Classroom of the Future Writer to Update Science Teachers on Mercury Mission
CET Fri Oct 22 2004

Cassie Doty, a curriculum writer at the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future, has been invited to speak to Pennsylvania science teachers about NASA’s latest mission to Mercury.

Doty will present the MESSENGER curriculum on behalf of the Mid-Atlantic Region Space Science Broker (MARSSB) at the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association annual conference Dec. 1-3 in Hershey. Doty’s workshop, "MESSENGER: NASA pre-K to 12 Curriculum That's Out of This World!" will be held Dec. 2 at 2 p.m.

Doty was honored this year by NASA for training the most educators in the United States on the MESSENGER mission to the planet Mercury. MESSENGER will be the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. The project’s name comes from "MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging," highlighting the project's scientific goals.

Doty is one of several MESSENGER fellows, whose role is to train at least 120 educators each on the MESSENGER curriculum. During a training session, educators receive via CD-ROM the pre-K through 12 MESSENGER curriculum. They also receive "More Than the Eyes Can See," a NASA video on infrared energy.

The MESSENGER Educator Fellowship Program is sponsored by NASA’s Challenger Center for Space Science Education. Since the program began, Doty has reached more than 300 educators through workshops in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. She taught 190 educators in the 2003-2004 school year alone.

November 10, 2004