4-H'ers and NASA

Auburn, Oct. 26---Young people involved in 4-H, one of the largest youth organizations in the country, are on the launch pad and ready to blast off into exciting space adventures through a new collaboration with NASA’s Club Space Place. Club Space Place provides discovery-based curriculum and online activities focusing on space sciences and technologies.

"Club Space Place adds a new dimension, in aviation and aerospace sciences, to 4-H’s tradition of encouraging its members to explore their interests," said Dr. Tony Cook, National 4-H Aerospace Liaison. "With this collaboration, our 4-H members will be able to delve into the wonderment of the universe through quarterly curriculum that encourages individual discovery of space and space sciences. Club Space Place is an excellent enhancement to our core 4-H Aerospace curriculum (available through 4HCCS, http://www.n4hccs.org/) giving our youth a broader total learning experience."

The Club Space Place curriculum not only teaches about space technology and exploration but provides cross-disciplinary activities such as poetry (Cosmic Poetry), art (Picture Yourself in the New Millennium) and history (the Lewis & Clark expedition). "The Club Space Place curriculum will be available to our state and local organizations through the 4-H Aerospace Education Home Page at http://www.aces.edu/dept/4Haero/ " Cook said.

Four-H reaches more than 6 million young people throughout the country in local community-based clubs, school enrichment programs and other settings. Young people learn through hands-on experiences in various subjects that include aviation and space. Currently being revised with an online component, the 4-H Aerospace Adventures curriculum will continue as an excellent resource to 4-H participants throughout the country. Club Space Place resources, already in use by 4-H in many states, will now be available through the 4-H Aerospace curriculum.

The Space Place includes curriculum and discovery-based learning activities for use in the classroom, after-school organizations and clubs, and at home for youth to complete on their own, http://spaceplace.nasa.gov . With the addition of 4-H in its Club Space, the program has the potential of reaching more than 30 million youth through after-school organizations like 4-H, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, YWCA, the Civil Air Patrol, libraries and museums.