The Best Moon Builders
Date Posted: Mon Oct 7 2013
Nine sixth grade students from Santo Domingo de Guzmán School in Santa Cruz de La Palma earned Badges for NASA Activities in the CyGaMEs
Selene Lunar Geology series. To earn the badges, they discovered and applied concepts of lunar and space science through Wheeling Jesuit’s
Selene videogame
(http://selene.cet.edu/Default.aspx?page=badges). An award ceremony was held on Monday, October 7, 2013, in the Canary Islands to honor the students. Awardees included two who are ranked among the top 20 out of 3,000 players worldwide in terms of knowledge achievement. All students played the Spanish-language version of the game.
Guzmán principal Francisco Herrera said that the NASA certificate-giving ceremony "is a source of pride and happiness for the school". He expressed his satisfaction that the group of students decided to participate in a project "where it is possible to learn science concepts difficult to understand when you are 11 or 12 years old." He said that scientific activity, if approached "from an early age and with love, is a source of enjoyment." Students said
Selene is a say to learn independently, you don't need a teacher. A three star badge winner said, "the certificate means a lot to me because it comes from NASA and I didn't expect it; I'm thrilled to be one of the nine winners." A seven star winner said, “Considering how big the world is, being one of the best is something very special." Watch TV news coverage of the ceremony here, in Spanish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5j_xgBCJBTI or read the article on the school’s website (also in Spanish) here
http://colegiolapalmita.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/la-nasa-viene-la-palmita.html and see
photos of the event.
Photo Caption: The Seven and Three Star CyGaMEs Selene Lunar Geology Badge Winners, their educators, and leadership from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory and Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias