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(Dean Kern) K-12 predominantly works with the public education systems. We're working with
public school teachers, and we're working with content standards. Currently, we're
focusing on middle school for the student outreach activities. Middle
school is really one of those areas in which there is avoidance of strong
content, especially for middle school teachers in the STEM area.
Currently we run several different high school internship programs here at
Goddard Space Flight Center. We have the INSPIRE program, which is a NASA
agency-wide program for all freshmen through seniors in high school. And then
we also bring in interns through what we call mentor funded. They actually work in
the labs, alongside the scientists and the researchers, these internships often
will further propel students to seek higher STEM content and academic courses
in their high schools and on into their college careers.
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