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<b>First Posted:</b> 3/17/2008<br><br>SHERRY LONG 
 
 slong@www.timesleader.com
NANTICOKE &amp;ndash; The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster in 1986 occurred before the students in Anthony Fleury&amp;rsquo;s physics class were born. 

But those same Nanticoke High School students, most of whom were born after 1990, are learning and creating projects about the disaster, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration program and one of its most famous astronauts &amp;ndash; school teacher Christa McAuliffe. 
His eighth-grade, 11th- and 12-grade students are learning about these subjects as they prepare for a visit from McAuliffe&amp;rsquo;s mother, Grace Corrigan, on Wednesday. 
But they are not learning the way their parents did &amp;ndash; looking up information in library card catalogs, encyclopedias or reading thick books to write a multi-page report. 
This generation of students is using the latest technology to learn about the New Hampshire teacher&amp;rsquo;s life, career and how the disaster occurred. They are reading about her life online. 
Instead of writing a multi-page report, they are making podcasts complete with video clips, audio and photographs. 
But when you ask the students if they feel they are being given a tough project, they shrug it off. The students feel like they are getting a free pass. They don&amp;rsquo;t see this as work. 
&amp;ldquo;I really like doing this &amp;ndash; designing everything; it&amp;rsquo;s a lot of fun. It&amp;rsquo;s an interesting topic,&amp;rdquo; said Kristy Gleco, Nanticoke senior. . 
But Fleury points out &amp;ndash; they are indeed working and learning &amp;ndash; but now the technology level is up to the students&amp;rsquo; level. 
&amp;ldquo;Their understanding of the subject matter just goes through the roof. It&amp;rsquo;s just the way the brain works. Their attention level has increased and they are able to keep on tasks,&amp;rdquo; he said. 
But it&amp;rsquo;s not only the students in Fleury&amp;rsquo;s physics classes that will learn from Corrigan&amp;rsquo;s visit. The English classes will, too. 
Students in Rachel Jefferies&amp;rsquo; English class are also preparing for the visit, as she is asking them to re-evaluate what they think a hero is, using a book Corrigan wrote about her daughter. 
In Corrigan&amp;rsquo;s book, &amp;ldquo;A Journal for Christa,&amp;rdquo; she said she considers her daughter a real American hero. 
&amp;ldquo;I think a lot of kids have incorrect notions about what a hero is,&amp;rdquo; Jefferies said. &amp;ldquo;I want them to read the intro and reevaluate what an everyday hero is.&amp;rdquo;
McAuliffe, who would have turned 60 later this year, was selected to be the first teacher in space in 1984, beating out 11,000 other applicants. 
Info box


What: Grace Corrigan, mother of teacher Christa McAuliffe who was killed in the Challenger incident in 1986, will speak to Greater Nanticoke Area School District students and staff 

When: March 18 &amp;ndash; Corrigan will speak to faculty and staff; March 19 &amp;ndash; Corrigan will speak to students in grades 9-12 at 9 a.m., and students in grades 6-8 at 11:30 a.m. 

Where: Nanticoke High School Auditorium


    

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.

High-tech projects focus on McAuliffe