Mavericks in the Classroom
Mavericks in the Classroom is a K-12 STEM education development program, which introduces and applies technology and engineering concepts as a methodology for students to demonstrate mastery of science and mathematics. Our approach is to put static instructional materials and information into practice through the implementation of task oriented projects which perform atmospheric sub-orbital autonomous vehicle and science research payload missions. This program integrates NASA NTRS content, technology, and Mavericks staff expertise into projects designed and built by high school teachers and their students. Professional development by SSU EPO and Mavericks certified staff is to be provided in the summer prior to each school year they are implemented. Student output will be flight tested in partnership with local TRIPOLI prefecture launches during the school year.
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The project is modeled after the ARLISS (https://www.arliss.org) university sub-orbital payload program as a result of direct requests by numerous high schools for opportunities to participate in ARLISS over its 10 years of successful operations. The first phase targets grades 9 & 10 students who are taught the theory of sub-sonic and supersonic rocket design, engineering, and materials and fabrication technologies. The 1st year program students collaborate together in the second year, leveraging their sounding rocket mastery to construct larger sounding rockets with added complexity to deliver a 2kg payload to a 10K MSL target altitude. Students must flight qualify these rockets as a demonstration of mastery of STEM principals.
Additional professional development will occur in the summer of 2009 and 2010 using co-curricular resources that are standards-aligned and developed in partnership with the classroom teachers. Selected high school educators are compensated to attend a 7 day training and education program at Mavericks’ Space Education Research Center, near Reno NV. Each will attain instruction and perform laboratory sessions focused on supplied training and materials to integrate the program phases into their curriculum and state standards, and each will have to demonstrate a mastery of the tools and materials in their training, by building and flying their own subsonic, supersonic sounding rockets.
Each class moves forward in the pipeline, progressively increasing their demonstrated mastery of STEM subjects through successfully flown missions, and a new class is created to repeat the program of the first year in the second year. Over the two phase period, the anticipated outcome will be an assembled and growing pipeline of students within each participating high school class inspiring the previous class with their accomplishments, and engagement of each student encouraging them pursue STEM undergraduate educational programs and careers.
Mavericks Rocketpedia
With support from the Mavericks Civilian Space Foundation, the Association of Rocket Mavericks has established an in house on-line knowledge base for use by civilian space explorers to further their knowledge and share their expertice associated with information, technology nad technqiues necessary to design, build and fly their own vehicles into space.
It is in its infancy right now, but we all will be contributing content over time, and yes, you have to be a Mavericks Association member to access it because of national security issues. We do have to pay to operate all this stuff. Its not free for us, but we hope people will support us, as we try to raise the bar on the capabilities of all of our flying capacity.
These and other programs replenish the excitement and creativity associated with science and technology as a future career path or educational area of interest for our youth, citizens, and society. They provide memorable opportunities upon which they may exercise and test their scientific and technological understandings of the world around them. We are actively looking for universities' aeronautical and space departments to volunteer to have students contribute and moderate content for Rocketpedia. This is all peer reviewed, so if you post something, you need to defend the discussion posts. It's like any Wiki out there. The knowledge of the masses will prevail through consensus. We encourage domain experts with proven experience in a particular knowledge to moderate each subject category to contact us and volunteer, and approve postings, and modifications. If you have the expertise and would like to help build an asset such as Rocketpedia, please contact us using the link below.
MAVERICKS has many opportunities for you to support our efforts, including, Competition Sponsorships, Event Challenge Sponsorships, Competition Team or Project Sponsorships or educational and research grants. For more information, please contact foundation@rocketmavericks.com.
Scientific innovation has produced roughly half of all U.S. economic growth in the last 50 years, according to the National Science Foundation. Standard & Poors recently stated than in 1970, the U.S. produced more than 50 percent of the world’s science and engineering doctorates. By 2010, the U.S. will produce less that 15%. China alone is graduating more engineers each year than the U.S has total engineers under license in the country. The national defense industry will retire over 65% of all of its scientific and engineering talent in the next 5-7 years, and there are not enough engineers and scientists with US citizenship to replace them.
The United States is facing a major crisis in terms of national security and global economic competitiveness, because we simply do not have enough qualified scientists, technologist, engineers, and mathematicians, and our work force is falling further and further behind the world labor forces in readiness to apply skills in a technologically changing world. As a result, our economic standing and prosperity we have become acustom to is now at risk.
The results from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) taken by U.S. 15 year old students show that mathematics literacy and problem-solving, U.S. students had an average score higher than just five countries out of 30 OECD nations whose students participated (From the Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007. World Economic Forum, 2006).
The National Governors Association's (NGA) Innovation America initiative identified results from the 2003 Third International Mathematics and Study, that showed that U. S. 12th graders do not do well by international standards in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The NGA Innovation Initiative report identified three key issues as obstacles to the United States having a world-class STEM Education System:
1. Based upon a variety of STEM indicators that were included an ACT Inc. study, the quantity of U.S. first year college student placement in remedial STEM courses, and employer reported deficiencies in math, computer and problem solving skills, identify that too many U.S. high school graduates are not prepared for post-secondary education and work in STEM related fields.
2. There is a total lack of alignment of STEM course work between K-12 post secondary skills and working expectations, elementary, middle and high school requirements, state standards and assessments, and those of international competitors that has resulted in a system in which students participate in incoherent and irrelevant course work that does not prepare them for higher education or the workforce.
3. The STEM teaching workforce is under-qualified in large part because teacher shortages caused by attrition, migration, and retirement. Many of those who are teaching STEM classes are unprepared and/or teaching out of their subject area.