An image of the moon taken by the GRAIL MoonKAM. (NASA / JPL PHOTO)
An elementary school teacher from Woodlands, Manitoba is one of a special group who recently returned from visiting the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Maria Nickel of Woodlands Elementary School, or “Commander Nickel” as her students say, was invited to attend the Space Exploration Educators Conference in February. Nickel was one of about 2,500 educators worldwide to be chosen by NASA to participate in the GRAIL MoonKAM Project.
GRAIL MoonKAM will allow classrooms to request pictures of the lunar surface from cameras on the twin satellites. Students in the space club and Grades 5-8 will be able to get pictures from the satellites and perform math and science-related experiments and work with the GRAIL scientists from NASA.
Nickel and her students will hold a “Space Riot” today, where students from K-8 will participate in space, science, engineering and math education activities. Students will design an astronaut, create an alien and space mission patch, do a space walk relay, and participate in other fun space-related activities.
