Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > October > 31
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Shoot for the moon (or Mars)
(Kiser Middle School eighth graders Darran Raglin and Cherelle Smith work in Mission Control during a mock space shuttle mission at the Challenger Learning Center Monday.)
I was wrapped up with my reporting and headed out the door at the reopening of the Challenger center yesterday when Ken Kreitzer, who heads Dayton Public Schools’ radio and television program, grabbed me and asked, “have you seen the launch scenario yet?”
He wouldn’t let me leave until I sat in the row of flight seats, complete with straps and buckles, and went through the simulation that kids who play the astronaut roles get to experience during the “launch” of their missions. A loud voice counted down over a growing rocket rumble and my seat shook as I stared at a flat screen television showing movie scenes of a shuttle launch (they’ll soon replace that film with actual shuttle launch footage).
It was hard to imagine how a an impressionable youngster wouldn’t find that inspiring.
That’s the whole idea behind the Challenger centers nationwide — to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers. And according to the one actual astronaut at Monday’s event, it’s critical that educators find ways to point smart kids toward careers in science.
One statistic he dropped during his speech was pretty shocking.
Rich Heib, who has flown on three shuttle missions and now works for Lockheed Martin, a large defense contractor, said his company last year hired one out of every 10 new graduates in the U.S. with engineering degrees. That shows how great the demand (and how small the supply) is for home grown math and science experts.
Later I was talking to a PR person for Lockheed Martin who was telling me about the next generation shuttle the company is developing and the goal to use it to go back to the moon by 2018 and then to Mars.
NASA may be an expensive and controversial program in some critics eyes, but at least one benefit of the space program is its ability to inspire kids and help them see the exciting possibilities for careers in math and science.
This put me in mind of a story I did years ago on a visit to the area by astronaut Mae Jemison. Here’s the lead of that story:
“One day in her south Chicago elementary school, the children in Mae Jemison’s class each stood up and said what they wanted to be when they grew up.
`A scientist,’ young Jemison said when it was her turn.
`You mean like a nurse?’ the teacher suggested in response.
Jemison went on to attend Stanford at age 16 and later became the first black woman in space, flying aboard a space shuttle.”
Later in her speech, Jemison said it was the idea of flying in space, inspired by early NASA missions, that made her want to study science. Maybe some of our kids can be inspired by the chance to visit Mars.
(My colleague Tim Gaffney, who writes about aviation, posted about the event at his blog here).
Image credit: Chris Stewart, DDN
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, My Favorite Posts, Teaching and Learning
