Sanchez School sixth grade teacher Doug Anderson has some very valuable lessons to incorporate into his class’ Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) education these days. Anderson has small samples of moon rocks and other space matter on loan from NASA.
NASA sent Anderson moon rocks from the Apollo program, along with sample meteorites. NASA only loans moon rocks to educators, like Anderson, who are trained and certified by NASA. Though very small, the lunar samples are considered a national treasure and must be in Anderson’s possession or locked in a safe at all times. The only other way for the public to view similar space samples is at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The moon rock viewing dish Anderson has contains the following lunar samples: basalt, breccia, anorthosite, mare soil, highland soil, and orange soil. There is a second dish containing samples from meteorites. The samples are very small because it costs $10,000 per pound to transport items back from the moon, according to Santa Maria-Bonita School District Public Information Officer Maggie White.
Anderson will be teaching lessons about space to his students, and students from other classes will have the chance to stop by his room to view the rock fragments and learn about them.
Anderson told the Sun that some of the students were excited just knowing that the rocks used to be on the moon, and that even now, the rocks haven’t ever been exposed to the Earth’s atmosphere because they are sealed.
He said that few teachers in the country are certified to obtain the rocks but that he likes to make the extra effort for his classes because the students at his school get some impressive exposure when it comes to STEM education.
“Well I think my kids were getting a little complacent,” Anderson said jokingly. “I’ve got to keep the kids engaged.”
He already uses five flight simulators to support STEM in the classroom, and currently his sixth graders are helping third grade students with their Holidays around the World project by using the flight simulators to fly around areas like Tel Aviv and Paris.
This article appears in Dec 17-24, 2015.