City Kemp News
Sixteen teachers along with others from around the world attended one of two five-day programmes offered over consecutive weeks from June 10 to 23 at Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA). Created in partnership with the US Space and Rocket Center (USSRC), Honeywell (NYSE:HON) developed the award-winning scholarship programme to help middle school Math and Science teachers become more effective educators in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Among them – Bhagyam Shekar Ram, Vice Principal, National Public School, HSR Layout was one of the four teachers selected from Karnataka to attend this prestigious programme for about 205 teachers from all over the world, conducted at the Space Academy for Educators, Huntsville, Alabama. The other three teachers from the State were Vishnupriya Balusulapalem, Shylaja Jayaram, and Subhashree Seetharamaier. Joyeeta Adhikari, Aparupa Ghosh, Seema Sharma, Kiran Jadhav, Anubha Ramgopal and Neha Teredesai from Pune; Prakash Chandra Sahoo, Pooja Sharma and Manisha Malhotra from Gurgaon; Anitha Anoop and Shobha Devi Rajendran from Calicut, and Sindhu A. from Ernakulam attended this year’s programme.
“It was an unforgettable experience focussing science and space exploration, with the educational program focussing STEM . What separates STEM from the traditional science and math education is the blended learning environment and showing students how the scientific method can be applied to everyday life”, Bhagyam Shekar said.
The teachers got an exposure at Astronaut Simulators and were taken for a virtual tour into space to save the International Space Station. Trainees also followed lesson plans based on NASA content (which is correlated to the National Science Education Standards) and received content and knowledge to pass on to their students in the classroom’
“We want our students to be able to inquire, think, investigate and innovate. The exercises and simulations at HESA have given me a different perspective of how math and science can be taught to students. I would like to take this experience to schools in rural areas in Karnataka and train those teachers on how to introduce STEM education”, Bhagyam Shekar said.
This year 205 teachers from 24 countries attended this programme. Teachers were given rigorous training focused on science and space exploration including astronaut-style exercises like high-performance jet simulation, scenario-based space mission, land and water survival training, and interactive flight dynamics programmes. Over the past 11 years, Honeywell has awarded scholarships to 2,381 teachers from 55 countries, including 57 teachers from India.
To attend HESA, candidates must complete a thorough application process to ensure the most qualified teachers are selected.
Once chosen, teachers are awarded scholarships, roundtrip airfare, tuition, meals and accommodations sponsored by Honeywell and its employees. For more information, visit http://educators.honeywell.com.
