Jim Christensen will describe how the Aldrin Family Foundation Giant Moon and Mars Maps, project-based learning materials, digital connections and summer camps are powerful tools to be used in connecting students with the excitement and high interest of space exploration.

Jim Christensen serves as Chief Innovation Officer for the Aldrin Family Foundation. Previously, Jim served as Director of Education at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where he led a team to design and construct the Astronaut Training Experience and Mars Base 1, immersive experiences of preparing for spaceflight and living and working on Mars. He worked as part of the Teaching from Space program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he coordinated the first Spaceflight Education Opportunity – a video conference between the crew of the International Space Station and students in classrooms. He has advised students and teachers on multiple experiments that have flown in microgravity aboard NASA’s Reduced Gravity Aircraft, the Space Shuttle Atlantis, the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon.

Jim taught middle school students for 18 years and was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science. He developed and managed video conference projects to connect students to experts in space flight and Mars exploration. To improve the level of science teaching for elementary and middle school students, Jim established a science materials center that partnered schools across a region to provide hands-on science kits for classrooms and training for teachers. As a part of the Aldrin Family Foundation, Jim has led the design of the Giant Moon and Mars Maps and educational materials, and has developed a series of project-based learning activities that include Home on the Moon, School on the Moon, Let the Games Begin and We Came in Peace.