This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 8, 2011 - You never can tell what may inspire young students to set their sights on a career in math or science.
Particularly when the tools at hand are as low-tech as a cardboard tube, PVC pipe and a bicycle pump.
But those are what the Challenger Learning Centerin north St. Louis County uses when girls and boys come to see what astronauts do and to get hands-on lessons on what it feels like to be in space.
Besides spending time in replicas of a space station, a shuttle vehicle and mission control, they get to build their own rockets, then watch them blast away. The whole idea, says center director Tasmyn Scarl Front, is to help open up a galaxy of possibilities.
Even though the final space shuttle launch happened Friday — when Atlantis took NASA's 135th shuttle flight, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station — Front says the opportunities for space travel will remain as wide as space itself, as private firms take up the slack from government programs.
"Our mission, to get kids excited about science and technology, is not going to change," Front said. "There will still be a big need for that. I think the field is going to open up even wider for them."
The center -- one of 48 Challenger Learning Centers worldwide -- opened in 2003 with $1 million from NASA, which was used to renovate a former day-care center. Now, half of its $350,000 annual budget comes from fees for its wide variety of programs. Other money comes from corporations, like Boeing, Emerson and Express Scripts; partners such as the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Cooperating School Districts and the St. Louis Science Center; and grants for particular projects.
Activities at the center range from two-hour public missions, where visitors voyage to Mars, return to the Moon or rendezvous with a comet; day-long or week-long summer camp programs for a variety of ages, from Astro-Tots to Micronauts; and even a new portable planetarium that brings the experience of space to other locations in the area.
Front said that kids as young as pre-school have been at the center, learning a solar system dance to mimic how the plants travel around the sun. Adult groups also take part in activities designed to build teamwork and communication as they solve space-based emergency situations.
One day last week, a group from Hanrahan Elementary in the Jennings school district was building rockets and taking a simulated trip on the space shuttle. First, they had to go through the airlock — just for 5 or 10 seconds, not the three hours or more that real astronauts have to spend — before entering the replica of the space station. There, students took part in a variety of activities, including medical, communications, probe, isolation, navigation and life support.
Others were busy working with cardboard tubes, glue and paper fins, putting together their own rockets. After the construction phase was complete, they followed staff member Anna Green out to a field adjacent to McCluer South-Berkeley High School next door, where they prepared to see how spaceworthy their projects really were. On their way, they passed a table filled with solar ovens, baking smores.
Green gave them their safety instructions — everyone stays behind the launch pad, no one runs after their rocket no matter how much they want to until all of the flights are over. Then, she fit their crafts onto a tube attached to PVC pipe attached to a bicycle pump.
One after another, she pumped to the proper pressure, led the kids in a rousing countdown — "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" — then let each student flip the valve that sent his or her rockets soaring.
At least, they soared some of the time. Some shot far; some fluttered, then came gently down to earth. One even flew backward, giving Green the chance to turn what could be an embarrassing mishap into a meteorological lesson and a do-over.
"We just learned that sometimes a sudden gust of wind can make our rockets go backward," she said. "We learned something new today, guys."
As Front stood and watched, she said the experience generally is the same, no matter how old the rocketeers are.
"It doesn't matter whether it's a group of fourth graders or teachers," she said. "They all get excited."
After praising the venture — "That was a very successful launch. You should be very proud of yourselves." — Green asked who wanted to be astronauts and who wanted to be engineers when they grew up. Two of the would-be engineers, Dalani Tate and Twani Cornell, who both will be fifth graders this fall, were still excited by the launch.
"My mom has seen me playing with blocks and building wonderful buildings and astronaut stuff," Twani said.
Unearthing hidden talents is a key part of what the Challenger Learning Center is all about — for students and for teachers who take part in professional development training before they bring their kids in.
And there are always surprises along the way, Front says.
"Teachers tell me beforehand, 'I've got to warn you; my kids are really hard to control,'" she said "But then they come in and say, 'I can't believe how focused they are.'"
Once you've seen enough groups, Front added, that focus doesn't come as much of a revelation. Science, technology, engineer and math -- the so-called STEM subjects -- have a natural allure, but sometimes it takes a little push to get students to see it and to believe they have what it takes to get involved.
"Learning happens as they're doing. We want kids to be excited about STEM and related careers," she said. "It also builds confidence. The students all build rockets. Many never had thought they would be able to do that.
"You never know what's going to provide that initial spark."