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At TSTC's Challenger Center, Students Learn in Outer Space

Last September, Texas State Technical College opened a Challenger Learning Center at its Waco campus. The facility is meant to stir interest in subjects like science and math – all through a simulated space mission.

In a dimly lit room, about 15 students from Midway Intermediate sit in rows of seats. On the screen in front of them is a the inside of a space shuttle. The speakers overhead make clear what's about to happen:

"Three, two, one -- we have liftoff!"

The students here are blasting off into space - well simulated space.

The virtual tour is part of the Challenger Learning Center at TSTC’s campus in Waco. The site invites students from the area to take part in lessons based on subjects like science and math. Director Trey Pearson says the activities the kids do are an extension of the classroom, and aligned with state standards.

“They’re having fun, the hook is the space station," Pearson says. "We get them in; they get to be astronauts, all that fun stuff. But really what they’re getting to do is put all the knowledge that they need to know and stuff they’re learning into practice."

Before liftoff, Pearson takes the kids through a briefing, assigning them job titles. Some will work at mission control, others will be part of the life support team, evaluating the crew’s vitals.  The students are also told about the history behind the center.  There are two other locations in Texas, and across the country even more. They were founded in memory of the crew that died in the 1986 Challenger explosion. Pearson reminds students of this during every visit.

"So the reason we’re here is because their families got together and decided they wanted to make sure we kept that teaching mission alive," Pearson tells the students. "We want educators talking about space and STEM and we wanted students like y’all studying it"

Next, students split into teams. One heads into space and the other stays back at mission control.  The idea is to work together… and these kids – one wearing a NASA shirt, others decked out in goggles and gloves….are getting the hang of it.

"It's real world. They're realizing that 'oh my gosh, this is what people do day-to-day.'"

Tiffany Ashcraft is one of the sixth graders here on this day. She was on the mission’s medical team. Her group evaluated the crew, checking visuals and temperatures. Admittedly, she’s not a big fan of science, but she enjoys it – especially when it’s interactive like today’s lesson. 

“Yeah, I thought it was really fun, cause it was like we were learning, but it was fun learning – hands on learning.” 

Tiffany’s teacher Linda Peebles says this hands-on approach introduces kids to serious concepts without the formality and sometimes rigidness of the classroom.

"It’s real world. They’re realizing that ‘oh my gosh, this is what people do day-to-day. There’s people doing this now.’ So the excitement of that is really, I think, eye opening for some of these children.”

After the exercise, the kids are debriefed. Director Pearson goes over what the students did and what they learned. But ultimately, he says, the idea is to stress to these students that when it comes to education the sky’s the limit.