Sciences Participating with Arts & Culture in Education

Activity 2: Workshop Reflection

DUE DATE: March 18, 2026
Objective: Participating students complete this activity after attending the NASA ICES Workshop. The reflection prepares you for additional project opportunities and contributes to a collective ScienceFest installation in May.

You are encouraged to reference: workshop abstracts, talks or informal exchanges, external resources (informal citation is sufficient). Suggested length is no more than 1000 words total (clarity matters more than word count).

Example citations: “Smith et al., Abstract #4027”, “NASA Europa Clipper website”

Exercise 1: Reflection

Select one talk, session, or theme from the workshop that stood out to you.

Instructions:

1. Address the following:

• Briefly summarize what you learned
• Cite at least one specific abstract or presentation
• Explain why this topic resonated with you (academic background, curiosity, or future goals)
• Identify one concept, method, or result you want to understand more deeply and explain why it matters

2. Scientific workshops often introduce new or evolving terminology.

• List 3–5 terms or concepts that were new, confusing, or especially interesting
  (e.g., superionic ice, band depth, freeze–thaw cycling, mushy layer)\
• Choose 1–2 terms and discuss: What you currently understand. What remains unclear. How deeper understanding of this concept could open new academic or research directions for you.

Exercise 2: Trajectories

This activity contributes directly to a collective ScienceFest installation. The SPACE theme this year is Trajectories: paths through space, through discovery, through learning, etc. Your task is to transform one idea from the workshop into a public-facing artifact that links themes of planetary science and ices to a trajectory.

Instructions:

1. Select a concept, term, or open question from the workshop that intrigued or challenged you.
2. Define it clearly in 2–3 sentences in a way that is accessible to a non-specialist audience and where you cite at least one source (abstract, paper, or mission page)
3. Frame a trajectory
   In 2–3 sentences, connect the concept to a trajectory, such as:
   • The evolution of a scientific idea
   • A mission’s path from hypothesis to observation
   • An object’s motion revealing subsurface ice
   • Your own academic or research trajectory
4. Create or curate a visual
   • Diagram, figure, plot, sketch, infographic, or image
   • Original work encouraged
   • Curated visuals are acceptable with proper attribution
5. Submit one page that combines
   • Your clear definition
   • Your trajectory narrative
   • Your visual element

Optional Extensions

As a Foundational Knowledge Project or Independent Study Capstone for SPACE certificate credit, consider the following optional projects. Due date for presentation is mid-May.

1. Option A: Missions

Research a current or upcoming mission focused on planetary ices (e.g., Europa Clipper, Dragonfly, Lunar Trailblazer, VIPER, Uranus Orbiter concept).
Include:

• Mission objectives
• Key instruments
• How the mission investigates ice
• Why this mission excites you and how it connects to workshop themes 

2. Option B: Broader Synthesis

Reflect on the workshop as a whole:

• How did it change or expand your understanding of ices in the Solar System?
• What surprised you about how ice is studied across different environments?
• What connections or patterns emerged across talks?

Option C: Participate in one of the following projects (to be updated)

...

Activity 1: Workshop Preparation 

DUE DATE: December 18, 2025
Objective: To prepare for active participation at the NASA Ices Workshop

The following exercises are designed to stimulate thought and engagement with relevant topics and to generate questions that will lead to further investigation during and after the Workshop. We are not attending this workshop as tourists. Our intention is to participate and contribute to the workshop experience. This requires preparation.

Exercise 1: Exploring the themes of the Workshop 

The Ices in the Solar System workshop covers a vast array of environments, from the poles of Mercury to the frozen heart of Pluto. You cannot focus on everything. Your first task is to define your territory.

Instructions:

1. Identify a specific solar system segment or theme of interest to you (e.g., Cryovolcanism on Enceladus, Dwarf planets in the solar system, Instrumentation for icy worlds) by visiting and searching through the Ices 2026 Technical Program

2. Search for 2-3 abstracts within the Ices 2026 program that relate to your chosen topic

3. For each abstract, identify and summarize the key research question being asked. What is the unknown they are trying to solve?

4. Next visit the LPI database of past abstracts and search for 2-3 additional abstracts related to the theme you have chosen and do the same. It can be accessed here.

5. Reference five abstracts in total in MLA format.

Exercise 2: Engaging with Workshop Attendees

Conferences are driven by people.The value of this workshop lies in the opportunity to interact with the luminaries who are pushing planetary science forward. Ask questions, discuss their research, and discover what a possible path might look like for you in the future.

In the previous iteration of this workshop, we focused on Jim Garvin (NASA Goddard). For Ices 2, we are opening the floor. Identify the people you want to meet.

Instructions:

1. Browse the Technical Program or the Author Index. Identify one presenter or attendee whose work aligns with your interests.

   • Do not pick a random name. Pick someone whose abstract made you stop and think.

2. Do Your Homework: Research this person.

   • Where do they work? (JPL? APL? A university?)

   • What missions have they been involved in? (New Horizons? Europa Clipper? VIPER?)

   • What was the focus of their abstract from Exercise 1?

3. Draft Questions:

   • Write down two questions that intersect with this researcher's specific work and your own curiosity.

   • A good question shows you have read their work. A bad question is something you could have googled.

   • Example (Bad): "Is there ice on Mars?"

   • Example (Good): "Your abstract mentions using radar to detect subsurface brines. What if the salinity levels are higher than expected? How would that alter the interpretation of the radar return signal?"

4. Refine your questions so that you would be comfortable asking it during a Q&A session or a coffee break.

Submission 

Using the form below submit a short report indicating what your theme is and why it interests you, your chosen abstracts, summaries and references, followed by your researcher questions in a single document.

Outline:

• Theme - why it interests you
• Abstract name and authors - key research question summary
• References
• Person of interest and your 2 questions