Special Reports

(WCCO) It's another day of learning for students as they step off the bus at Starbase. But inside the school at the Air National Guard base, it's anything but your normal classroom. You could call it "out-of-this-world."

Welcome to a week-long program covering science, math and technology, geared to fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders.

"It's really important to show them that math is not that difficult. Science is an accessible subject," said executive director Kim Van Wie, adding that the school's mission is to give students "a strong foundation of science and math really early on, because students lose interest in these subjects, especially girls."

Specifically, the program targets young students from inner-city schools, where high-tech learning tends to lag.

The school is a community outreach mission of Minnesota's Air National Guard and is funded through the Department of Defense.

"Starbase lets us provide a community mission, giving back something to the community," said Brig. Gen. Tim Cossalter. According to him, the program's success has spread the concept to 60 other military bases around the country.

Cossalter noted the fit between public schools and the resources that the Guard can provide.

"We have the resources and the technology which a normal school system has difficulty providing for their kids," he said.

It's also a strategic alliance, to help the country compete with the engineering minds being graduated in other countries.

"For every 20 workers we'll need one engineer," Gen. Cossalter explained.

Inside a classroom called "Apollo," there's hope some of those future engineers will sense their switch turned on today. One class is teaching simple spatial concepts of geometry. In another room, a more cutting-edge challenge is being taught, like designing a lunar-lander battery box through the use of computer-aided design.

Classrooms are visual, to say the least. Rockets, planets, airplanes and spaceships hang from ceilings. It is an environment rich with unconventional lessons. We caught one classroom enveloping one student inside a giant air pillow.

Instructor Angela Soelberg explained to her students, "The air is pushing on you and your body's pushing back, and [molecules] are playing this tug-of-war."

Teaching the concept of pressure and the forces that keep molecules from moving is the kind of learning that captures attention among the students. They respond to challenging concepts, like explaining how water can boil without applying heat. It's proven by placing the dish of water in an artificial vacuum, just like the environment of space.

In yet another classroom, Starbase instructors have the students experiment with robotic lunar rovers. They will try to determine which rover is best suited for the uneven surface of mars.

Teachers say immersion in science and math is key for the student's learning.

"This is an opportunity for those who don't speak English to do hands on science and get the concepts," said Como Elementary teacher Rita Ladoux, who visited Starbase with her sixth graders.

Lessons in the week-long program will culminate with each student being asked to journal in their personal log. They are expected to write down where they see their schoolwork taking them six years from now.

Perhaps -- more than math, science, rockets and rovers -- Starbase students unlock their inner selves.

Sixth-grader Shiny Her summed up her Starbase experience: "Try your best and maybe you can change your career. Maybe I'll be one of those astronauts going up in a space shuttle somewhere, someday."

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