Chabot space & science center's champions mars academy will serve as an extension of champions of science, our existing afterschool science program for middle school students, by reducing the summer…

Chabot space & science center's champions mars academy will serve as an extension of champions of science, our existing afterschool science program for middle school students, by reducing the summer GAP with a month long immersive summer camp experience. Champions of science has two primary goals: to interest, build and retain students' academic knowledge and excitement in stem (science, techno.\OGY, engineering and math) subjects and potential careers at a critical time in adolescent development; and to create a pipeline to chabot's high school community service and internship program, the galaxy explorers. The exposure to astronomy during middle school will benefit students by giving them a competitive advantage in preparation for high school, where IT is part of the education standards. In addition, the content will prepare the students with a working vocabulary to use as they matriculate into the academic rigor of the galaxy explorer program. Through space exploration on mars as a topic, CMA will incorporate stem learning exercises and challenges, reading and writing, and team building exercises. Students will design and build rockets and simulated habitats, design software, learn how to take scientific measurements, do graphing and more. Past, current and future NASA missions will be taught using resources gleaned in workshops from NASA's 50TH anniversary and recent updates. Chabot will solicit guest speakers from NASA ames, JPL and young adults in related fields, many of whom are graduates from the galaxy explorer program now working in aerospace and related fields. An extra effort will be used to include representatives from traditionally underserved backgrounds in science. Students will submit questions to astronauts on the international space & station, use NASA design challenges and media throughout the experience. CMA will be evaluated with pre and post assessments, which will track the progress of participants throughout the month-long academy and throughout the following school year by monitoring report cards. One year after the program, chabot will follow-up with a survey on CMA related material to determine students' retention over time. The data will be compared with that of other champions of science students not participating in the CMA program, via online testing tools. During the planning process we will engage an advisory group. This group will include chabot instructors and curriculum developers, members of auxiliary groups such as the east BAY astronomical society, and representatives from NASA, and will a be diverse group, both in terms of education and background.