Today on the show, Ryan and Howie welcomes a true Space Ranger, Denise Wright. Denise is a Science teacher at Ocean Bay middle school and has been in education for 22 years. She loves teaching Science and has a passion for STEM, robotics, NASA and of course, Disney. Denise is also a Tynker Blue Ribbon educator. Tynker Blue Ribbon educators are dedicated to making computer programming and coding an integrated part of students’ everyday lives. She is also a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador (SSA). Solar System Ambassadors work across the nation to share NASA science and mission discoveries through a variety of events that inspire students and communities. Denise also sits on the NSTA tech advisory board and was the 2015 teacher of the year.
Denise has a passion for astronomy and has worked to incorporate her passion into her daily lessons. She was a piloting teacher for the Distance Learning Program at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina. In this program, she was one of the first teachers to pilot a historic Alvan Clarke Telescope to be used in a classroom distance learning environment. Denise also has attended Astronomy Camp at the University of Arizona and the NASA Space Science Teacher’s Institute at the University of Colorado.
So it’s safe to say that in today’s episode you are going to get a lot of Space talk, which is fine with Ryan! We know you are going to enjoy hearing Denise talk about all these great things she is doing to inspire students and she also shares a ton of resources that you can use in your classrooms to help inspire the world’s next Buzz or Sally Ride.