WICHITA, Kansas, July 21, 2008 – With just a few weeks until school starts, a couple of Kansas teachers have quite a year planned already.

From spinning out of control to feeling weightless, it’s all part of space camp for teachers. Two educators from Sedgwick County were chosen to go.

Boeing sponsored their week-long trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the teachers are shown how to get their students fired up about math and science. They even get sent home with materials for their classrooms.

"More than we could do in a year so we have plenty to choose from, and it's all ages from fifth grade on up to high school,” said Oaklawn teacher Carrie Branson.

Branson is already putting together kits for her student to build their own rockets.

"Yes, we will take them out in the field behind the school building, and we will actually launch them,” Branson said.

Branson also has software she can use in a computerized projector called a “smart board.” She can give students a virtual tour of NASA and show them experiments.

"They have a video of toys in space so they took yo-yos up,” Branson said. “The kids can play with them here and turn around and see how the toys reacted different in space."

She’ll even incorporate space exploration into the kids’ reading assignments, trying to spark interest in a subject even she has been complacent about.

"It was kinda there, you taught it, it was exciting,” she said. “But now, boy can I tell 'em how exciting it is."

Branson and the other local teacher, Tina Gonzales of the Gordon Parks Academy, were among 90 educators from 12 countries who attended this year’s space camp.