Presented by Bekah Sosland Siegfriedt, Flight Director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Naomi Meredith, K-5 STEM Teacher & Coach (CO)
Moderated by Bryan L. Miller, Sr. Director Global Strategic Outreach, Wonder Workshop

Co-Sponsored by GOOD NIGHT OPPY, Wonder Workshop & CT&Co.

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Wonder Workshop and Prime Video are excited to invite teachers, with their students, to share a conversation with the Flight Director at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Bekah Sosland Siegfriedt, featured systems engineer in the new, inspiring documentary, GOOD NIGHT OPPY. The documentary tells the inspirational true story of Opportunity, a rover sent to Mars for a 90-day mission that ended up surviving for 15 years. Students and teachers hear about the mission’s ups and downs and about the remarkable bond forged between the robot and the NASA JPL humans millions of miles away.

The edWebinar is hosted by Bryan Miller of Wonder Workshop. STEM educator Naomi Meredith interviews Bekah Sosland Siegfriedt. Teachers and their students can find inspiration from Siegfriedt‘s journey as a middle school student when Oppy landed on Mars, to NASA Flight Director solving technical challenges at the end of the robot’s life.

Teachers are invited to view this edWebinar with their students. Students must view with their teacher, and are not permitted to log in on their own.

About the Presenters

Bekah Sosland Siegfriedt grew up in the small town of Fredericksburg in the heart of Texas. From an early age, she would lay on a blanket gazing at the dark night skies wondering if she was alone. Her interest was piqued in middle school after visiting McDonald Observatory in West Texas and watching Opportunity and Spirit land on Mars. She didn’t let the lack of females in her tech-oriented high school classes deter her passion, and she applied to the Aerospace Engineering department at the University of Texas (UT). While at UT, she had internships at Johnson Space Center, SpaceX, and the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). Now, as Flight Director at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she applies her sense of curiosity and her problem-solving skills to the tasks at hand daily and has many stories about Oppy and Spirit’s adventures to share with future space explorers and engineers.

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology. With over a decade of experience along with an M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate, she helps teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

About the Moderator

Bryan Miller is the Sr. Director of Global Strategic Outreach at Wonder Workshop where he works with schools and districts around the world to help implement coding and robotics into their curriculum using the award-winning robot Dash. He is a former teacher, school administrator, and is an international keynote presenter.

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

Join the Coding & Robotics community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.

GOOD NIGHT OPPY tells the inspirational true story of Opportunity, a rover that was sent to Mars for a 90-day mission but ended up surviving for 15 years. The film follows Opportunity’s groundbreaking journey on Mars and the remarkable bond forged between a robot and her humans millions of miles away. Now Streaming on Prime Video.

Every day, classrooms around the world demonstrate the powerful sense of collaboration and hands-on learning that Dash, Dot, and Cue inspire in students. Wonder Workshop’s comprehensive solution provides educators with a concrete way to teach an abstract concept–coding; it is the new literacy. Fall in love with the robots’ beloved personalities and with Wonder Workshop’s turnkey resources.