Emporia State University is about to have a speaker who’s out of this world.
Space shuttle astronaut George “Pinky” Nelson will give a pair of speeches in Emporia on Oct. 27. His first address, the Fall 2006 Jones Distinguished Lecture, will focus on the need for reform in science, technology and math education while the second, an address for the general public, will talk about what space travel is like and why it’s important.
“We thought this was ... a wonderful opportunity to have him share his experiences with as many people as possible,” coordinator Lucie Eusey said through e-mail. “How many of us have had a chance to meet an astronaut?”
Nelson flew on shuttle missions in 1984, 1986 and 1988, including the flights immediately before and after the Challenger disaster. He was the first American to walk in space without a tether and has logged 411 hours of flight time in space.
These days, though, he spends much of his time encouraging others to reach for the horizon. Nelson is an advocate for education reform and a past director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“My message is that nothing is sacred,” he told the Harvey Mudd College Alumni Bulletin earlier this year. “A lot of what we do in schools is because we’ve always done them. Why group kids by age? Nobody knows. Why not by social skills or other ways? Why traditional classrooms? How do you buy textbooks? Why are teachers so poorly paid?”
Nelson has often said that one of the biggest challenges in education is that teachers can’t hope to teach the skills needed 20 years from now. All they can do, he said, is teach students to learn quickly and learn constantly.
“The biggest deficit of all is that people come out of school really having had very little practice thinking about things — gathering evidence, drawing a conclusion based on evidence, telling the difference between an evidence-based argument and an opinion-based argument,” he told the alumni bulletin. “If we’re going to go into the future on any firm basis, we have to have people who can think.”
Nelson is currently the director of science, mathematics and technology education and associate professor of physics and astronomy at Western Washington University.
Nelson’s first lecture, the Jones Distinguished Lecture, will begin at 12:15 p.m. in the Sauder Alumni Center and concentrate on the need for education reform from kindergarten through the undergraduate years of college. A luncheon will precede the lecture at 11:45 a.m. Reservations must be made by Tuesday as seating is limited. For reservations, contact Eusey at leusey@emporia.edu.
His second lecture, called “The View From Space: What’s It Like, Does It Change Your Perspective and Why Do We Go?” is open to the general public. It will begin at 7 p.m. in Albert Taylor Hall and discuss what space flight is like, from the launch to the landing, along with the training required, the effects on the astronauts and the need to continue space exploration.
No admission will be charged for the lecture.