From the "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)" Program.

This particular material was generated in conjunction with NASA and the Anne Arundel County Public School System (AACPS). (It was used in their school system).

The PowerPoint Files listed separately were used in one of the school's classrooms. This is not part of the NASA program directly, however these slides helped walk the students through the Engineering Design Process for each of the activities. The first few classes focused on the process itself therefore the slides were pre-populated with the information that they needed to complete the activity. As the students got comfortable with the 6-step engineering process (i.e. Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Experiment, Improve), the basic template was used to have them fill in the details for each slide.

Thank you NASA, Anne Arundel County Public School System (AACPS), University of Maryland Baltimore Campus (UMBC), and all those involved in the process.

Mars Rover: Entry, Descent, Landing, "Six Minutes of Terror" - Video MR EDL (18.699 Mb)
This video is an animation of the Mars Rover (Spirit or Opportunity) entering the Martian atmosphere; deploying a parachute; inflating a set of air bags; and bouncing on the surface multiple times before coming to rest. This is in Quick Time format with a size of 18.6 MB.

This movie and other good stuff can be found at:
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/video/challenges.html

"The Journey Begins Now" - inspiration video from NASA about returning to the Moon
The Journey Begins Now
This is the video from NASA that was shown on the first night of Professional Development.

Additional Links to the NASA site and sites of interest

NASA Homepage
NASA Exploration Homepage
NASA Missions
NASA Pod Casts
NASA TV
NASA Education
NASA for Students
NASA for Educators

NASA frequently provides opportunities for our children to get directly involved in making Space-history. Other promotions that they have conducted is in allowing students to name spacecraft that will be launched on missions. Most recently a nine year old, third-grade student named the two Mars Exploration Rover vehicles, named "Spirit" and "Opportunity" which are still active exploring the surface of mars. (See http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/mars_rover_names.html)

Another related resource may be of interest is the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Program that is sponsored by the US Department of Education and other Government Agencies (such as NASA), as well as individual States and private corporations. The primary focus of STEM is to promote the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines with our kids to encourage them to pursue careers in these High-Tech fields. There are a number of Web Sites devoted to STEM activities which include:
http://www.mn-stem.com/
(Less Education more Marketing) ==> http://www.stemedcoalition.org/
http://www.aacps.org/stem/resources.asp
http://www.aacps.org/stem/index.asp
http://www.umbc.edu/stem/
http://www.massachusetts.edu/stem/stem_earth_central_nasa.html