Interest in science, math soars in program

DILLON, Mont. – Mick Bowen asks for a volunteer to put on a space suit and every hand in the room shoots up. The dozen grade school students in a “Spaceward Bound” program are eager to try on a replica of the suit that astronauts wear on the space shuttle.

“The real space suit weighs 250 pounds,” Bowen, an education specialist with NASA, told the class.

Little did the group of first- through fifth-grade students know that Bowen was going to hold a diaper up in front of them. But after a few giggles, the students’ attention returns as Bowen puts the bulky suit on.

A few minutes later the students are tinkering with toy robots. And earlier in the class Bowen passed around packaged scrambled eggs and applesauce that are sent up on space shuttle missions with astronauts.

For kids in this program, there’s never a dull moment. At least that’s the goal, said Nancy Reuter, a University of Montana-Western student who started Spaceward Bound last year to help promote math and science.

Such hands-on exercises are crucial for getting the kids interested in those subjects, Reuter said.

“You’ve got to have fun to learn,” said Reuter, 47, who is earning a degree in elementary education.

Judging from the kids’ enthusiasm, they love the class. They eagerly answer questions and jump right in to the activities, especially when they get to play with robotic dinosaurs

But the class is meant to do a lot more than give the kids playtime, Reuter said. The goal is to spur an interest in NASA and space exploration. And she hopes they’ll understand that space exploration requires a lot of math and science, something students in the United States are steadily slipping in.

Reuter said she hopes it will encourage some of the kids to pursue college majors and careers in science.

“It’s just to awaken them to the fields that are available to them,” Reuter said. “Not everybody has to be an astronaut; they can be engineers, scientists, inventors …”

Programs such as Spaceward Bound are nothing new. But there was nothing like it in Dillon until Reuter jump-started it last year.

It was her community project for AmeriCorps, a federal program that pays scholarships to people in return for community service.

Reuter contacted in June the Inland Northwest Space Alliance, a group that promotes education about space exploration throughout the region, and got tremendous encouragement to start the program, she said. She also received startup money from the Dillon YMCA and local businesses, and the program was ready for its first class last fall. Reuter said right away she found that NASA has numerous educational materials available to help.

“There’s just an unlimited amount of resources out there,” she said. “I’m just introducing the kids to what’s out there, but in a structured and fun way.” The kids meet twice a week after school and have pizza, then head to the classroom on campus. Reuter said they’re far more prepared to learn when they have full stomachs.

She puts on various activities about space exploration or robotics. But getting Bowen to come was the highlight of the class, Reuter said.

As an education specialist for NASA, Bowen travels throughout the West putting on educational programs for teachers to improve teaching about NASA. But he found time to squeeze in a stop in Dillon for the class.

Bowen started the class by explaining the symbolism in the NASA logo: a patriotic red, white and blue with the streak of an airplane and a rocket and stars. But he quickly delved into the research that NASA conducts.

A short film showed a computer generated replica of how the Mars Rover probe landed, and how it moves around. Then Bowen went into robotics and how they run on computer programs.

Those computers, robots and other high tech equipment all require people to design, build and run them. He stresses to the kids that they’re all “engineers” as they tinker with the toys there, and explains how a program must be written so the space probes keep functioning.

After a model called “roboraptor” keeps going on its own without commands, Bowen tells the kids they’d better learn how to stop it. That’s a lesson they need because someday they’ll be the engineers and leaders who will be leading space exploration, he said.

“It’s going to be your world,” he said.

Kent Ord, whose son, James Ord, is in Spaceward Bound, called it an “exceptional program” because of it builds an interest in math and science.

“Unfortunately in this country, that’s something that’s been lacking for a number of years,” Kent Ord said. “(James) looks so forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

The program is something that Reuter hopes continues long after she graduates and moves on. She has plans for a space camp at the Forest Service’s Birch Creek facility, and would like to bump up the number of kids in each class as high as 50 students.

“We wanted to give as many kids as possible a chance to take advantage of the program,” Reuter said. “It’s contagious – I’m pretty excited that this thing will keep growing and perpetuate itself.”