Bendwood teacher learns from astronauts at LiftOff Summer Institute 2014: Let’s Engineer It!

She met NASA astronauts, teamed up to design a spacecraft, and is now creating a technology lesson plan for her Gifted & Talented students using an iPad Spacecraft 3D software application.

Molly Nipper, who teaches third- through fifth-graders in the GT Spiral program at the Bendwood School, attended a nationally competitive, weeklong teacher’s study program called the LiftOff Summer Institute 2014: Let’s Engineer It.

The institute, which was held in July at the Johnson Space Center, was coordinated by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC), NASA and the University of Texas Center for Space Research. Nipper completed 40 hours of instruction in space science to support the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

During the institute, the Bendwood instructor met and was photographed with two former astronauts, Fred Haise and Clayton Anderson. She will bring back to all of her students new lessons and activities in physics and engineering that involve the engineering design process, circuits, interactive design, and planning for missions to Mars, among other topics.

Institute participants toured Space Center Houston in addition to NASA’s Mission Control and Neutral Buoyancy Lab.

Her favorite speaker was retired NASA Flight Director Gene Krantz, who helped bring back to Earth safely the Apollo 13 spacecraft on April 17, 1970. “His message was of commitment to his staff and astronauts, and his motto was ‘Failure is not an option.’ He shared the challenges and lessons learned from the Apollo 13 mission,” Nipper said.

“His motto is the same motto I hold for my students.” She was inspired to work in a small group on designing a spacecraft that will hit a target successfully by only using certain materials and chosen engineering design process. She is looking forward to using an iPad application, Spacecraft 3D, with students in her Gifted & Talented classes this school year. “This application will give students an opportunity to see spacecrafts in 3-D (three dimensions).

Students really enjoy using technology in the classroom, and I like to incorporate it as much as I can where it is relevant to my curriculum. It was an amazing workshop,” she said. For more information, please visit the Texas Space Grant Consortium website at: http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/