The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE), creates and oversees national initiatives addressing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, with a focus on earth and space. Programs are designed to provide an authentic window on science as a human endeavor, and to inspire … then educate.
The Center has a nearly 20-year heritage of delivering high quality programming that takes audiences to the frontiers of human exploration.
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) was launched by the Center in June 2010, and embraces the Center’s Core Beliefs. SSEP is undertaken by a Network of participating communities.
Programming
A remarkable array of programs for schools, families, and the public; professional development workshops and institutes for grade K-12 educators; world-class exhibitions for museums, science centers, and universities; online and Web 2.0 experiences; and a significant depth and breadth of content, embrace the notion that science education should be about conceptual understanding at an emotional level, and that scientists and engineers can and should be heroes and role models to the next generation.
Delivery
In this vein, the Center’s programs are delivered by teams of scientists, engineers, and master science educators from the Center and research and education institutions across the nation—scientists and engineers who are passionate about their research and gifted at communicating that passion to audiences of all ages.
Learning Community Model
When the Center’s programs for diverse audiences are combined through the Journey through the Universe initiative, an entire community—thousands of grade K-12 students, their teachers, their families and the public—can be taken to the frontiers of human exploration in a sustainable way. It is a Learning Community Model for science education.
A National Mission
A central objective of the Center’s initiatives is to help continue America’s legacy as a leader on the frontiers of science and technology well into the 21st century by helping to ensure a scientifically literate public and a next generation of scientists and engineers—both of which are of national importance in an age of high technology. Read Center Director Jeff Goldstein’s Open Letter to President Obama on the Center’s capabilities to address U.S. need in STEM education.
You can read more about NCESSE and our programs at the NCESSE Main Site.
