Moon rocks land in Mundelein
Talk about the value of education.
On Wednesday morning, West Oak Middle School teacher Sandy Simonis picked up her lesson materials from a vault at Mundelein Community Bank. She had to take them back after class.
For three days this week, six seventh-grade classes studying earth and space as part of the astronomy unit are getting a close look at samples of the moon as well as pieces of a meteorite - a first for the Mundelein school. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration considers the samples of the moon surface to be priceless, and teachers like Simonis, who secure them for their classrooms, have to follow protocol.
"I have to have a security plan - where will I keep them when they're not in my sight?" she said. She can't take them home, nor can they be locked overnight at the school.
Simonis, who technically is called a math and science differentiation coach, learned the samples might be available and signed up for a class taught by NASA experts at the Educational Service Center in Grayslake.
After months in the application process, Simonis received a large, shiny metal briefcase containing the samples. Both the moon material and the meteorites are encased in a clear, shatterproof material and contain six tiny samples of rock or soil from space.
Though surprised at how small they are, Simonis says they are a valuable teaching tool.
"There were six Apollo missions where astronauts went on the moon and took samples," she tells a class.
Apollo 13, which experienced technical difficulties and never made it to the moon, is not on the educational chart. Students watched a portion of the 1995 movie starring Tom Hanks that told the story of that mission.
She explained that astronauts had to use manual controls to bring the craft home. Modern space craft don't splash into oceans anymore but land like airplanes, she tells the class.
"Anything you can do to make it real," adds value to a lesson, Simonis said. "We can't take them to the moon but to bring a piece here..."