The South Orangetown Central School District has just announced the names of the winners of the Students Spaceflight Experiment Program Contest from Cottage Lane, SOMS, and TZHS.
Starting in mid-September, students began to learn about experimental design in science classes, and then had the option to break into teams of two or three students to design research proposals for microgravity experiments in a competition to come up with the winning experiment that would be chosen to fly to the International Space Station.
The experiment consists of a “mix stick,” containing up to three separate fluids or solids. Astronauts will activate the experiment in space by breaking the stick to mix the fluids or solids. Students will conduct the same experiment on land (ground truth) in order to compare results in micro versus earthbound gravity. Students will delay their ground truth experiment by 24 hours to ensure communications from the ISS reach the students to verify timing of interactions so that they can copy the exact timing here on Earth.
The entire South Orangetown community is committed to educating students and providing them with science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), and 21st century skills. These skills have been a focus for the students and are an integral part of the strategic goals for the entire district. This program will help develop students’ abilities to think critically, problem solve, collaborate, adapt, communicate, and analyze information while fostering curiosity and imagination.
The winners are:
Luke R., Colm S., and Zachary V. – CLE
This experiment is designed to test growing lettuce sprouts in a microgravity environment to serve as a food source in outer space. This experiment has been tried in outer space with corn (didn’t fare well) and soybeans (thrived), but never with lettuce.
Lucy B. and Emelia B.– SOMS
This experiment is designed to test the effect of copper tarnishing in a microgravity environment to understand how electronic circuits withstand microgravity.
Serena A. and Paulina G.– TZHS
This experiment is designed to test glow sticks in a microgravity environment to be used as an emergency light source in outer space.
As part of the next phase of this project, art teachers are in the process of working with students on completing designs for the Mission Patch Competition in grades K-4 and 5-12. Two patches, one from grades K-4 and one from grades 5-12, will be selected by our art teachers to fly to the International Space Station along with the winning science experiment.
