Bad Astronomy | News Asked — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:55:06 +0000

[...] community with opportunities to interact with peers, NASA engineers and scientists. The … Read Full Story Source: Discover Date Published: 7th April 11 Share and [...]

By: NASA wants smart high school kids | Bad Astronomy « SPACEPAC

NASA wants smart high school kids | Bad Astronomy « SPACEPAC — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:34:17 +0000

[...] NASA is looking for U.S. high school students to participate in their INSPIRES program: Interdiscipl… [...]

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:47:02 +0000

Matt (20) said:

The best part was getting exclusive tours of the facilities at Johnson Space Center, meeting several Astronauts (including a geologist who visited the Moon in the 70′s!),

That’d be Harrison “Jack” Schmidt, who is the only actual scientist to have walked on the moon (although, fair dos, Buzz Aldrin already had a PhD before he joined Apollo, and all the Apollo astronauts received a good deal of training in geology).

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 11:55:53 +0000

@6. NCC-1701Z :

This is for smart American high school kids? Uh, good luck with that. Given the way Republicans feel about science, ‘smart’ and ‘American’ are rapidly becoming mutually exclusive.M

Sheesh.

Way to insult a lot of people needlessly, dude.

You do know that the Bad Astronomer and many of the commenters on here (not myself but many others) are actually American, right?

Plus while Republicans pushing creationism isn’t great for educational quality – to say the least – nor are some Democratic party policies, eg. affirmative action and Political Correctness & Post-Modernism. When it comes to education I don’t think either side has much to boast of and both must share the blame.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:15:37 +0000

I was part of a similar program in 2007 called High School Aerospace Scholars. It was a fantastic experience. The best part was getting exclusive tours of the facilities at Johnson Space Center, meeting several Astronauts (including a geologist who visited the Moon in the 70′s!), and working with real NASA scientists and engineers on mock missions. We even got to sit in the mission control center during a Shuttle mission to the ISS.

By: JimB

JimB — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:21:05 +0000

@NCC-170Z: All I can say is that *this* parent (and his wife) are doing all we can to fight against that with our son. So far, so good. Too bad he’s in 5th grade, or we’d be signing him up NOW. (As much as I’d like to be of an age to participate, I don’t want to go through high school again. Now, college…..:) )

Thanks for posting this Phil.

By: MichaelL

MichaelL — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:59:40 +0000

Maybe they need to give this kid a call:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369595/Jacob-Barnett-12-higher-IQ-Einstein-develops-theory-relativity.html

By: Krikkit

Krikkit — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:48:59 +0000

I have been involved in these little outreach programs before, I tell you they are not worth the waste of time.

They are highly bureaucratic, often run by people with half the IQ of the participants, are incredibly boring, and do not accomplish a damn thing.

They look good on your resume’, though.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:06:19 +0000

INSPIRES? What a sorry excuse for an acronym. Probably thought of the acronym first and then fit in the rather tortured program name afterwards. Has the rancid smell of a committee meeting all over it.

By: jrpowell

jrpowell — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:03:10 +0000

Both of my daughters will be applying for this program. Thanks for letting us know!

By: Jim Gerard

Jim Gerard — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:19:40 +0000

Thanks for the shout-out, Phil! I run the Online Learning Community for INSPIRE (note there is no S at the end, in case your searches come back wrong), where our students meet virtually during the year to “Discover, Connect, Equip”. Every Thursday we host a live chat with a NASA engineer, scientist or manager to connect with the students. Last night we heard about the new Sustainability Base from the associate director of the Ames Research Center in California. I wonder if a certain former NASA Bad Astronomer wouldn’t mind taking an hour of time to talk to our community about promoting science?

By: gss_000

gss_000 — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:51:47 +0000

There are programs for college and grad students to spend a summer at NASA too. Campuses are crawling with students. I spent a summer at Goddard and it was a blast. For instance, while us grad students got to hear lectures made specially for us by researchers, the college students were taken up into a plane to make atmospheric measurements. NASA’s great for all level of students.

As for why only American students, there are a lot of clearance issues at these facilities. When it comes to students, its just easier if you’re an American citizen. Although there was a Japanese student attending an American college in my group so maybe there are ways non-Americans can participate.

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 08:54:29 +0000

@Archimedes: You’ll have to nag ESA about a European equivalent.

@#6: There may be a lot of idiot GOP members trying hard to ruin the US education system, but there are still a lot of smart kids and plenty of opportunities for them.

By: Atheist Panda

Atheist Panda — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 08:47:57 +0000

@7. Grand Lunar: Me too, only 30 years too early, and on the wrong continent….

By: matt

matt — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:19:40 +0000

Nasa always has the best acronyms. I always wondered if they had someone full time to think them up.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 01:52:04 +0000

I was going to work at NASA when I grew up. It was my dream for about ten years. Then I hit my barrier in integral calculus and realized that I lacked the math chops to make a career out of it. (Now I write science fiction instead so I’m having fun anyway.)

Still, I would have jumped on an opportunity like this in high school. The closest I got was being an assistant for a StarLab!

By: Other Paul

Other Paul — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 01:19:20 +0000

@NCC-1701Z : Surely it just makes smart Americans easier to identify?

By: Grand Lunar

Grand Lunar — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:50:08 +0000

Oh how I wish I could participate in that!
But I was born 12 years too early…..

By: NCC-1701Z

NCC-1701Z — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:20:02 +0000

This is for smart American high school kids? Uh, good luck with that. Given the way Republicans feel about science, ‘smart’ and ‘American’ are rapidly becoming mutually exclusive.

By: Floyd

Floyd — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:13:36 +0000

There should be a NASA program for high IQ school and college students. NASA should check out the national SATs or ACT scores and put top performers in a summer program before college.

By: RwFlynn

RwFlynn — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:06:54 +0000

I’ve always loved NASA’s willingness to work with kids and young adults. This makes me wish I were just a few years younger.

By: Empirical

Empirical — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:47:44 +0000

That NASA is plundering ankle biters for new ideas leaves unresolved the obvious probem: NASA. What America needs is a rocket with tremendous expense, near-zero payload, questionable reliability, and no mission. Add some Japanese radwaste for an ISS FUBAR coronal ejection toasty tan. NASA can deliver! Projects Mxyztplk and Btfsplk.

They will cost double and be late, then be canceled while still paying full price for let contracts. There is no more sincere delivery than that.

By: IVAN3MAN_AT_LARGE

IVAN3MAN_AT_LARGE — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:15:35 +0000

NASA won't find any here: NeighborhoodScout’s Top 100 Worst Performing Public Schools in the U.S.

By: Archimedes

Archimedes — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:59:10 +0000

Grrrr… Why only US high school students?? Why doesnt something similar for European students exist?? :/