We were so excited about the wide arrange of presenters at the STEM Playground

You have likely heard about environmental conditions that lead to extreme weather events on earth but did you know that there are also conditions far above Earth’s atmosphere that lead to extreme events in space called solar storms? In the Playground we will highlight some of NASA’s latest missions that study these events while showcasing applications from NASA’s “The STEM Innovation Lab”. The STEM Innovation Lab is located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and provides a collaborative (physical and virtual) space for the exploration, development and research of new ideas related to infusion of media and educational technology into STEM activities, programs, and approaches. The lab is divided into eight (or more) interchangeable STEM outreach exploration stations. Stations include: virtual reality (Oculus Rift, Vive), model building, media, digital fabrication (2D/3D printing), digital books (iBook, transmedia, ebook, etc.), iSWAC development, robotics, and webinar training. Each station is available to NASA scientists, engineers, educators and partners to investigate how new and existing technologies can be effectively blended together for greater impact and integration into existing education communications and/or public outreach programs and projects. Participant input is collected and shared with education communities in a variety of effective and meaningful ways including video blogs, social media, monthly working group meetings and webinars. In addition, the University of North Texas (UNT) will conduct an empirical research design to produce data that can be used both for formative assessment as well as the long-term impacts of the program. Hands-on demonstrations of NASA innovations available for the fireside chat time after the presentation will include hands-on demonstrations, spacecraft card modeling, virtual reality headsets, NASA apps, iPad teacher tools, and ‘magnetic’ demos. The presentation will also include information about a Total Solar Eclipse that will happen across the United States on August 21, 2017!