For Schools and Educational Groups

* 31% of new teachers said that parent involvement was their biggest challenge and the area in which they felt least prepared, according to a MetLife survey of U.S. teachers, recently shared in the National Science Teachers Association Reports magazine.

              What is Lunar Challenge About?  

It's About the Possibility....

For Administrators:
    • Of achieving No Child Left Behind parent objectives
    • Of successfully involving your community in education
    • Of impacting student achievement
    • Of promoting technology
    • Of repeatable, reliable results

For Educators:
    • Of exciting students with NASA’s exploration vision 
    • Of meeting NRC and ITEA standards for technological design
    • Of teaching “systems thinking” in a real-world way
    • Of getting parent help with student learning
    • Of a family involvement unit that's "good to go"

Why should you include this program in your improvement efforts? 

The Lunar Challenge approach is powerful, and it's different from any other family programs you may have seen.

Many of today’s parents may not have experienced “good” science growing up, may not have liked science as a kid or may not have felt competent in the subject. To impact student achievement, you need to empower both family attitudes and aptitudes.

The Lunar Challenge program design addresses two key questions:

• “What do parents need to know and be able to do in order to better support their child’s learning?"      And-

   
• “What does research tell us about how adults learn best?”

By providing parents in a hands-on way with understandings about the inquiry process and unifying concepts such as systems thinking and the use of models, they gain understandings relevant to all areas of their student’s classroom science. A research-based learning model embedded  in the program design enhances family knowledge over time.

Here are some of the highlights:

Parents and kids work as equals in a simulated career role as they learn.

Families have individual responsibilities but work with other families to achieve a team goal.

Group interaction promotes communication and deeper exposure to key ideas.

The teacher (“Project Director”) seeks answers to an essential question in partnership with family teams.

Community professionals participate as guest “experts,” sharing their career experiences during the modeling process.

More Proof of the Program's Effectiveness:

In recent testing, 88% of the families found Lunar Challenge Very Effective for both Fun and Learning.

Download a program overview (pdf) here.

Ready to get started?  Order now.