AMSE educators receive training at Space Camp

Posted at 2:10 pm September 9, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Kris Light and Renee Kelley in Flight Suits

Kris Light, left, and Renee Kelley in flight suits. (Submitted photo)

Kris Light and Renee Kelley, outreach educators at the American Museum of Science and Energy, recently attended Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA’s official Visitor Information Center for Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama.

The educational program promotes science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, while training students and adults with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership, and decision-making. Space Camp uses astronaut training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects, a press release said.

Light and Kelley were part of the Space Academy for Educators Program, which is designed for teachers who want to advance education in the STEM fields. They experienced astronaut simulators and took a virtual tour into space to save the International Space Station. Trainees also followed lesson plans based on NASA content (which is correlated to the National Science Education Standards) and received content and knowledge to pass on to their students in the classroom.

Light and Kelley are developing Space Tech, a new class for the outreach program based on their training. They are also incorporating their training into existing outreach classes.

AMSE’s outreach programs are hands-on STEM based classes geared for grades K-6. More information about AMSE Outreach can be found at www.amse.org.

Information about Space Camp:

Space Camp and Aviation Challenge crew trainers who lead each 16-member team must have at least a year of college, and 67 percent of the staff are college graduates.

Space Camp operates year-round in Huntsville, Alabama, and uses astronaut training techniques to engage trainees in real-world applications of STEM subjects. Trainees sleep in quarters designed to resemble the ISS and train in simulators like those used by NASA. Nearly 700,000 trainees have graduated from Space Camp since its opening in Huntsville in 1982, including STS-131 astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Last year, children and teachers from all 50 states and 64 international locations attended Space Camp.

Information about AMSE:

The U.S. Department of Energy’s American Museum of Science and Energy, located at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge, is open Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 1- 5 p.m.

AMSE tells the story of the World War II Manhattan Project that created the Secret City of Oak Ridge and the science that evolved.

AMSE visitors can use interactive exhibits on basic science, fossil fuels, alternative energy sources, including nuclear, and participate in live demonstrations with audience participation.

For more information on AMSE admission, membership, exhibits, programs, and classes, go to www.amse.org. To schedule a group visit, call AMSE at (865) 576-3200.

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