NASA Makes Teacher Out of This World

For elementary school teacher Janet Pardee, space and science exploration have been an obsession since childhood.

“I look at John Glenn and other astronauts and think I’d love to do that someday,” said Pardee, who enjoys passing on her knowledge of the space program to her students.

A teacher at Harrington School since 1996, Pardee recently completed two teacher education programs sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and now serves as an associate core teacher under contract with the space agency.

Pardee received a scholarship from the National Science Teacher Assn. in 1997 to attend NASA’s New West program, a two-week seminar for teachers focusing on age-appropriate elementary school science curriculum.

In July, she attended the Stellar program, where she helped create science curriculum for middle school and high school students to be used nationally. Both programs were held at Ames Research Center in San Francisco.

Pardee has also participated in research projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and Edwards Air Force Base.

“I’ve always loved space and science. It really is the final frontier,” said Pardee. “I’ve always been curious as to the possibilities of space and a belief that there is something more than our little world.”