there can be no doubt that education is
the keystone to our future around the
nation educational partnerships are
being established with the private
sector to more fully impact the
educational community at the same time
educators have come to realize that the
topic of space serves as a catalyst to
inspire young people to take many
different subjects they are most often
science and mathematics several
organizations use the topic of space as
their central theme for example there's
the young astronaut foundation in
Washington DC the United States Space
Camp in Huntsville Alabama and even the
4-h is incorporating the space theme
into some of their educational programs
the most recent student educator
space-related organization to come into
being is the Challenger Center for space
science education through Challenger
centers endeavors the aims and
intentions of the Challenger 51 l crew
continues thanks to the efforts of the
family members challenger Center is
establishing a network of challenger
learning centers throughout the United
States Chuck Resnick one of the founding
family members tells us about the origin
of the Challenger Center the Challenger
Center was an idea that came about from
the families of the Challenger crew
after the Challenger accident there were
a number of people who were interested
in helping us in any way they could
there was a tremendous outpouring of
emotion and support from all over the
country and a lot of people wanted to
continue the mission in some way they
wanted to show their support for the
Challenger crew and the families decided
that the most appropriate way was to try
to continue the educational portion of
the mission because all of the
astronauts were educators and teachers
in their own way including Christa and
so we came up with an idea of trying to
give back to the country some of the
support that they had shown us by
creating an educational process that
children all over the country could use
and that's
the idea of the Challenger Center was
developed the Challenger Center
educational programs are built around
simulations to generate excitement in
the hard sciences as well as mathematics
the need for interest in these fields is
very clear there has been a steady
decline in science and math learning
while at the same time technological
advances are creating numerous jobs in
related fields for which there is the
potential that someday there will not be
enough qualified individuals to fill all
of the vacancies the Challenger Learning
Center's attempt to create an atmosphere
that will inspire young people to want
to learn to tell us about some of the
Challenger Learning Center
accomplishments is Doug king president
of the Challenger Center for space
science education I think the
accomplishments already are an
incredible tribute to the family members
that founded this and the educators and
board members that they have gathered
together as a team we've had over 6,000
students go through the prototype
facility down in Houston we've had just
the beginnings of student population
coming through this facility here in
Prince George's County but more
importantly they've laid the groundwork
for a national network of learning
facilities that will reach 50,000
teachers and half a million students a
year by 1992 the Challenger Learning
Centres form a network these centers
simulate future space flights with a
space station simulator in one room and
Mission Control on earth and another
these simulated space flights provide
students and educators with hands-on
experience with a variety of science
math and problem-solving task which will
vary depending on the mission the crew
is on currently there are two missions
return to the moon and rendezvous with
comet Halley in 2060 one additional
future mission scenarios are being
planned during their flight the students
must solve problems their solution
depends upon cooperation and teamwork
and the use of critical thinking skills
once back at school
the students use the data that they
collected during their flight to tie the
mission together the Challenger centers
first learning center was opened at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science in
August of 1988 throughout the country a
number of challenger learning centers
are in the process of opening this
national network of learning facilities
will be linked together by a flagship
facility in Washington DC that facility
will provide teacher training and
research and development and an
opportunity to link the mission sites
into national and even international
simulations the ultimate goal of the
Challenger Center is to be a network
that is certainly nationwide and perhaps
worldwide as far as facilities for
children and teachers to utilize not
only that there will be curriculum that
can be disseminated throughout all of
the schools again in the United States
and perhaps in other countries as well
so that even those children and teachers
who cannot visit our facilities will
still have some of the educational
materials that have been developed
through the Challenger Center in order
to continue the interest that children
have in areas of space science and other
types of technology a challenge a
learning center is made up of a space
station and Mission Control in the space
station there are eight different
modules to carry out the various tasks
required to complete the mission
students work in teams during the
mission everyone's and participates in
the simulation is very important to the
success of the mission during each
mission the students will work in both
Mission Control and the space station
there is the medical station here tasks
are completed to determine the health of
the crew in the life-support station the
space stations environment is monitored
to ensure good air and water quality
during the mission in the isolation
chamber materials are handled outside of
the space station
use of robotics at the biosphere station
tella operations are used to operate
robots in a greenhouse these plants can
be used as a source of food some tasks
are completed in the glove box here
students might study moon rocks are
determine the amount of chlorophyll in
the leaf of a plant in the probe room
the space travelers assemble a probe
that will be used to gather data about
comet halley or the moon the navigation
team works to locate comet halle or to
select the best landing site on the moon
simcom and the space station and capcom
and Mission Control work together to
ensure all messages are delivered and
questions are answered Mission Control
guides the space station through its
flight by providing needed information
to answer the cruise questions or
concerns during the mission in addition
to Challenger Learning Center's the
Challenger educational programs includes
video conferences teacher workshops
curriculum materials and someday a
flagship facility in Washington DC the
Challenger Center is a continuation of
the mission of the Challenger crew and
it's a way of acknowledging the the fact
that they gave their lives for a worthy
cause that they were explorers that they
were educators that they were all
seeking to learn in their own way and if
through the facilities of the Challenger
Center we can instill some of those same
characteristics in children around the
country then I think it will be a
worthwhile endeavor