Lucus County Challenger Learning Center

School Programs - Community and Public Programs - Corporate Programs

Download a reservation form so that you class can experience the power of the Lucas County Challenger Learning Center!

Location: Shuer Center 4955 Seaman Rd. Oregon, Ohio
Grade Levels: Grades 5 and higher.
Class Size: The Center will seat a maximum of 34 students. A minimum of 16 is required.
Price: $700 per class for teacher training, materials and the mission $600 per class if the teacher has been trained already
Reservations: Please call CLC Program Coordinator at 698-1501 to reserve your date.
Times: Missions are 2 1/2 hours long. The morning mission must start by 9:30 a.m. Suggested mission times are 9:00 - 11:30 and 12:15 - 2:45. We will attempt to work with each school regarding arrival and departure times.
Training: Teacher training is mandatory for the mission. Training is recommended at least 6 weeks prior to the mission to incorporate as many concepts as possible into the lesson plans prior to the mission.
Approval: Approval is required on the mission sign-up sheet by the Principal or Administrator.
Payment: A $100 deposit is due for each mission reserved. The balance of the payment is due two weeks before the mission.
Make-Up sessions: If the Shuer Center is closed, the Challenger Learning Center will be closed. For snow days or other cancellations, the mission will be rescheduled on the next available open date or a date following the first available if more convenient for the class, as the schedule allows.
Lunch: Box lunches are available at a reasonable price with advanced notice.
Other space available: There is a science lab available should it be required for additional classes prior to or after a mission. The teacher is responsible for students when not participating in a mission.

Your crew of astronauts will -- for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 -- land on the surface of the moon. This time the astronauts are there to establish a permanent base with the core goals of:

Establishing an observation program to study the Earth and other Solar System bodies without the interference of the Earth's atmosphere,
Testing the feasibility of a self-sustaining, off-planet settlement, and
Serving as a staging area for additional human exploration of our Solar System.

Return to the Moon

The year is 2015, and astronauts are on their way to the Moon. This time, they plan to stay. Navigating their way into lunar orbit, students launch a probe and analyze a variety of data to select a site for establishing a permanent Moon base. Students will begin a new era in human planetary explorations during their mission to Return to the Moon.

The Return to the Moon mission begins with the spacecraft in Earth's orbit and the Mission Control team monitoring the crew's status. The crew aboard the spacecraft will leave Earth's orbit and travel to the Moon using the latest in transport technology to reduce the travel time. In addition to verifying the best site for the establishment of the lunar base, during the course of the mission the crew will build and launch a probe that is stranded in space, and repair the damaged probe. Some information has been previously obtained from the potential lunar base sites. A detailed study has determined that the base site must contain soils, metals, and potentially useful resources such as helium-3. Rock and soil samples, soil composition, and seismic information have been gathered by previous missions from a portion of the potential sites. Experiments on soil and rock samples from other possible sites must be performed in order to determine the best site for the lunar base. The crew will navigate their spacecraft to the Moon and plot an acceptable orbit. Together the crew will place their spaceship in lunar orbit and make the important decision of the location of the first permanent lunar base. To gather the data needed to analyze potential lunar base sites, the crew will have to function as a team and utilize their best communication and analytical skills.

While the Learning Center programs are focused on teachers and students, parents and youth group leaders may not realize that there are a wealth of year-round programs offered which extend beyond the walls of the classroom and long after the last school bell has rung. Scout troop groups are invited to fly a three-hour mission simulation. Although the classroom preparation is absent from the experience, children still realize other benefits. As they work together towards a mission's goal, whether it's the launching of a probe or the interception of a comet, they rely and build upon teamwork, leadership, and communication.

Rendezvous with a Comet

In the not-too-distant future, scientists are on their way to take an up-close look at a comet as it streaks its way across the sky. Constructing a probe and plotting an intercept course, students take the helm in a specially equipped space station, and overcome the challenges of space travel in their brave attempt to Rendezvous with a Comet.

Corporate Connection

Challenger Learning Center's focus on teamwork and space science education for youth is a perfect catalyst for corporate team building. The unique learning environment demands the attention of employees, captures their imagination, and drives home your training message in a dramatic and memorable way!

The Key is Simulation

The Challenger Learning Center shatters the routine and creates an experience participants don't soon forget! Instead of squinting at overheads, participant are thrown into a demanding space mission that forces them to work as a team. To make decisions that are critical to the outcome of the mission, crew members must rely on on e another. Success o the mission depends on effective communication and problem-solving skills.

Mission Experience

Assigned to one of eight interrelated teams, the participants "fly" the mission. Each participant experiences two simulator locations: mission control, which is patterned after NASA's Johnson Space Center, and the operations deck of a futuristic spacecraft.

All of Challenger Center's educational programs impart content information and process skills to students through experiential learning. These experiences generate understanding and learning by engaging students in simulation --authentic, meaningful, and illuminating reproductions of real-world experience. These processes and content areas are found uniformly in a host of national and state educational standards, chiefly the National Science Education Standards, developed by a consortium led by the National Research Council.

General Information