Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 4 May 2000 — Page 22

The Muncie Times, May 4, 2000 page 22

Challenger scientists, educators visit Muncie schools

From L to R Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Vice-President Challenger Center, Alexandria W. VA; Kevin Grazier, Cassini Mission, Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasedena, CA; Dr. Tim Livingood, Astrophysicist, Challenger Center; Jason Smith, Researcher/Educator Curriculum Education, Dr. Aileen Yingst, Lunar Planetary Lab, University of Arizona and in the forefront: Kylie Sola, Administrative Assistant to Dr. Goldstein-Coordinator Muncie Project.

By Charles Gulubane Four space scientists and two educators from the Challenger Center For Science Education in Alexandria, Va., recently visited Muncie for what was dubbed Window On The Universe Week. “The window on the universe program is aimed at taking entire communities to the stars by engagingc both the young and old in space science education. We want the

exercise to be a learning experience not only for the students but for the families as well. “We also encourage science teachers to make the subject more comfortable for students. By being here and speaking to students, we hope to demonstrate that science is not a mysterious as it is sometimes made out to be,” said Dr. Jeff Goldstein, an astrophysicist and vice president of the center. Challenger Center is an

international non-for-profit educational organization founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts whose lives were lost during a Challenger space shuttle mission. Dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission, Challenger Center develops learning centers and other educational programs designed to inspire students to pursue math, science and technology studies, while helping them develop

critical life skills. The organization has 38 learning centers across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom that use technology-rich environments to create hands-on and minds-on learning experiences for elementary and intermediate school students. More than 300,000 visit the centers each year. Muncie and Moscow, Idaho, were chosen from several nationwide community applicants for this year. Funding for the program is through grants from NASA’s Human Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise and Office of Space Science. The 'following educators came to Muncie: Dr. Jeff Goldstein, astrophysicist specializing in planetary science and astronomy as well as kindergarten to high school education. His research involves studying the weather of other planets and the measurement of global scale planetary winds by means of an IRHs spectrometer. Dr. Timothy Livengood, astrophysicist also specializing in planetary science and astronomy. His research involves studying the aurora and chemistry of planetary atmospheres. Dr. Kevin Grazier, computer/investigation scientist specializing in

human space flight. He is currently with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and is a member of the team monitoring the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan. Dr. Aileen Yingst, geologist specializing in Mars atmospheric and geological imaging. Her research is on Mars geology. She worked on the unsuccessful Mars Polar Lander mission and is a member of the more successful Mars Pathfinder mission team. Jason Smith, instructional designer specializing in Kinder-garten to grade 12 educational instructional design and educator workshop design. “I am not a scientist. My background is education but I get scientists together to work out programs like this,” he said. Kylie Solar is also an educator and the person responsible for coordinating the group’s activities at the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie and other places. For a week, the team visited Muncie-area schools during the day and staged two family science night events at Minnetrista Cultural Center. Challenger Center for Space Education can accessed at www.challenger.org

Steneal Allen is all smiles in the R2D2 model.

Derrick & Joyce Jamerson work on a project during the educator workshop at the Minnetrista Cultural Center during Window on the Universe week. They are teachers at Longfellow Elementary School.

Dr. Jeff Goldstein gives Christopher Kirtz a handshake.