William McCool Science Center

The Lobby Area displays our picture tribute to William McCool.  Here you will see photos of William taken during the Columbia mission.  You will also find an enlarged copy of an e-mail sent from Willie while up in space.

The lobby is used to showcase exhibits and display student projects.  Also in the lobby is the Science Library.  Here students in kindergarten through second grade read about various science topics.   Friday mornings, classes come here to read with our namesake, Frank lamping.   The Shop is also in the Science Center’s lobby.

Our 3/4 scale model Space Shuttle Simulator and Mission Control Center are the only ones west of the Mississippi River. In the Simulator, students must manipulate the controls exactly the way real astronauts do in order to have a successful launch or landing.

The Science Exploration Center is the room where scientific experiments and observations take place. In the Lab is the Teacher Work station, two fish habitats, the Exploration Tables and the Experiment Stations.

This state-of-the-art teacher’s work station is well outfitted with multi-media capabilities including: interactive white board, VCR / DVD player, laser disc player, laptop computer with projection capability to interactive white board, 3-D projector with the capability to display images from a microscope and/or 3-dimentional objects in color on the interactive white board.

The six experiment stations are a great place to perform more involved experiments and observations that require a sink or microscope.

The exploration tables are a great place for students to gather for general instruction and for performing basic experiments and observations.

In the Technology Center are the 16 Technology Stations, the Space Shuttle Simulator, and the Nutrition Center. The technology center is used for set up science experiment kits, robotics classes, and after school enrichment classes. (One sponsorship is still available.)

Each of the 16 Technology Stations is outfitted with a wireless laptop computer. Here students conduct science-based web research, participate in digital labs around the world, and practice essential science skills integrated with reading, writing, and math.

In the Nutrition Center, students explore the science of nutrition and cooking.

There are seven benches and trees honoring the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 astronauts. 

Stones at the entrance of the building are engraved with messages from Lamping families.

The Paleontology Dig Station is where students uncover and learn about dinosaur bones and other fossils.  They can also perform earth science experiments.

In the Tri-Desert Garden, students can study the similarities and differences of the Sonoran, Mojave, and Great Basin deserts as well as the flora and fauna that inhabit each region.

The Hummingbird Garden contains plants that attract hummingbirds as well as several hummingbird feeders. It is our hope that hummingbirds will find enough to eat so that they will remain in the garden throughout the year. Students will conduct research that involves measuring nectar production in various flower species, and tracking hummingbird visits using spotting scopes.

The planetarium brings the beauty of the constellations to the classroom. The projector displays the Sun, the Moon, the bright planets and several thousand stars in their correct positions. The projector can be made to move to simulate the daily motion of the Earth on its axis. If desired, outlines of the principal constellations can also be projected.

The Science teacher applied for and got a grant to build our space observatory and purchase telescopes, one which is housed within the observatory. A few times a year, the Lamping community gets together for an evening of star gazing.