http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
- History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I.
- That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.
- While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
- Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard.
- The public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S.
- Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.
- On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen.
- The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act"), which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other
http://whyfiles.org/047sputnik/main2.html
- Just two weeks after Sputnik I, I.I. Rabi, chair of Ike's Scientific Advisory Committee, warned that the Soviet emphasis on science and math would put the enemy ahead in 10 years.
- Eisenhower called training scientists and engineers "the most critical need of all... People are alarmed and thinking about science, and perhaps this alarm could be turned toward a constructive result."
- Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in 1958. The $1-billion law paid for college student loans, scholarships, and scientific equipment for public and private schools.
- The act emphasized the study of math, science, and foreign languages.The Act gave the federal government an unprecedented role in the education business, and set the stage for more ambitious federal initiatives that culminated in the creation of the Education Department in the late 1970s.
- Sputnik did not initiate the debate in the United States about the quality of schooling, but it did fuel the movement for curriculum reform. As Rossman indicates, it mobilized school districts to upgrade courses, add requirements for science and math, and buy new course materials.
- The little satellite that could also gave university professors and scientists a chance to contribute to education policy and curriculum. Eager to update teaching methods, social scientists brought new understanding of learning processes, inventing new ways to teach biology, the physical sciences and mathematics. Meanwhile, their colleagues in the hard sciences began an emphasis on laboratory science that continues today, urging that a hands-on approach to science replace rote learning.
- In chemistry, as elsewhere, the emphasis shifted from teaching facts and definitions to a focus on fundamental principles, says Glenn Seaborg, a University of California chemist who discovered plutonium and other elements.
- Seaborg was asked to organize a pioneering chemistry course called CHEMStudy in 1959. In concert with high-school teacher and college professors, the goal was, Seaborg said, to "revolutionize high school chemistry" by updating course content, keeping abreast of modern chemistry, and drastically improving laboratory instruction.
Science and math are important. It broadens our students minds and helps us keep up with the changing world. Science and math are all around us. Without science or math we would not be where we are today as a country. In my own life my children ask me about how things work and chemical reactions. They love hands on experiments which they talk about for months and even years. I love having them engage in science. I am excited to teach science in my classroom and the STEM program
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