Rory Maus stood in the shadow of 100-foot-high steel beams that cradled the space shuttle Atlantis last month and recapped his past few days in the Mojave desert.

He had met aerospace engineers and research pilots and "flew" in a NASA flight simulator — a chance of a lifetime for the fifth-grade teacher from Fillmore who has always loved science.

"It's exciting," Maus said as he walked toward a hollowed-out jumbo airplane that carries the space shuttle across the country.

He was among a five-member team from Fillmore's San Cayetano School invited to a weeklong workshop this past week at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base.

The K-5 school was selected as a 2007 NASA Explorer School, giving four teachers and the principal an all-expenses-paid trip to Dryden.

"It's a great opportunity for our kids to connect with NASA and all the exploration that could bring for our students," Fillmore Unified Superintendent Jeff Sweeney said of the partnership. "We're fortunate."

While at Dryden, Maus and his teammates learned how to incorporate NASA materials into their science, math and technology curriculum. They also got energized, ready to bring the excitement they felt trying on space-walking suits and touring research facilities back to their 450 students.

In 2003, NASA officials started the Explorer School program, setting up partnerships with 25 to 50 new schools annually. Over a three-year period, the schools receive NASA-developed curriculum and digital learning technology, and are eligible to receive $17,500 for local programs.

In 2004, Flory Academy of Sciences and Technology in Moorpark and Mesa School in Somis were chosen as NASA Explorer schools.

This year, San Cayetano in Fillmore was one of five schools in California picked through the competitive application process.

"Everybody is so excited," said Jan Marholin, principal of San Cayetano, where more than two-thirds of students come from low-income homes. "This is one of the biggest things to hit Fillmore."

Inside a NASA briefing room Thursday at Edwards, the teachers got quiet as they focused on carving through Styrofoam cups and using string and tape to create a robotic-like snare for pencils and rulers.

Minutes earlier, the group had watched a Webcast of astronaut-teacher Barbara Morgan, part of a seven-member crew scheduled to launch into space in August. With Morgan set to operate a robotic arm, the teachers set out to build a simpler device based on the same mechanics — one of the experiments that will become lesson plans in Fillmore this fall.

Teacher Kristen Dewey said she never really liked math when she was younger. Back then, she never understood how it could be useful in everyday life.

At space camp, Dewey said, they were surrounded by ways to teach students the skills they need to know, using real-life applications.

"See, it works," Dewey said, holding up a marker with her Styrofoam creation. "This is cool."