Tag Archives: technology

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: NASA Space Day

I believe at some point in everyone’s life, a person stops and thinks about space, the infinite frontier. What else is out there? What is it like to be in zero gravity? There are so many questions that have been answered and so many that are still being researched.

With efforts to use the excitement of space exploration to get students interested in and involved with science, technology, engineering and mathematics, NASA has made a national effort to reach out to as many schools as they can and give students a hands on look at what working with them is like.

In this week’s video blog, we take a look at what leaders in Oklahoma are doing to help promote and educate people about the importance of STEM education.
Kela Kelln

On the Horizon: Space Day from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Mission to Planet Earth

A few months ago I was invited to travel with some teachers from Oklahoma down to the NASA Johnson Space Center. Since I had never been there before, I was excited to go even though it meant giving up a weekend, I didn’t care. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The teachers were going as part of the Oklahoma NASA Space Grant Consortium’s Mission to Planet Earth training that happens each summer. It’s an eleven day intense training to enable teachers to teach the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math) in their every day classrooms. As part of that training, the teachers go to NASA Johnson Space Center to see how NASA does STEM. The teachers love it!

I wish that some of my teachers would have had the same opportunity when I was in school. Who knows, I may have gone into a different field of work. I’m not the greatest at math and only a little better at science but if I’d had hands-on training like these teachers are now doing, I may have understood it better and enjoyed it enough to maybe have made a career in one of the sciences. But while I may not be in a STEM field I can certainly showcase it.

In this week’s video blog, see how NASA is training teachers in the attempt to create a new NASA workforce.
Alisa Hines

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Einstein for a Day

As the world progresses and things become even more technical, it is vital for our youth to be well versed, not only with computers, but in sciences. They will be looking for jobs where skills in science, technology, engineering and math are necessary. I was not the best in those subjects so I focused on English. But it’s now at a point where these subject areas are no longer an option.

In today’s video blog, we take a look at an organization that leads students through the STEM fields in an interactive, hands-on approach.
Andy Barth

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: High Tech High School

I remember high school to be all about chalk boards, books, paper, and pencils…number 2 to be exact. But nowadays, high schools are looking a little bit different. Now when you walk in you might see monitors on the walls advertising for the upcoming pep rally before the Friday night game or what’s new in the cafeteria. Or walk into the library and its more computer lab than books. Changes that have all been made thanks, in great part, to modern technology.

With the invention of smart phones (which are just miniature computers), finding information is quick and easy. Teachers are beginning to value the technology students bring to school with them every day. Instead of getting out the big, heavy reference books, the teachers will just say, “take out your smart phone and look up ???” And the students love it.

In this week’s vlog, we step into Durant High School and see how technology is taking over as a valuable resource.
Alisa Hines

Reading Room

Hello, handsome. Thanks for protecting my peepers.

Before I met you I would keep a bottle of TheraTears on my desk and nightstand.  Dry, bloodshot eyes were a daily reminder that too much of my work was done while staring at a less-than-optimal screen.

Before I met you, I could usually read only one 20-35 page .pdf formatted research article online.  The remainder of my homework or files for my own research I would have to print off, killing forests.  And yes, I meant to type the plural form of that word.  Today I read 92 pages in a row…not one eye drop.

Before I met you, I would have to review information online using my whopping 6.7 pound Dell Latitude laptop.  I still love you dear laptop, but only for working, processing thousands of words or hundreds of thousands of variables.  I have another love for surfing and e-reading now.

And before I met you, I was still just a wee bit Apple shy.  I was still walking on the proverbial format fence wondering which product was my favorite for writing down my daily thoughts in Red Dirt Chronicles blog.

Not any more.  You, my dear iPad, have changed all that.  And for having you in my life now – I am very, very grateful.

iKisses and iHugs,

Red Dirt Kelly