Teachers in space

Robert Hoenshell, San Clemente, CA — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 11:40:03 GMT

"What does an educator bring to the outer-space experience that an astronaut or a millionaire can't offer?"
The educator can bring that cutting edge experience and share it, first person, with the students.

The educators will be the ones who seed the future with the people who will land on the Moon and Mars, on the way to the Kuiper Belt, the last frontier.

Teachers in space

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 15:14:54 GMT

NASA scrubbed its &#8220;Teachers in Space&#8221; program after the tragic Challenger accident that led to the death of Christa McAuliffe. The program was reintroduced nearly a decade later, only to be slowed to a near halt along with the entire

Teachers in space

EG — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 20:05:27 GMT

Does this imply that the astronauts (many of which have advanced degrees) are marginal in their ability to teach kids? Somehow I envision lots of "lookee here kids, see how funny zero g is" type-gags by the old Apollo program. It was repetitive, and served little use in terms of understanding space, physics, etc.

Sorry, but the entire "Teacher is Space" program by NASA was a cheap publicity stunt to generate interest and funding. It failed miserably, with thousands of kids watching Christa McAuliffe being killed on live television. As a parent, I am far more concerned about the quality of educator in the classroom. And as a taxpayer, I believe that I'd rather see my tax dollars being spent wisely in order to improve the quality of the teacher and corresponding lesson plan.

In addressing private support, it's just an attempt by private corporations to increase demand for aerospace, which of course benefits their pockets at our expense.

Teachers in space

Frank Glover, Rochester, NY — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 01:34:48 GMT

Being a good engineer doesn't necessairily mean one is a good teacher. It's possible to be both, but no, they're not the same. And why is it so odd that either NASA might do reasonable self-promoting activities? (Challenger's failure wasn't *because* a professional teacher was aboard, so we can't really know how much of a succes it would've been. And in any case, whatever additional effort McAuliffe's training involved would hardly have altered the state of education in general. The above concerns would [and do] exist, with or without a Teachers in Space program). And it should seem even *less* odd that a private company might do something that might 'increase demand.' What business doesn't do this? (espically in this sort of appplication where, like computers, it's to both the business' and potential customer's benefit to show the many uses to which their technology can be put. If and how one decides to make use of either, they won't come for free. Even school textbooks come at someone's 'expense,' and publishers of them expect to make a profit, doing so.)