NASA, Khan Academy Team Up for STEM Education

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Students of Northeast High School's Space Research Center make preparations at mission control next to a 21-foot-long shuttle simulator for a virtual space mission on May 22, 2014 in Philadelphia. The students are part of Project SPARC, the first NASA-recognized high school space program.

Image: Matt Rourke/Associated Press

By Alex Magdaleno2014-05-30 01:52:37 UTC

YouTube education sensation the Khan Academy debuted a series of tutorials on astronomy and space exploration made in collaboration with NASA Thursday.

The announcement at the fourth annual White House Science Fair made it clear that the new tutorials are meant to generate more interest in science, technology, engineering and math (also known as STEM) education.

The tutorials on Khan Academy, a non-profit, educational website, are divided into three different sections. Each section is intended to acquaint the user with different aspects of space, and NASA's understanding and exploration of it — from teaching users about the different protocols NASA uses to explaining the challenges of Mars exploration.

Khan-Academy-Solar-System

In this Khan Academy interactive tool, the student can choose between different proposed models of the solar system.

The collaboration between NASA and Khan Academy began last summer, when NASA provided Khan Academy with the information to create the educational content. Interactive games and simulations — change the different proposed early models of the solar system, try to land a spacecraft on Mars — were made to allow the student to dig deeper.

Khan-Academy-Cruise-To-Mars

The goal of the "Cruise to Mars" game on Khan Academy is to land a spacecraft on Mars by changing the date and year it is launched from Earth.

Increasing student interest in STEM has been an area of increased focus in U.S. education in recent years. This year's White House Science Fair placed a specific focus on young girls and women who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math and announced a series of events throughout the year to celebrate women in STEM at Tuesday's science fair.

To start off, the girls who attended the White House Science Fair joined President Obama and other senior officials in conversation about STEM education.

Female representation in STEM careers has always been a cause of concern as women, among other minorities, are severely underrepresented, especially in the tech world — where 70% of Google's nearly 500,000 employees are male.

Similarly, at last year's White House Science Fair, President Obama announced steps to advance his Educate to Innovate campaign aimed at providing students the entry-level skills needed to excel in STEM careers.

Goals of the campaign included increasing the diversity of the STEM talent pool by focusing on underrepresented groups, and promoting tech inclusion to youths regardless of community.

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