The 5th grade G/T class was treated to a special presentation last week. Mrs. Carole Nelms came to speak to the class about her experience working at Johnson Space Center in Houston during several Apollo missions. She was in Mission Control when Apollo 13 landed, and shared with the students how it felt to hold her breath, praying that the astronauts would survive the return to Earth! She had a photo of herself sitting in Mission Control, and showed the scene in Ron Howard’s film, “Apollo 13” in which an actress is staged to look like her! She said that Ron Howard was very careful to be as accurate as possible in the creation of the film, and she felt it was very close to what happened.
The students had read about, and were familiar with the Apollo 13 Mission. A lesson in 10 Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Should Know (But Are Rarely Taught) details the three major mistakes that led to the oxygen tank explosion which endangered the lives of astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise. The students had also viewed scenes from the movie depicting one example after another of creative problem solving, such as when a team of experts build a carbon-dioxide filter out of duct tape and miscellaneous materials available to them.
We loved hearing Mrs. Nelms share her “inside knowledge” and the students also benefited from her wise advice to never limit themselves and value working collaboratively with others, no matter how small a part you may play on a team. We also had a good time discussing how technology has changed our lives and what the future may hold.
You can click here to see some of the thank-you notes written to Mrs. Nelms by the students. Thank you, again, Carole Nelms! We loved having you!