A Lab Talk on Space Science

A SPACE SCIENCE PROGRAMME FOR SCHOOLS

INTRODUCTION

In 1993 Marion High School, in South Australia, introduced Space Science to their junior Science Programme. For five weeks all year 8, 9 and 10 students participated in activities designed to cover the aspects of science to make them aware of their special planet, Earth, it's place in Space, and the way scientists use space to discover more about the origins of our Solar System, and the impact that human civilisation is having on our fragile environment. The students perform a range of practicals, use computer simulations, and view the latest videos and slide sets. As a finale to this programme that was run simultaneously at each year level, during week five the year 8's visited a portable planetarium, the year 9's constructed a Space Shuttle glider and, after flight testing, competed in a class competition, and the year 10's constructed and launched solid fuel model rockets from the school oval.

This programme has been resourced on materials that are available from NASA, and the Space related organisations and institutions within Australia. Much of this resource material is free, and readily obtainable. Whilst most of the material used has been aimed at Junior Secondary level, there is much that could be adapted for Primary use, and many other resources are available which cater directly for students at lower age levels.

The course is based on the National Science Statement and Profiles for Australian schools, but covers most aspects of Levels 1 to 7 in the Victorian CSF. I hope that this article gives you a starting point, and enables you to begin to introduce some of the most fascinating and motivating new materials that are available, and that your students, and staff, can experience the same enthusiasm that the introduction of this course generated at Marion High School. Indeed, many schools in South Australia are now running various aspects of the course. Unfortunately the S.A. Government closed Marion High School at the end of 1996, but re-located the author and all materials devloped in connection with the Space Science Program to nearby Hamilton Secondary College.

BACKGROUND

During 1992 I attended the first Australian International Space School (AISS) in Sydney, and visited along with teachers and students from around Australia and New Zealand, many organisations and Institutions that are involved in the Space Industry in Australia. We also visited Canberra, and the Deep Space Tracking Station at Tidbinbilla, and paid a fleeting visit to the NASA Resource Centre which has been set up at the University of Canberra. I was extremely fortunate to be chosen as the teacher to chaperone two of the students at AISS to the International Space Camp, which was held in Washington D.C., and Huntsville, Alabama in the U.S.A. during the International Year of Space.

I spent eight days at the U.S. Space & Rocket Centre, with educators from 30 countries throughout the world, and with a teacher from every state in the U.S.A. learning about the Space Programme, it's history and it's future aspirations. We were presented with some excellent teaching activities and materials, built and launched model rockets, attended lectures by scientists and astronauts, viewed the northern sky through telescopes and we performed scripted shuttle missions in the same simulators used to train astronauts.

The amount of available material to support science (and for that matter every subject area) that has been, and continues to be, prepared in the U.S.A. is enormous, and I have included much of this material in the course

THE BROAD PLAN AND EXPECTATIONS

The broad outline of the course was that the year 8's would study the Solar System, their place in Space and Astronomy , the year 9's would study the mechanics of flight, learn about air pressure, and the atmosphere, and that the year 10's would learn about the electromagnetic spectrum, Satellite Technology, Radio Astronomy, the concepts of Newton's Laws in relation to Space travel, and rocketry. (Appendix A) In actual fact these topics are probably in most science courses somewhere, but it was my intention to focus in on the theme of Space Science, in an endeavour to captivate the imagination and enthusiasm of the students in making the science course more relevant to the present activities in Space. I had already experienced the motivation that comes from this focus, both at the Australian and the U.S. Space Schools, and intended to inject some of the necessary ingredients into our Junior Science Programme.

This course was designed so that staff could watch videos, look at computer simulations, attend specialist lectures with their classes, and have a range of practical activities to supervise, and generally learn with their students, acting as guides for further research and activities that the students were directed towards.

ROTATION OF CLASSES

In order to make full use of the resources available, specialist labs and rooms were created (one with slide projector and screen in place for the 5 weeks..etc). This made it easier for the lab technician, and while some teachers were not keen on moving to a different room each science lesson for five weeks, the students adapted really well. Armed with their previously recorded diary note for the appropriate room, they set off to a new experience each day. It seemed to add to the excitement, and few got lost.

ASSESSMENT

As far as assessment items were concerned, there were no set or common tasks and teachers were left to their own devices. Some set tests, but most used written reports and practicals as a basis for assessment. There was also ample opportunity for group work and interaction, particularly in the building and flight testing of gliders in year 9 and the construction of model rockets in year 10. Many teachers used the practical activities to extract verbal reports from their students, as it was not possible for all students in a class to perform all of the available activities in the given time. I intend to collect examples of assessment tasks used for the programme this year. More indicator items have been developed in this, the second year of the programme, as teachers become more familiar with the tasks.

PROGRAMME CONTENT AND DETAILS

It can be seen from the detailed lesson plans that a variety of types of lessons were given throughout the five weeks. (See APPENDIX B...Space Science One, Two and Three)

The main areas used were:

(a) Video Presentations....Some with worksheets.

(b) Slide Presentations...These had audio tapes with them

(d) Practical Activities.......All designed to focus on the theme of Space Science.

(e) Specialist lectures.......This would depend on expertise within the staff.

VIDEOS AND SLIDE SETS

The videos and the slide sets are available from the sources listed in the RESOURCE LIST. (APPENDIX C) There are many excellent videos coming out all the time. The QUANTUM programmes from in May and June 1994 on Space Shuttle Missions and the way in which scientists have used the Lunar landing expeditions to formulate a theory of the origin of our Moon, are a case in point. "On Jupiter " was recently shown on the ABC and is a fascinating 50 story about Galileo's mission and the Comet crash on the huge gas giant.

COMPUTER SIMULATIONS

The Computer Simulations are also listed in the Resource List, and once again, there are new and better ones being produced, but if you do require a worksheet for the ones listed in the list, we can pass them on to you. We have found that it is essential to provide a worksheet in order to keep the students on track.

History of Flight and Space Travel

These set of lectures were given by me, but anyone could repeat this act with no difficulty. A student teacher who sat through the lecture twice in 1993, gave the talk for the rest of the rotation of classes. The talk was given with the aid of a set of overhead transparencies, which I copied from various photographs in readily available books on the subject. At the top of about twenty of these overheads, I placed a highly visible date, that the students had to connect to an activity on a "Time-Line" I had provided for them. They found this activity quite enjoyable, and a follow up, open ended question for them to answer provided their teachers with an assessment item. Now that our staff has stabilised, and all staff have been through the lecture, they will simply take the overheads and give the lesson themselves in future.

PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES and DEMONSTRATIONS

Most of these activities are directly related to Space Science, and I will not list them all, but rather give you a flavour. More detailed explanations, and copies can be obtained on request.

YEAR 8

A Walk Through the Solar System. A simple walk through the Solar System by taking the students past signs made to show the name of the planet, and it's relative size. I have included this at the end of the article. Although students can recite the planets in order and have a rough idea about size, they really have no idea of the enormous distances involved, and the need for the introduction of light minutes, and light years.

Videos , computer simulations and text books do not seem to be able to get this idea across as well as this simple activity does.

Craters..Making an Impact. An excellent activity which has easy to follow instructions, and extension questions. Students enjoyed this and learnt a lot. Since we now have many images of the surfaces of moons and planets, there is much to be gained from a study of impact craters.

The Earth at Night Poster. You need to purchase this poster from one of the companies listed on the Resource List but once you have it, there is a neat little excursion that has been written as a teacher and student activity, which the students enjoy doing.

Bringing the Earth down to size. An impressive scale drawing, for the students to do.

Earth Moon Distance. Another good activity to reinforce the distances in Space.

YEAR 9

Most activities referred to in the detailed plan for year 9 Science are related to air pressure. Most text books have plenty of ideas on simple demonstrations and practicals that can be done to familiarise students with this topic.

The Convection Connection. This is a good activity used to show how thunderclouds form, and uses ice, warm water and food dyes, along with excellent instruction sheet to get the ideas across.

The introduction out of the way we then went on to talk about Space, and the lack of air pressure. Life Support Systems and Space makes your blood boil are just two excellent activities we used here. It was also necessary to introduce the idea of Microgravity at this stage even though it will be re-visited again next year, in year 10. We use two good experiments that demonstrate that falling bodies are weightless.

Balloon and Water Rocket activities, are not only fun, but without mentioning Newton's Law students develop the concepts during these experiments. Water Rockets can be purchased or made (See Resource List) and students (and staff) are amazed at the heights (30 or more metres) that these rockets can travel to. Estimation and measurement of the heights is an interesting aside if time permits.

YEAR 10

Experiments with Solar Energy. After a brief introduction students perform two investigations on different forms of light using hand held spectrometers. Observations are recorded for later discussion.

Experiments with Microgravity. There are three experiments that students do here, each excellent in its simplicity and the discussion that it generates. The Free falling Candle ..

will it stay alight? Other demonstrations involving lack of air pressure, such as "Space makes your blood boil" are also appropriate for this level.

Experiments with Newton's Laws. At this level the balloon and water rocket experiments are done with more care, and under closer examination. The students love doing them again! This time, though the concepts of Newton's Laws can be discussed.

Rocketry Experiments. The Hero engine as an idea for moving things in space. Different fuels for rockets are discussed, and a preliminary talk on the making of model rockets.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The three special events which take place in the last week are probably the most enjoyable for the students and the teachers, and tend to capture the whole school with an excitement and focus. The front foyer is decorated with space posters, and photos taken during the events of the previous weeks, and we also align this week with the OPEN NIGHTS for prospective students and their parents. This can be of benefit if an extra expenditure is required, as the science faculty may be able to find some funds from the general administration, promotion budget.

1. The portable planetarium STARLAB is expensive but well worth the money, in terms of what the students can be shown. We keep it simple since it is mostly for the year eights (although I can not seem to keep my year 12 class from wanting to go into the dome once again).

2.The glider making competition is an excellent motivator, and a lot of fun. The students get 10 marks for building, and 10 marks for how well they trim the glider for a specific flight off the launcher. The marks for each class are averaged, and a class prizes are awarded. An optional test flight report is filed if students wish to go in a competition for the winning boy and girl to be taken on a real glider flight. This can easily be arranged through a glider club in your area. A teaching package for this aspect of the course will soon be available through the SASTA office.

3. The construction of Model rockets is a highlight for the year 10s and this works well as a group activity. You can buy a rocket ( a Gnome) for around $12.00 if you buy in lots of 12, and each engine to fly the rocket works out to be about $3.00 . We share the construction among 4 to 5 students, and the group interaction is excellent, with all students able to contribute. The cost per student is really insignificant compared to the benefit they gain from working on the project. And as one of my students said during an interview " most times you can only get to build something, but with this one we did something ...it flew!" The launch day is an exciting event, when all of the year 10's load their rockets under supervision, bring their rockets to the launch pad, and countdown to the launch! You have to be there to experience it, but all the planning and organisation that goes into this project is worth it to see the effect that this finale has on the interaction of students and staff alike. Good publicity too! Local newspapers will love it.

NEXUS AND BULLETIN BOARDS

This topic is probably better treated as the subject of a whole article in itself, but I will briefly mention a few aspects. NEXUS is a great source of up to the minute information for science teachers and their students. It is a pity that more science areas do not have access to the system. One of the ways to get students involved is to make them use the system to research topics by searching the bulletin boards. Each year since 1994, the year 10 students at Marion High, by arrangement with the NEXUS manager, actually ran their own bulletin board. It was called the SPACE.BB and can be accessed by simply typing space.bb at the main menu ( if your school has access to nexus ). You will be able to see what went on for yourself if you go to the librarian and ask to be connected. The students received questions from schools all over Australia, both Primary and Secondary, researched the answers, using our both the school resources and other bulletin boards, such as "Astronomy" and "AAP", and replied. This takes place at the completion of the five week programme. They were keen, motivated, and did most of the work in lunchtimes and after school. Students talking to students across Australia via the electronic media. It will run again as an OZPROJECT in 1997. A powerful motivating medium, which I intend to make more use of. Internet and the world wide web are of course the buzz words now, but I have not yet found the secret of entire class involvement with the www.

IN CONCLUSION

I have been very general in my description of activities in this article, but as stated earlier, you can find out more details on request. As you progress with your alignment of the National Science Statement and Profiles or Curriculum and Standards Framework to your own Science programme I am sure that you will be reminded of some of the activities mentioned and hopefully you will now know where to get the supporting materials required to test the desired outcomes.

Mike Roach

mroach@nexus.edu.au