NASA program lets kids learn via space shuttle

March 26, 1996
Web posted at: 2:25 p.m. EST

From Correspondent Ann Kellan

SAN DIEGO (CNN) -- KidSat, a new joint program between educators and NASA, is teaching school children by giving them direct access to NASA mission control and to the space shuttle Atlantis astronauts.

It's a fun way for students of all ages to learn while getting hands-on experience with an orbiting space shuttle. (136K AIFF sound or 136K WAV sound) (213K QuickTime movie)

To communicate with the shuttle, the students must learn math, science and English.

Teachers at Gompers Middle School are sold on the program.

"I'm teaching how to find percentages of cloud cover, how to set up proportions so you can measure the perimeter of a state or the length of a river ... how to find scale and measurements," math teacher Paul Bixler said.

Language arts teacher Ronnie Ebel uses science fiction to merge literature and the outer space realm of KidSat by assigning the Martian Chronicles to her classes. (60K AIFF sound or 60K WAV sound)

Besides the traditional learning these students get, they benefit from the communication inherent in the project.

Students work in teams as they study the shuttle's orbit, decide what images they want photographed and submit a written proposal to a committee of their peers. With their teachers' help, they decide which ideas will work. (459K QuickTime movie)

Once a proposal is accepted, it is sent to the University of California at San Diego, where the student mission control is housed.

At mission control, high school and college students practice and prepare for the shuttle launch with former astronaut Sally Ride.

Ride's part, she said, is to help the older students oversee the technical elements of the project, "in actually developing software, developing hardware, designing a system."

Once the system is running, they make sure nothing goes wrong in flight and that all of the pictures are taken. The images are then broadcast to the students over the Internet, where they assess their work.

While only three middle schools nationwide are involved in the project, long-term plans include involving every school in the nation.

Related Sites

• KidSat/YES (Youth Enhancing Space)
• University of California at San Diego