Article by Linda Relyea
Photo courtesy of Emily Dauk
Emily Dauk, far left, with students, left to right, Sam Preis, Matt Preis, Ben Koser, Eric Koser, Morgan Brooks and Emily Dauk at NASA.
Emily Dauk is a high school math
teacher in Minnesota who is working toward a master’s degree through the Adams
State Endeavor STEM Leadership Certificate program, a partnership with NASA and
the ASU Teacher Education Department.
Dauk challenged her Mankato, Minn.
students to build a mechanism that could launch a mock satellite. Led by Dauk
and her colleague, Eric Koser, the students achieved success and the Kato
Launch Squad was invited to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in March to demonstrate their
experimental device.
"My students and I had the
opportunity to participate in NASA’s Microgravity University for Educators at
Johnson Space Center," Dauk said. Last fall she worked with a group of
students and teachers from her district in Minnesota to submit a project
proposal and were one of 10 teams selected from across the nation to
participate.
The project was a full integration of all STEM disciplines as
students had to design and build a Satellite Launching Experimental
Device. "Students also developed a public outreach plan so we could share
the experience with as many people as possible," Dauk said. The culmination of
the project was four students and two teachers from the team, including Dauk, who
spent a week at Johnson Space Center testing their device, touring the NASA
facilities, and learning directly from NASA experts.
When
considering a master’s program, the STEM Leadership Certificate joint program seemed
the best fit for Dauk. "I did a lot of searching for a program with a
connection to high school math that would also allow me to continue to teach
full time and to continue being a part of the extracurricular activities I was
involved in at my school. The most important requirement of any master’s
program was that it would help me become a better math teacher."
Two
areas emphasized within Dauk’s Master of Arts program include STEM integration
and connecting with students and community. "This project was a combination of
each of those. Each of the STEM
disciplines was required as the team designed, built, and tested their
device. In addition, we were also
required to develop an outreach plan about how we would share this experience
with the community. As we developed this plan we examined which modes of
communication would be the best to reach our students and community
members. We also looked at which events
we could put on after our week at Johnson Space Center that would engage our
community. It was very neat to see
multiple components of my ASU coursework come together within a single
project."
Dauk
enrolled in the Adams State program in the fall of 2017 and will complete her
degree in the spring of 2019. "I have very much enjoyed the flexibility of the
program. It is not easy to complete a master’s degree while also teaching full
time, but the online program that Adams State provides makes it possible."
While in Houston, the students and
teachers from Mankato visited the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility as astronauts
showcased their training.
