About Us

Rosemary Shaw
Teacher
Millennium Middle School

What do you remember most about the Challenger mission and its crew?

I remember that Christa McAuliffe talked about knowing the dangers, but said it was worth it. It was her dream. In my mind, that fatal flight was just one more learning experience for her, a chance to inspire her students. All pioneers risk dangers, but her quest for knowledge will live on.

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Design Challenges require a certain level of commitment from you and your students. What was it about the Design Challenges that first attracted your attention?

As a technology teacher, I feel that my most important job is teaching students how to use technology constructively—and I believe that the two top reasons for using technology include research and communication. The Design Challenges encourage the use of technology for both research and communication. Every step of the Design Challenges requires in-depth research.

Also, the rubric states that students must use both electronic and non-electronic sources. Which means students must know how to correctly use technology as a research tool—how to use web browsers, search engines, and how to determine if a web site is factual, or stating a biased opinion on a topic. The Design Challenges also encourage the use of technology for communication, and one set of tools in place to do this are the official discussion boards where students use technology to get help, and to often help each other.

However, when I first started using the Space Day^SM Design Challenges, I was a math teacher, and what interested me then was using them as a catalyst for students' interest in math. It worked. Any way you look at it, the Design Challenges encourage the use of technology tools to expand students' minds and experiences while teaching national standards in science, mathematics, and language arts.

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How has the experience compared with your expectations?

Oh my gosh! Above and beyond! Students enroll in my classes now for the specific purpose of doing the Design Challenges. I often hear, "So, Mrs. Shaw, are we building planes this year? What about rovers?" I shake my head, and wonder how to tell them that it all depends on the Design Challenges.

And, I am not sure if it’s to garner student interest, or just for the fun memories, but I keep examples of the students' projects all over my room. For example, I have Martian Boots and a rover on the back counter, as well as a couple of airplanes on my bookshelves. I also have videos of hovercrafts and other inventive creations designed by students for the Design Challenges.

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What has surprised you the most about what your students were able to accomplish with their Design Challenge solution?

Students can do anything. I learned that years ago—with the first hovercraft. Yes, it was a working hovercraft designed by a group of students as their rover for use on Mars. The next semester, I had a group create ANOTHER working hovercraft. It was unbelievable. We had so many different, creative ideas for rovers that year!

Another thing that has surprised me is the students who are usually unmotivated to work in any of their other classes. They get involved in the Design Challenges, and they start reading…and do extra research. They sometimes have to work at math to compute average distance, and they work at it, until they get it. But there is something about the Design Challenges that draws them in. Is it space? Is it the teamwork? I don’t know, but I love the way it motivates students.

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Research is important in the Design Challenges, but collaboration and creativity are too. Can you discuss how your students worked together as a team on their project?

I always volunteer to have ESE (Exceptional Education Students) in my classes. The Design Challenges are created in a way that allows everyone to participate in a group. For example, the ESE students have drawn pictures or colored graphs for their teammates. Everyone can be a working member of a team with these Design Challenges.

I also think it is important to teach students how to work in teams. For this project, I helped students delineate jobs and understand that teamwork did not mean sleeping while others toiled. Though, as I mentioned earlier, I had little cause for concern. This project drew in students. It was interesting and fun—though not easy! And the students wanted to do it, and each wanted to have a successful team.

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How did collaboration change the dynamic in your classroom?

I think this project brought my classes together as a community. Students, who normally wouldn’t be talking to each other, were now working as teammates. Some of them would meet in the Media Center during lunch to continue working on an idea that one of them had during class. One teacher brought me a note and laughed. She thought it was between a boyfriend and girlfriend, but instead, it was about their Design Challenge; he was asking if the girl had researched her ‘harsh living environment’ facts.

After the project was over, many of the teams became real friends and have worked together on other projects after school.

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Does any one student stand out in your mind as having been especially affected by the Space Day Design Challenge experience?

My favorite story is about a girl from the ESE classes. Though listed as EMD (Educable Mentally Disabled), her love of the project had her doing better than her regular ed teammates. At one point, she was showing them where she got her information, and how to do certain things on her web pages. It was great. Though not creative, she worked harder and inspired her teammates to do their best too.

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How have your students' attitudes about science and mathematics (and their abilities) changed as the result of their participation in Space Day?

It all becomes real for them. Not something they see on TV, not something that other people do or learn about; it’s something they are doing! They all complain about the work, they are middle schoolers, but then they look back and brag about what they have accomplished. Parents call me, not believing that their child knows this much about space or science.

My students always work with NASA when doing their projects. This year, they designed an alien they might have found on their planets. They loved talking to real NASA engineers who told them their ideas had merit, that they could see the real research being done by the students. With that one pat on the back, my kids are off and running, thinking they can conquer the world, or conquer space! This project helps them to believe in themselves, while learning about space.

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