Teacher at Wiley Magnet Middle School Participates in NASA's Space Camp

Betty Jo Moore, who teaches at Wiley Magnet Middle School, recently participated in Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Moore was part of the Advanced Space Academy for Educators Program, which is designed for teachers who want to advance education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.

Moore experienced the astronaut simulators, the centrifuge, took part in Underwater Astronaut Training and took virtual tours 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.

Moore is making a movie about the experience that she will share with the Winston-Salem Foundation once she is finished.

The center in Huntsville, Ala., is NASA’s official Visitor Information Center for Marshall Space Flight Center. The educational program promotes STEM while training students and adults with hands-on activities and missions based on teamwork, leadership and decision-making. Educators earn 45 hours of continuing education credit and can potentially earn graduate credit through the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Space Camp and Aviation Challenge crew trainers who lead each 16-member team must have at least a year of college and 67% 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.

For more information go to Space Camp.