Davis Planetarium continues to educate children during NASA Astro Camp

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Davis Planetarium may not be opened, but its NASA Astro Camp continues to educate children in STEM.

Children are learning about astronomy, robotics coding, and more during the annual NASA Astro Camp at Jackson State University.

The Davis Planetarium may not be bringing us a view of the stars while under renovation, but it’s still teaching children about space and what it takes to get there.

Thursday’s session of NASA Astro Camp found children operating drones and learning about flight. It was one of the courses offered during the three-week camp.

“It’s like very informative, and I’m learning a lot from it,” said Payton Fleming.

The 13-year-old from Madison wants to be an engineer.

“Now with the advancement of technology this is basically technology is everywhere,” said Fleming. “So I think if you can really get that in your mind and learn how it works it’s gonna help you everywhere.”

One activity was creating pinwheels and not just for art. Campers are learning about velocity.

“Everything that we do here in this camp has to do with space, astronomy, and galaxy,” said NASA Coordinator Camp Instructor Artesia Porter. “So we’re using rotation. That’s one of the tools they’re also experiencing when they blow and it spins.”

Raina Mims of Fort Worth Texas has attended the camp since 2019. The thirteen-year-old is interested in bioengineering and bioscience.

“If you like engineering or science or just learning period it’s fun,” said Mims. “I like learning new things. I like to read a lot.”

Derrick Chapman is the NASA Astro Camp Robotics instructor. Last week’s classes centered on flight.

“I want the kids to gain coding skills and understand how flight works and specifically in our area of drones,” said Chapman. “It’s important to expose our kids to STEM careers.”

Camp ends July 28th. To learn more or to register, click here.

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