| By Michael Peacy | 
Michael Peacy is a 6th-grade teacher in Grafton. He began
his teaching career in September of 2004.
| Last summer I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in “Space Camp” in Huntsville, Alabama. It’s the next best thing to actually going up in space. This unbelievable program is designed to get educators excited about teaching science, math and technology so we can bring that excitement back to the classroom. It sure got me fired up and now I want to share this opportunity with anyone who will listen. Sponsored by The Honeywell Corporation, the whole week broke up into three categories: classroom learning, simulations and discussions with people involved in the space program. Then, of course, there were the unplanned categories, like learning about other countries and cultures and making new friends. The classroom activities were designed to give us tools that we can use in our classroom to help students understand space and space travel. My favorite activity was building water bottle rockets. We built rockets out of empty two-liter bottles, filled them with water and air, then we launched them. They sure did go a lot higher than I would have thought they would. I learned a ton of information from the teachers at camp. The simulations helped us understand and experience the equipment the astronauts use to train for outer space. My favorite simulator was the 1/6 th gravity chair designed to simulate walking on the moon. It was a chair that was held up by springs so it felt like 1/6 th the gravity of Earth. It was a bit hard to get the hang of it. You couldn’t push yourself straight up; to “walk” forward, you had to push yourself in a forward direction. If you didn’t, you ended up bouncing straight up and down. Once you pushed forward, it became easier to walk in a forward direction. My favorite simulation was a simulated space shuttle mission. This was an amazing opportunity to experience executing a successful mission. First, we found out what mission position we had out of three areas: the orbiter, mission control, or the space station. I became the “mission specialist” on the orbiter crew. A commander, pilot and two mission specialists took the helm of the orbiter. Our mission was to fly the shuttle and fix the Hubble Space Telescope. In the orbiter, the many buttons and gauges that needed pushing and monitoring kept us busy piloting the shuttle. Then, just when everything is running smoothly, there’s always a problem that needs fixing. Shuttle personnel then need to communicate with mission control to fix the problem. Once we got to ‘the Hubble Telescope’, mission specialist two and I left the shuttle and space-walked over to fix the telescope. Meanwhile, the crew of the space station had their own problems to solve, experiments to run and space walks to make. We even had to land the shuttle! Our commander, in charge of the landing, did a good job except that we’ll need to sell the lumber she cut down to pay for the shuttle damage…we landed in the trees. The third and final aspect of the program was to meet three longtime NASA program specialists and astronauts. Story Musgrave, a 30-plus-year veteran of NASA, seven-time astronaut and space walker, was an inspirational individual. Next, we got to listen and talk to Homer Hickham, author of the book, “Rocket Boys,” later turned into the movie “October Sky,” an astronaut trainer for NASA. Finally, we met Ed Buckman, a program specialist at NASA since the Mercury program started. He was full of knowledge and interesting, comical stories. We all got signed copies of his book “Space Cowboys” and we got to chat with him. Space Camp was inspirational and educational. I had fun meeting veterans of the space program and learning from them. It truly was an experience that will benefit my classroom. I learned that there is a world of opportunities for students to get involved in engineering, the space program, and technology; I'm only touching the surface of what we could offer our students. After reflecting on Space Camp, I realized I have a lot of work to do to make my curriculum the most effective it could be. Meeting teachers from around the world was truly the most amazing part. We formed bonds that will benefit our students by participating in international communication projects. In short, Space Camp changed my life for the better thanks to the generosity of Honeywell employees who donate the money to make this adventure possible. Return to New Teachers page Posted February 19, 2008 |