Moonshot: Redesigning NASA’s High School Aerospace Scholars Experience at Johnson Space Center for Online Delivery

Moonshot is the redesign of NASA’s High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS), which traditionally engaged Texas high school juniors in a 16-week online course for credit and an intense week-long onsite experience working in teams with experts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), our challenge was to design, develop, and deliver an online virtual experience to replace the all-expenses-paid six-day residential summer experience at JSC where HAS participants traditionally work with like-minded peers and NASA experts on authentic design challenges.

Trusting Teachers

In this chapter, the authors explore a single case study where the graphic novel anthology Love is Love was censored at a Texas high school. When the teachers sought engaging texts on topics directly affecting their students' lives, they were astonished when the entire graphic novel set was removed two days before the unit began. What ensued was a complete disregard for district policy, euphemism-riddled language and deceit to hide the anti-LGBTQ+ views of leadership, and the distrust in teachers as curriculum planners. The events led to the district creating a new, stricter policy for texts not already approved by the district. The authors explore research that makes it clear: students perform better in all the language arts when their teachers modified, changed, and developed the curriculum based on the students' needs, including providing diverse and high interest materials to support student learning.

THE USE OF SCHOOL COUNSELOR LUNCH DUTY TO INCREASE STUDENT CONTACT

This study explored a lunch time counseling station in a large suburban Texas high school. The purpose of the station was to give students access to school counselors to ask questions; however, less than one percent of the student body took advantage of this program. The authors noted that the large expense of personnel when compared to the low number of students served made this approach not an effective use of school counselor’s time. While students need access to school counselors, they perceived that counselors were not available, as they were not in their office. Further study is needed to find effective ways to provide counseling services to all students, and to utilize school counselors to their fullest extent.