 This thing is a pretty hot one. So if we looked at a star, which would be a hot star? Blue one and a cold one would be red. Right. Okay. How to get students excited about learning science? That's a question that teachers across the country face daily and the answer may be in the stars Along with the next space shuttle NASA will be launching a new education program Designed to give teachers and students a big lift. The program is called Space Classroom Assignment the stars it will happen during astro one a space lab mission dedicated to astronomy Our purpose is to involve teachers and their students in the excitement of space shuttle science missions and also to provide educators with some additional teaching tools that they can use in their classrooms at the heart of the space classroom program is a Lesson on the electromagnetic spectrum taught by science astronauts in space as they orbit the earth There will be demonstrations from a classroom within the Astro one control center in Huntsville, Alabama And an opportunity for students to ask questions of the astronauts in orbit Students from five states will participate at two NASA facilities the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland Students at the Marshall Center will take part in three full days of activities that include laboratory sessions Sitting alongside space lab controllers as they direct science activities aboard the shuttle and going to nearby US space camp Space classroom subject matter is similar to what these students could expect in their home schools The kids in space classroom will be doing some hands-on activities to explain the characteristics and components of the electromagnetic spectrum And that is a basic physics concept We'll be talking about not only the visible light but also invisible forms of energy such as ultraviolet and x-ray Although these ideas are basic space classroom will give students a new perspective on their significance It's one thing to learn about a scientific concept in the classroom But it's something else entirely to see how that concept is being applied by astronauts aboard the space shuttle for example and That link between the classroom and the real world is what space classroom is all about NASA hopes this new program will help teachers bring science down to earth for their students by taking the classroom to space In Huntsville, Alabama. This is Mike Errington reporting You know, I'll tell you I tell you guys something we we had a governor hut is here, but we had a governor's conference the governor's from all the states And I don't think any president has had that before it but one of the goals a National goal first time they ever set national goals was to have much more Literacy and fluency in math and science and so you're out on the cutting edge I mean just the knowledge of this but but it's a very important goal and keeping our country competitive and keeping us Continuing to lead the world and in science and math this whole educational goal. So good luck And we see the copper makes a nice green flame every time so I but that's just fine If you would go ahead and try this one All right Sure What do I got here then? Okay, you have lithium and lithium always makes a red flame So if we saw this red flame again, we would know that we had lithium the space classroom Lessons will enable students to hear a lecture by the shuttle team and then interact with questions and discussion The entire learning session will be carried by the NASA select the classrooms across the country What a powerful way to teach our kids the importance of space What a great example of the fate of the effect of our space program and the effect of our space program on Education well, we're seeing that test scores are declining in math and science And that shows us that kids are really losing interest in math and science They they seem to think that it's something that only geniuses can do and it's not applicable to their lives But we think that it really is a day-to-day thing teachers are losing sight of that and they need to be encouraged to teach It day-to-day in the classroom kids need to see that it's something that would help them in their future as a Consumer and a voter and also math and science are real things that they could go into as a career Does that make sense? So light always travels at the same speed and they have different frequencies and then different wavelengths