In order to make a positive impact on education, Challenger Center must reach all parts of the education system—students, teachers, schools, and communities. We have developed a full array of hands on and minds on programs to accomplish this.

Challenger Center lessons and activities are designed using a four-part instructional model that emphasizes content, cooperative learning, problem solving, and decision making. These foundation elements have been in place since the organization was created in 1986, and serve as the basis for all education programs created subsequently.

We believe exploration is the essence of learning. We also think that the best way to promote scientific literacy is to encourage curiosity in the classroom so that students not only get asked questions, but ask them in return; and that they take an active role in discovering the answers on their own.

Above all, within the framework of all Challenger Center education materials are the following goals:

• Increase student interest in science, mathematics, and technology.
• Give abstract concepts concrete meaning.
• Encourage students to develop positive perspectives about learning.
• Increase student commitment to learning.

Challenger Center programs are designed to reflect academic standards such as the National Science Education Standards by the National Research Council and the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Simulations

Many of our programs are built on simulation methods inspired by the way NASA trains America's astronauts—such as the mission scenarios that routinely launch hundreds of thousands of students to Mars, Moon, and beyond in Challenger Learning Centers throughout the world. Educational simulations are dynamic models of real-world activity designed to allow students to face authentic conditions and problem solve just as their professional counterparts must.

Explaining the simulation philosophy, Challenger Center Founding Chairman June Scobee Rodgers once said, "Kids learn through seeing and hearing and interacting and feeling. That's why they love computer games, scary or funny movies, and sports. When they're interacting with one another or working towards solving a problem in a team effort, they're using all their senses. Because they've personally participated, they can recall the lesson from their own experience, and that has much more impact than simply recalling facts they've read or heard."