09/20/2007
OXFORD, Miss. – Several hundred visitors to the University
of Mississippi Thursday (Sept. 20) journeyed into space
through the medium of an interactive mobile exhibit.
Wide-eyed and with jaws dropping, elementary, middle and
high school students from north Mississippi and west
Tennessee experienced the simulated spacewalk through
NASA’s Vision of Space Exploration Experience.
The mobile unit stationed in front of the Old Chemistry
building on Lyceum Circle is free and open to the public
through Friday (Sept. 21), from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is
sponsored by the School of Engineering. At NASA’s request,
engineering school demonstrations to complement activities
in the mobile unit are being staged at Carrier Hall.
“This is huge,” said Maxine Woolsey, education outreach
specialist. “More than 1,000 students and teachers from
area schools plan to participate. We even have a large
group coming from Cordova, Tennessee.”
Inside the exhibit, patrons experience a virtual journey to
the Moon and Mars, surrounded by stars and other planets.
“It’s a lot like being inside an IMAX theater,” said
Shirley Jones of Oxford. Jones home schools sisters Lindy
and Hannah Vanderford, who also visited the display.
The 3-D imagery projects the illusion of stepping on
various surfaces of the moon and Mars, and flying to
Saturn’s moon Titan. Holographic video screens create
floating images, allowing visitors’ hand motions to
“control” and “create” bases for human life on the
planets.
“I liked kicking the moon rocks and red fish around on the
floor,” said Justin Miller, a sixth-grader from South
Pontotoc Middle School. “Having the planets move along
beside us was really cool, too.”
Besides the eye-opening show, several students said they
were impressed by the information presented. “Before I came
to this, I didn’t know there used to be water on Mars. I
touched a moon rock 175 billion years old,” said Samuel
Ivy, another South Pontotoc student. “This was a truly
great experience for me. Anyone who hasn’t seen this
already should definitely do so.”
Teachers chaperoning the students said they appreciated the
university and NASA for creating the learning opportunity.
“Today was one of many field trips we have planned for our
students to visit universities around the South,” said
Rodney Buford, a history instructor at Byhalia Middle
School. “We’ve been very impressed with the open
atmosphere. Hopefully, experiences like this will motivate
these kids to see past high school and consider going to
college.”
“Since NASA’s a long way from here, this is a great
opportunity for our students to see how engineering works
and its real-life applications,” said Renee Dayan, a
sixth-grade science teacher at Oxford Middle School.
As a souvenir, visitors had their photos taken and their
faces superimposed inside a spacesuit on a personalized
postcard. “My favorite part was having my picture taken,”
said Kendra Shegog, a sixth-grader at Oxford Middle
School.
Based on the positive response to the space exhibit and
engineering demonstrations, both Ole Miss and NASA may have
recruited future engineering students and astronauts.
“After seeing all this, I definitely hope to go to NASA one
day,” said Oxford Middle School student Chris Watson.
“I think it’s really cool how NASA can make all this stuff
that goes into space,” added Watson’s classmate Maggie
Cordell.
To learn more about engineering education at UM, visit
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/engineering?school/. To
request assistance related to a disability, call
662-915-7407.