Skip to content
The Night Class

The Classroom

The Classroom

the programs that turned a museum into a school: SEAM, Fly to Learn, the planetarium, the Mars Yard

every lesson on the board

4
  1. Students' hands in work gloves around an open aircraft engine cowling on a workbench, wrenches laid out on a cloth, workshop light overhead.

    lesson 4The Classroom

    SEAM: Wrenches Before Diplomas

    Reads the SEAM mechanics course the museum ran with Jamestown Community College, and what 'old clothes and old shoes' tells you about it.

  2. A child seated at a desktop flight simulator, hands on a small yoke and throttle, a monitor glowing with a soft instrument panel in a dim classroom.

    lesson 3The Classroom

    Fly to Learn, Powered by X-Plane

    Reads the Fly to Learn program: virtual flight software in county schools, and what a simulator does that a textbook cannot.

  3. A small planetarium projector with twin spheres in a darkened room, a field of projected stars on a low domed ceiling, empty folding chairs in shadow.

    lesson 2The Classroom

    The Planetarium in the Back Room

    Reads the museum's planetarium page, and why an air museum kept a star dome next door to the hangar.

  4. A small six-wheeled model rover on a bed of reddish gravel and rocks inside a museum room, a low webcam on a tripod aimed at the yard, warm lamp light.

    lesson 1The Classroom

    The Mars Yard and Its Web Rover

    Reads the Mars Yard with its web-controlled rover, the museum's strangest and most prescient teaching tool.