MMS teacher visited space center, to incorporate experience into lessons – Journal Gazette and Times-Courier

MATTOON -- Laura Blackerby-Smith has always been fascinated by space.

Blackerby-Smith, a sixth-grade science teacher at Mattoon Middle School, was 9 years old when she watched her first space shuttle launch.

"My parents took us to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and we watched the launch of the space shuttle Columbia," Blackerby-Smith said. "(After attending the launch) I was hooked on anything NASA, anything space travel. I was just so interested in the work of NASA."

So, when she found out in January that she was one of 200 teachers from 33 countries and 45 U.S. states and territories to be accepted into the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy program, she could safely say she was excited.

It felt like winning a trip to Disney World, she said. It was that exciting.

The Honeywell program is a scholarship program started in 2004 that aims to inspire middle school math and science teachers to become more effective educators in science, technology, engineering and math. According to a press release, Honeywell facilitates the program to ensure these STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs are taught in new, innovative ways.

And as part of the program, Blackerby-Smith, along with the other 199 teachers, was sent to the United States Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., to participate in hours of classroom and laboratory instruction focused on science, space exploration and leadership skills development

Also, these teachers were challenged in several realistic astronaut simulations, including a high-performance jet simulation, rocketry and a coding mission to launch them, scenario-based space mission, land and water survival training, and interactive flight dynamics programs.

When Blackerby-Smith heard of the program, she was set on taking part.

If I didn't (get selected), I would try again next year, she said. I think a part of the whole NASA program and the part of space is that so many failures happen.

She found out about the program through her search for development workshops do over the summer.

I thought, 'What about space camps for adults?' she said, when she was searching, which led her to the Honeywell program.

Beyond her own passions for space exploration, the idea for space camp spawned from conversations in her classroom.

I found that my students are so engaged when we talk about NASA and we talk about space, she said.

Since her start in science education, she noticed that space exploration can be tied to almost everything in science.

You can relate space to anything, she said.

In the program, Blackerby-Smith noted that teachers ran through intense astronaut simulations, most notably her simulated mission to Mars, which she commanded.

In that simulation, she and her small team went through almost every step, from launching from Earth to landing on Mars. Even though it was a simulation, it did not feel any less than real for her, Blackerby-Smith said, describing the launch.

Just for that split second, you really did feel like your life was in your teammates' hands, she said. They made it feel very real.

Even stepping on a simulated Mars, which consisted of some sand on the ground with a red light above coloring the floor below, felt real, she said.

It was very, very surreal, she said.

There, the teachers also got to experience a simulated transfer of astronauts between the International Space Station and the space shuttle Endeavor and participated in training on the multi-axis trainer, which simulates the spin of a spacecraft as it enters Earth's atmosphere.

They even participated in an emergency spacecraft water landing and escape, which included swimming from a sinking aircraft.

I bet my blood pressure was probably sky high through a lot of those things, she said.

Outside of these simulations, Blackerby-Smith said she is excited to bring back some knowledge for science projects for this fall.

I came home with a lot of really neat lessons I could use, she said.

One of those includes a project where students will attempt to keep an egg from cracking by designing a structure that will survive a high drop, making the structure out of various materials like popsicle sticks, parachutes and foam.

Beyond specific projects, she said the stories of the astronauts she met served as good life lessons, let alone science lessons.

I feel like I have so many inspirational stories to take back, she said.

Read the original here:

MMS teacher visited space center, to incorporate experience into lessons - Journal Gazette and Times-Courier