Buck Rogers rather than Buzz Aldrin. Space education served as a stepping stone to the astronaut corps, and still does. But it also does a whole lot more. Katrina and thousands of other teachers around the country use space to transform math, science and technology education from uninteresting theory to exciting reality. Space education programs reach more than 2 million students and teachers each year with activities that range from space shuttle simulators and Internet sites to paste-together mobiles of the solar system and model rockets.
Space makes learning more fun.
Students gain information that will make them valuable to employers in our increasingly high-tech economy. She has just taken a job with NASA where she can take space education to classrooms nationwide. Her work is aimed mainly at minority school districts, where she is showing teachers how space can be used to excite students about learning and raise test scores. In addition to public programs through NASA, several non-profit education organizations have been created to increase the reach of space education. For instance, the United States Space Foundation conducts teacher workshops to show educators how to use space in their classrooms.