Episode Details

Ron Fortunato, president of Trillium Learning and responsible for education outreach at NASA Ames Research Center, shows how project-based learning can go further. Instead of activities with a known outcome, students join real teams working on real problems with NASA, NOAA and other partners. He is working with school districts in Alaska, including Kodiak, to build these projects.

Kodiak students helped test the first pre-earthquake sensor platform built for NASA Ames, mounted on their high school. Since October they have flagged four pre-earthquake signals, and NASA verified the data. Fortunato also tells how his Norfolk, Virginia students won a NASA Langley proposal that came with a promised spot on the space shuttle.

What you'll learn

• Find the problems local organizations are already working on and offer students a role, rather than asking experts for their time.
• Pick a project the experts would have done anyway, as Fortunato's students did to win a NASA proposal.
• Get the superintendent and school board behind a long-term project, and train teachers and administrators to keep it going.
• Prototype in short cycles, and train teachers by modeling in their own classrooms, then adjusting together.
• Expect students to make mistakes, since NASA told Fortunato they do not learn a thing when they do something right.

Chapters

• 0:00 Announcements and what to expect from Ron
• 3:14 Project-based learning versus real-time real-world projects
• 6:24 How Ron got involved with NASA
• 9:00 Pick a project the scientists would do
• 11:08 Meeting the team that put Viking on Mars
• 15:48 How pre-earthquake signals can be forecast
• 18:47 Teaching across subjects with rapid prototyping
• 22:17 Kodiak students and NASA verify four signals

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Questions this episode answers

What is the difference between project-based learning and real-world projects?
Fortunato says typical project-based learning is activity-based, with a defined outcome. His projects partner with real organizations doing actual research, and students become part of their teams as contributors, not interns, once they reach a performance level the researchers accept.

How can students work with NASA scientists?
Fortunato looks for problems NASA researchers are already solving, then builds students and teachers up to the skills the project needs. He says experts help when you offer to work on their problem, not when you ask them to help with yours.

Can students help forecast earthquakes?
Fortunato says Kodiak students working with NASA Ames and IntelliSense found four anomalies in sensor data that came 24 to 41 hours before earthquakes, and NASA verified the data. He cautions that NASA needs to see 10,000 of these signals before it has a model.

About Ron Fortunato

President of Trillium Learning, responsible for much of the education outreach at NASA Ames Research Center and builds real-world projects for school districts.

Links and resources

• Ron Fortunato bio
• Trillium Learning
• NASA Ames Research Center
• Viking program on Mars
• Earthquake sensor installed in Kodiak
• Nano-agriculture project