Education & can · News English
A camera helps students learn
Students improve a tool for studying light.
Read the story, check the words, then answer the questions and speak.
Pictures beside the numbers
Can a picture help you understand numbers?
1Students are working with a small science tool. It measures light from things such as plants and coral. NASA describes their work in a new article.
2The students had a problem. Their computer showed many numbers. But which plant or piece of coral did each number describe? It was hard to know.
3They added a small camera to the tool. Now it can take a picture when it makes a measurement. The picture and the numbers stay together. The students can understand their work better.
4The satellite picture here is background. It shows a coast near Belize in 2022. It does not show the students or their project in the Dominican Republic.
Original teaching summary. Models and practice sentences are illustrative learning examples, not news quotations.
Word help · Three useful words
Read the meanings and examples. Choose one word to use in your own sentence.
tool
something you use to do a job
A ruler is a tool.
measure
find the size or amount of something
We measure the table.
together
with each other
Keep these pages together.
Check your reading · Three questions
Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.
Useful English: can
My phone can take pictures. Can your phone take pictures? Use the base verb after can.
Say two things your phone or another tool can do.
Model and help
Model: My phone can take pictures. It can play music.
Speak: your ideas
Say two things your phone or another tool can do.
Labelled model answer
My phone can take pictures. It can play music.
Illustrative learning example, not a news quotation.
Alone: repeat without the model. Tutor: ask one follow-up question.
Mastery check · Three questions
Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.
Sources and reporting date
NASA STELLA article published 14 October 2026 at 02:04 UTC. Its interview is dated 9 October. The background satellite photograph is from 2022.
- Beyond the Worksheet: Building Professional Engineers and Scientists Through NASA’s STELLA Platform
NASA STELLA article published14October2026 at02:04UTC. Its interview is dated9October. The background satellite photograph is from2022. - Image and credit
Archive Aqua MODIS image,3February2022, showing the Yucatán Peninsula and Belize. Background for reef observation, not the Dominican Republic project.