Five secondary science education students from the Auburn University College of Education recently returned from an intensive two-week workshop conducted through the NASA professional development project, Urban and Rural Community Enrichment Program (URCEP).

The workshop was held at Oklahoma State University and is a NASA Aerospace Education Services Program designed to expose students in urban and rural areas to various topics stemming from NASA's missions of research, discovery and exploration. The purpose of the URCEP program is to capture, channel and enhance the interest of teachers and students in science, mathematics, engineering, technology and geography.

Sally Duke, Denise Meade, Lori McCall, Laura Smith and Tom Hartner where the only five pre-service teachers selected through a competitive application process to participate in URCEP, along with 35 K-12 teachers from across the country and Guam and Puerto Rico. The AU students were encouraged to apply for the professional development workshop by their professor, Dr. Octavia Tripp.

"I encouraged my students to apply because it is important for future teachers to see the real essence of teaching and understand how to work with their colleagues. People are different and you have to understand how to relate to a variety of personalities to succeed," Tripp said.

Tripp, who worked for NASA for 11 years and served as coordinator for this program for five years, said the program started out for urban in-service teachers who needed a little something extra to get students excited about science. It expanded to incorporate rural in-service teachers and last summer was the first time pre-service teachers were invited to attend.

"It was good for these five students to all be chosen because they became the support for each other during the long days and long nights of the workshop," she said.

Sally Duke and Denise Meade both enjoyed the projects and activities they participated in during the first week of the workshop. A common favorite was constructing and launching a hot air balloon. They both also learned a lot about aeronautics as they became part of three-legged flights and took turns with team members flying a Cessna aircraft.

They also received training in various activities and teaching strategies that can be integrated into the science, mathematics, geography and language arts curricula. A few of the other highlights included an introduction to living in space, building a rocket, learning effective ways to teach aerospace concepts and taking part in hands-on seminars.

The workshop wasn't all hard work. Part of the second week was spent traveling to Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. In Dayton, the group went to the Dayton Air Show and saw the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels and Canadian Snow Birds all perform at the same air show for the first time in history, Duke said. It was part of a celebration for the 100^th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic flight.

They also went to the airfield where they toured former Air Force One planes, such as Kennedy, Truman, Eisenhower and Roosevelt's.

"I think that was the part that touched me the most—seeing that part of history," Duke said.

Meade was also moved by some of the experiences provided through the workshop. "I really enjoyed the Bessie Coleman monologue that was part of the aviation portion. She was the first African-American woman to fly and the monologue told the history behind it. It was a really good performance and added a nice dramatic flare," she said.

Both soon-to-be-teachers felt the experience was very beneficial and provided a lot of information and strategies that will be useful in the classroom. Another plus was "the projects they showed us weren't expensive," Meade said.

Besides preparing these five AU students for their future careers in education, this workshop introduced them to a network of teachers who where able to share some of their personal experiences and act as mentors.

"It presented them with the opportunity to see first-hand that teaching is the same all over the country and world," Tripp said. "It truly was a wonderful opportunity for professional development for the pre-service teachers and it demonstrates that you always keep on learning."