Challenger Center director Thomas Patty talks Wednesday about what students experience when they go to the center.Thomas Patty has been to Mars thousands of times.
As part of the Voyage to Mars Mission simulation at UTC’s Challenger Learning Center, Patty, the center’s director, has led thousands of middle school students as they launch a probe to one of the Martian moons.
“NASA should have just called us,” he said referring to the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars last week. “We could have told them what to do.”
The Challenger Learning Center network, which consists of 48 centers internationally, works to improve education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, particularly in the United States.
This year, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga center will host the 2012 Challenger Center for Space Science Education conference, which begins Monday. The conference brings together representatives from Challenger Centers around the world to discuss programming and best practices.