“Is the space program over?” It’s a question I’ve heard a thousand times as we came near the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis. This morning, at 4:57 am I watched touchdown and the end of an era in the Space Program. A couple of hours later, I read a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. His words immediately made me think of my classroom.
He wrote: “Children who dream of being astronauts today may not fly on the space shuttle . . . but, one day, they may walk on Mars. The future belongs to us. ”
The opportunities we provide kids today are our tomorrow. If we want innovation, we have to plan for that now. We cannot spoon feed facts to our kids and tell them the steps to problems. We cannot ask them to read answers from text books. We cannot expect them to become the problem solvers of tomorrow without providing them the tools they will need. The best way to learn how to problem solve? Practice. Every experience in our classroom needs to be about learning. Not just gaining factual knowledge, but gaining experience with designing, creating, facing challenge, and even failure.
Right now, in schools all over America, test scores are being pushed above all else, the chances for creativity in the classroom are being pushed aside to “practice” for tests, gifted education programs are being cut. At the same time, the government speaks of a need for innovation and STEM education, but then puts restraints on schools like the past few years of NCLB, and unbelievable testing pressures that squeeze the life from our teaching. The opportunities that assist kids in developing creativity, problem solving, and challenge are slipping away.
What we do every day affects our tomorrow. Sure, there are things we cannot control in education that will have to be fixed. But, aren’t there things we can do right now to see that our future is filled with a generation of innovative-problem-solving creators? Yep.
If we do THAT, then when someone asks “Is the space program over?” The answer is no. If they ask for proof, take them into a classroom where kids are creating and solving problems. They will see, as Bolden pointed out, the future begins today. And this is just the beginning.
