New York City students head to space school
LOWER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- They maybe a little young for NASA, but a group of fifth graders are getting a taste of the stars on the Lower East Side.
The New York City Center for Aerospace and Applied Mathematics has been around for more than a decade, and it's getting $1 million in upgrades.
Outgoing Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina on Thursday took a tour of mission control, which is bringing stem-science, technology, engineering and math to life. Farina believes the program is so valuable because it's experiential and takes learning to a whole new level.
The rooms really do look like mission control, with teachers in NASA-style jumpsuits and students communicating over headsets.
In another room, sixth graders from the Bronx used flight simulators as a part of a larger lesson on weather. Elsewhere, first graders were huddled inside an inflatable planetarium.
Jesus Pena is a fifth grader at PS 54, and he loves that he is communicating with kids in another part of the science center. For him, it's way better than even the movies.
The space center hosted 360 class trips from schools across the boroughs last year.
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