Decades of Sustainability.

Since 1998, educators at Wheeling Jesuit University's Challenger Learning Center and Center for Educational Technologies have created realistic live simulations of science and medical emergencies in which students act as astronauts, scientists or doctors to solve STEM problems such as diagnosing diseases, stopping epidemics, picking a safe spacecraft landing spot, and rescuing stranded astronauts. These 90 to 120-minute simulations, e-Missions, are video-conferenced into classrooms, with companion websites providing pre-mission preparation, supplemental resources and teacher tutorials. e-Missions have been used more than 11,000 times at schools in 50 states and 22 nations. More than 310,000 elementary, middle and high school students have role-played STEM experts, and 10,000 teachers were trained to use technology and problem-based learning. Shorter live missions, e-Labs, were created to demonstrate science topics in 3-9 grade classrooms, and e-Labs Jr do the same for K-3. The simulations and e-Labs are developed with funding from agencies, foundations and corporations, and are maintained through payments by schools of $400 to $550 for each e-Mission, and $200 for e-Labs, often year after year as culminating events for relevant curricula. More than $5 million dollars have been earned over the last 20 years, supporting the sustained delivery of these innovative STEM experiences, and software and hardware updates. Evaluations have identified positive changes in e-Mission student attitudes and perceptions toward science and science careers.