Trinity students (from left) Tiahna Ludborzs, Mitchell Richardson and Maddy Parks with NASA astronaut CharlesCamarda (second from left) last week. PHOTO: Gabrielle Torpey
GABRIELLE TORPEY
NASA astronaut Dr Charles J. Camarda visited Gawler on Friday to speak to Trinity College students and teachers about his Epic Challenges program.
The initiative has run for 10 years from across America to Finland, and now in Australia, collaborating with University of South Australia’s C3L Program.
“I’m here spreading this idea for a program to study, getting kids excited about space, and excited about science and engineering and trying to, basically, transform the way we educate students to bring the fun back into learning,” Dr Camarda said.
Having more than 45 years’ experience with NASA and 333 hours in space, Dr Camarda is happy to be back on Earth and teaching ‘Aussies’ about his program.
“It’s all about teamwork, about teaching students how to learn, teaching them how to create an environment that’s safe for learning, and teaching them how to fail,” he said.
“It is important to fail in things, and not be scared to fail because we learn from failing.”
As part of the program, students and teachers are given a problem to solve and have to come up with innovative ways to find the answer.
Dr Camarda is very passionate about his Epic Challenges program and hopes one day to improve the way we teach and learn individually in Australia.
