Space Exploration Educators Conference 2026
For the past ten years I have been blessed to attend what is to me the BEST educator’s conference I have ever been to. The Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) at Space Center Houston, the Johnson Space Center Visitors Center.
From the website:
The Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) invites educators from around the globe to dive into the rigor and wonder of space exploration. Held at Space Center Houston, the Official Visitor Center for NASA Johnson Space Center, the conference features immersive sessions with experts from NASA and other space industry companies, hands-on experiences inspired by space exploration and astronaut training, events to build connections with other educators, and a universe of possibilities for your classroom!
Being able to attend this conference has had the greatest impact on me not only professionally, where I have made many contacts and been able to introduce groundbreaking opportunities to my students, but personally, as I have made lifelong friends at this place.
This year I was honored to be joined by some colleagues from Mexico at the International Aerospace Academy to present a bi-lingual session on using Stellarium in a high school astronomy course. My intent with this particular session was to provide training for teachers in a FREE online program that they can use with their classes, as long as they have internet access and at least one computer. We first gave our attendees a printable planisphere that they constructed and then we went through the process of how to use it. Next we introduced them to the web-based version of Stellarium.
Stellarium is a free feature-packed planetarium software that is as easy or as complicated to use as you desire. There are three versions: downloadable app, web-based, and smartphone app. At my school our students have district-owned computers and can therefore not download any software to them, and mobile devices are not allowed, so I focus mainly on the web-based version.
There are several lessons available online for using Stellarium, however the majority that I found when developing my astronomy program were for the downloadable app which has several features not available in the web-based version. This meant I needed to go through the lessons and modify them for use in my classroom. An example of a lesson on Right Ascension/Declination can be found here.
The session went really well, even though we had to shorten the presentation by 30 minutes due to issues with the busses that were bringing people out to the Gilruth Building on the JSC campus. This was also during the first session block of the conference, which meant I was finished presenting and could just enjoy the rest of the conference!
A quick rundown of the sessions I attended: A networking session with Nancy Conrad, wife of Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad; a session with the crew of Blue Origin NS-32 which included my friend Amy Medina, a fellow teacher who has her own awesome website; a tour of Building 9, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility; Sharing Space session with astronaut Cady Coleman and the teachers of Space For Teachers; a solar system modeling session with the astronomers of McDonald Observatory. I also was given the opportunity to take a tour of the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, but that will be it’s own post!
Between all of these amazing sessions was the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones at lunch and dinners at some amazing eateries. I came back from this year’s conference re-energized and ready to finish this school year strong!
If you haven’t had an opportunity yet to check this conference out, stop waiting around!
See you next year!
