THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508170256
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 49 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
IN THEIR EFFORT to prepare kids for 21st century technology, the Camden County Schools are reaching for the stars.
The small, rural system, in its second year of a National Science Foundation technology training grant, is counting down to a partnership with another federal agency on the forefront of science research - NASA.
School officials met early this month with NASA liaisons and a host of area educators interested in the possibilities of using satellites to link classrooms with activities at the NASA Langley Research Center.
And officials in both Langley and Raleigh are eyeing Camden as a possible pilot site for a future statewide connnection to NASA Langley.
The prospect excites those who have worked to launch the project since early this year.
``It's like a blood transfusion,'' said Camden County High School Assistant Principal Tim Aydlett. ``Once in a while you get into such a venture, it kind of gets your blood flowing again.''
Aydlett worked with then-high school Principal J.E.B. Stuart and Camden Schools computer guru Terry Mitchell, along with officials at the U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Technical Training Center, on preliminary discussions with NASA.
Through the partnership, NASA will provide television programming in science and math that can be added to Camden's classroom curriculum.
``We have a studio that will be able to uplink information that can be used in the classroom,'' said Peter Thomas, an aerospace education specialist at NASA Langley Research Center. ``We're looking at 30-minute presentations, and they would be looking at written material to prepare the students for the broadcast.''
The NASA studio will be linked through a fiber-optics network to all the labs at the research center, which will ``make the studio, in essence, an extension of the laboratories,'' Thomas said.
Camden officials started the dialogue with NASA earlier this year when Aydlett started traveling to NASA Langley every week for another benefit - free surplus equipment.
Every Thursday, Aydlett spends half an hour rooting through a NASA warehouse, picking out excess equipment like computers, cabinets and microscopes that he thinks Camden can use. The salvaging opportunity is open to schools within a 200-mile radius of Langley.
Aydlett says he's collected tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment - most of which works - to use for storage, technology, communications, labs and whatever else comes up.
``For once, schools or somebody is getting benefit from excess equipment,'' Aydlett said.
The county's efforts to stay on the technological frontier have opened a lot of doors.
Late last month, Camden Schools Superintendent Carole C. Smith and the district's National Science Foundation grant coordinator, Virginia J. Noblitt, spent a weekend at a White House forum on science and math education.
The pair, two of only eight North Carolina public school participants at the conference, reported on their progress with the National Science Foundation technology training grant.
The ongoing training for 24 teachers and administrators has helped the district get a grasp on computers and technology, Smith said.
``You can see the benefits of it in the classroom,'' she said. ``Students are using computers in kindergarten right through the 12th grade.''
Smith said she hoped the schools' pair of technology projects would build off one another.
And others can't wait to get to work with NASA.
``The resource potential of tapping into NASA is neat,'' said Capt. Lewis Dunn of the Coast Guard Aviation Technical Training Center. The agency is providing technical support for the NASA project.
``It's just really some exciting programs to spur science education,'' Dunn said. by CNB