Mars Exploration Education and Public Outreach

As we move closer to the dawn of the next millennium, all parts of our world are linking to one another faster than ever before. Physical, political, and economic boundaries are vanishing. It now appears that the standard of living in any country will mainly depend on the technological literacy of its citizenry. Education is one of our most important national goals. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin has made it one of NASA's most important goals as well.

To support this worthy national effort, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Exploration Program has developed an Education and Public Outreach Plan which is aligned and responsive to NASA's outreach goals. The plan introduces a new paradigm: the Mars Program's science community and outreach office are working to increase the involvement of the educational community in the discovery process. This is accomplished by training educators and students how to handle data from various missions and by making this data readily available to all when collected. This new approach, in addition to introducing teachers and students to the scientific analysis process, will allow everyone to share in the excitement of discovery.

Extensive outreach is achieved through leveraged resources by working together with:

University Partners
• Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
  
• Central State University, Wilberforce, OH
  
• Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
  
• Howard University, Washington, DC
  
• Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
  
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AL
  
• University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
  
• University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, CO
  
• Utah Valley State College, Orem, UT
  
• Wheeling Jesuit College, Wheeling, WV
  
  Map of MEP Outreach
  
  An Advisory Board of Educators
  
• Dr. Meredith Olson, Chair, middle school science teacher and principal, Seattle, WA
  
• Ms. Iva Lesky, elementary school science teacher, Ithaca, NY
  
• Mr. Lowell Herr, high school physics teacher, Portland, OR
  
• Mr. Larry Brim, middle school science teacher, Visalia, CA
  
• Mr. Arthur Kumura, Director of Hawaii Future Flight, high school vice principal, Honolulu, HI
  
  A Curriculum Writer for Teacher Education Resource Center (TERC), Boston, MA
  
  Community Organizations (such as The Rotary Club)
  
  Industry Partners (such as Lockheed Martin and Rockwell)
  
  Museums
  
• Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
  
• Ithaca Science Center, Ithaca, NY
  
• Astronaut Ellis Onizuka Space Center, Kailua-Kona, HI
  
• Kauai Children's Discovery Museum, Kapaa, HI
  

• Quarterly publications
  
• Displays
  
• Brochures
  
• Fact sheets
  
• Models
  
• Posters
  
• Pins
  
• Decals
  
• Slides
  
• CD-ROMs
  
• Classroom modules
  
• Classroom lectures and demonstrations
  
• Teacher workshops
  
• Town hall meetings
  
• Internet services to provide mission related information