The three‑year‑old program, Honeywell Educators at Space Academy, is sponsored by Honeywell International, Inc. and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center based in Huntsville, Ala. “It’s a stand‑alone program we developed with the NASA Space and Rocket Center,” said Don Wilt, director of community relations for Honeywell. The program serves as a professional development exercise as part of the Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company’s community outreach program.

“Our selectees are the best and brightest out there, already demonstrating a passion for teaching math and science,” Wilt added. “And we like to reward that.”

Middle school science and math teachers from 44 states and 19 countries spent seven days together learning about outer space. The group of 200 was selected from a large pool of applicants, and selection was based on a 500‑word essay.

The teachers’ mission? To integrate space and astronomy into their lesson plans for hard science areas such as chemistry and physics. NASA wants teachers to spark interest in their students–encouraging curious kids to get excited about science. 

“That’s what’s lacking in our science programs. We just have them memorize information and we forget to teach them to ask questions,” said Strauss.

“Whatever the kids can get involved in, hands on producing something, seeing it work that makes a difference in what they’re going to learn and how much they’re willing to work,” Barnett said.

“I would love to be able to get kids involved in the vision–to compete on a global scale to get space shuttles and rockets to Mars and the Moon,” she continued. “The U.S. has been slipping. For us not to be on the leading edge is very sad.”

 “They (NASA) want us to capture the interest of pre‑teens and young teens so it can carry all the way through college,” Strauss explained. “From NASA’s standpoint, there are all kinds of careers beyond being an astronaut.”

He went on to say, “That’s what I took away from this week (at Space Camp). There’s still so much that we don’t know.”

Although the universe looked a lot bigger to Strauss after he finished Space Camp, he did admit that “hanging out with people from 19 different countries, talking with them and realizing that the things they go through in their classes are exactly what we go through here (in Arizona)–issues with children, parents, administration, politics–makes the world a lot smaller.”

Barnett is already looking at new ways to bring space‑age technology into the classroom and make it exciting for her students.

“There were a number of different propulsion systems for launching rockets. I can relate that to algebra,” she said. “As for watching the arc of a rocket as it rises and comes back to Earth, that’s quadratics.” She predicted to fellow teachers upon her return: “You’ll see things flying out of my classroom.”

Reach the reporter at jennifer@thedesertadvocate.com.