Designing Standards-driven Space Science Educational Outreach for Formal

Introduction: In designing education programs in conjunction with space science research, educa-tion/public outreach specialists have long relied on the natural appeal space has for students and the general public. Capturing audiences with engaging topics and activities is insufficient, however, in the context of formal (classroom-based) education. In the ever tightening schedule of today's schools and with high stakes testing mandated under No Child Left Behind, education programs intended for use in formal K–12 education must align with standards in order to be adopted by schools and teachers and to be integrated into existing curricula. A Range of Standards: When creating programs and/or materials for a national audience, the National Science Education Standards [1], developed by the National Research Council (NRC) are often matched to program content. Likewise, the Benchmarks for Science Literacy [2] created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are commonly used in curriculum development. However, the National Science Education Content Standards and Benchmarks tend to be broad, and do not necessarily reflect requirements at the state and local level. In their 2006 survey of K–8 core curriculum astronomy standards for 48 states and the District of Columbia, Palen and Proctor [3] note that, based on their analysis, " Curriculum developers are wise in using the NRC standards as a jumping-off point for curriculum development. " However, they also caution that with regard to astronomy content standards " none of the topics is covered in all states, and only seven are covered in more than 80% of states. " State content standards vary widely, but in many states, including Texas, serve as the requirements for school accountability ratings based on assessment through state-administered exams. Local district cur-ricula, sometimes referred to as scope and sequence, can be substantially more detailed than state standards. In some school districts, local requirements limit teachers to specific lessons on given days, rather than simply requiring that specific content be taught during an academic year. The Palen and Proctor study dealt only with astronomy and did not address high school, where Earth and space science are often neglected entirely by state standards, or occur in courses that will not be encountered by a majority of students. The challenge of inte