Women of NASA Occupations Chat

(This lesson is also available as a downloadable PDF file on the Astroventure site.)

Objectives

1. Students will identify one NASA women with whom they share common interests and abilities and draw conslusions as to the necessary skills and education required for such a position.

2. Students will compare and contrast career paths of various women and draw conclusions about how to pursue their own career journey.

Major Concepts

1. Obtaining the career you desire is done by making choices about your education, activities and jobs you pursue.

2. When choosing an occupation, its important to find one that matches your skills, interests and values.

Suggested Methods of Evaluation

• Students will create their own visual diagram, graphic representation, flowchart, art project, multimedia project, or video to share with their peers.
  
• Students will complete the Chat Debrief.

Supplies

• Self-Evaluation Worksheet
• Chat Question Generator
• Occupations Reflection Sheet
• Chat Rules and Etiquette
• Chat Debrief
• Teaching Tips

Equipment

• overhead projector, blackboard or chart paper
  
• computers with Internet browser and connection
• Optional Equipment
  • LCD panel or TV monitor connected to a computer with a video card
    
  • e-mail account

Facilities

• classroom
  
• computer lab
  
• library
  
• conference room
  
• home computer
  
• after school club

Preparation

• Run class sets of Chat Question Generator and Chat Debrief.
• Preview Women of NASA Web sites to make sure they work and are appropriate for your students.
• Locate the Web sites that show the biographies, fact sheets, journals or other background information on the people hosting the chat.
• Make an overhead transparency of Chat Rules and Etiquette.
• Run a class set of Occupations Reflection Sheet.
• Run a class set of Self-Evaluation Worksheet.
• If you are participating in a Webcast (streaming audio and video), follow the directions for Downloading Webcast Software
• Follow the directions for Testing the Webcast Software after it has been downloaded Note: Many districts have blocks to all chat lines on the Internet. Exploration of the Web site will help determine unexpected ÒblocksÓ of Quest sites because of supposed access to on-line chatting that does not adequately screen out offensive language. If a block is found, it is up to the teacher to attempt to get the site(s) unblocked. Follow your district's guidelines for unblocking a Web site.
• Check the Schedule of Events to determine when the chat is scheduled and if your class can attend at that time.
• Register for the chat on the Quest Web site a few days before to ensure you have reserved a space.
• Locate the Resources relevant to the event found next to the chat on Schedule of Events. These resources can include career fact sheets, biographies, journals and archived chats. Print out copies of these resources for your students, if they won't be able to access them on the computer.
• Create a classroom display board announcing when the chat will take place with excerpts from the NASA expert's resources. After the class determines their top ten questions for the NASA expert, post these also.

Schedule

1 to 3 45-minute class periods

Suggestion: This lesson is a good one to use after having students complete the NASA Occupations Research lesson.

Engage

• Discuss the meaning of occupation and career.
  occupation - The activity that a person does as their regular work. A job.
  career - The order of events that occur in a personÕs work, over time.
• Ask students how they know if an occupation is a good one for them. (For the purposes of this activity, focus the discussion on the importance of being interested in the work and the common activities of a job.)
• Ask students what kinds of occupations they think might be available at NASA.

Explore

• Have students list their interests and skills on the Self-Evaluation Worksheet. Discuss with students the difference between liking an activity and being good at it. How do they know if they are good at something? (It might be easy for them. They achieve good grades in it.) Ask them if there is something they really like but that they have to work hard at in order to do well. This would be an example of something that they like but arenÕt that good at.
• Have students read the resources for the experts hosting the chat found on Schedule of Events and use the Chat Question Generator to generate questions for the expert to answer about their research and occupations.
• Have students work in groups of three to five to share their questions and decide on the best five questions for the group. They should write these questions on the blackboard or on butcher paper, so that the class can see all of the questions.
• Next, as a class have the students group together the questions that deal with a similar topic.
• As a class have the students determine three to five broad categories for the questions.
• Then, have each group synthesize and combine the questions where appropriate. This will shorten the list of questions.
• Post and read. Then have the class decide upon the Top 10 Questions that they want to ask the NASA expert.
• These then become the questions to be submitted either before the chat begins or during the chat.
• Note: Keep the "second-string" questions handy. If the chat is not too busy, the Chat moderator may invite other questions to be fed into the room.

Explain

• Go over Chat Rules and Etiquette with the class.
• If your class cannot be available for the live chat, submit your questions beforehand.
• When submitting your questions include the studentÕs first name followed by the schoolÕs name (Susanne/Cawthon School).
• If your class is available to experience the chat live, log on about 5 minutes before the scheduled start time.
• Logistical Suggestions:
  computer lab/ multiple Internet-ready computers: If you have multiple computers in the classroom with Internet connection and Web browsers, you may want to let students observe the chat or have a few different students register and submit questions. One Internet-ready computer with LCD or TV monitor connection: If you have only one computer that can be displayed for the class using LCD or a TV monitor connected to a video card in the computer, you can have students ask their questions and then designate one person to type the questions, or have students to take turns submitting questions. It is also possible to submit your questions and then check the archive later to see how your questions were answered. Have your class make a courteous and brief introduction when presenting their first question. Both the chat moderator and the expert can then refer to this when your additional questions appear. To engage students during the flow of the chat have them prepare possible follow-up questions that relate to an answer given by the expert (either a question to further clarify an answer given or a question that relates in some way to an answer).
• Have the students decide which of their top ten questions to ask next based upon the flow of the chat.
• At the chat's conclusion have the students thank the expert and acknowledge the moderator
• Before logging off, have the class collectively complete the on-line Chat Evaluation.

Extend/ Apply

• Using the Chat Debrief, have students write a description of the occupations of the people with whom they chatted.
• Have students evaluate their opinions of the occupations of those hosting the chat and their reasons for liking or disliking these occupations.
• Use the Chat Debrief to facilitate the follow-up discussion. Have your discussion include the following considerations:
  • new insights
  • connection between school subjects and work in the “real world”
  • steps one might need to take to prepare for such a job
  • strengths one might have to do this type of work
  • skills one might need to acquire to do this type of work
  • Have students write a description of a NASA occupation they would like to have.

Evaluate

Have students complete the Occupations Reflection Sheet. Assess whether students have a good understanding of NASA occupations, the requirements for these occupations and that they choose occupations that fit their interests, skills and values.