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Imagine soaring in the Earth's atmosphere to near the edge of space. Is there air to breathe? Is it dark? Are there clouds? What about air pressure? Fifth-grade students from Ferguson Elementary in Klamath Falls, Oregon, were wondering these questions as they participated in To the Edge of Space, an exciting, yearlong collaborative Earth science learning experience developed in partnership with Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) (also in Klamath Falls, Oregon) and Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium. The project culminates in a high-altitude balloon satellite launch at the university.
This article describes the project we developed using Toyota Tapestry grant monies, but the benefits of partnering with a university can be realized even without grants. In fact, these experiences sprang from a visit to the university several years ago with my daughter's high school physics class to observe the launch of a weather balloon satellite. The experience left me eager to bring similar learning experiences to my upper elementary students. The university was willing, and a partnership was established. We applied for and received additional grants (see Internet Resources) after several years of successful, grant-free collaboration with the university--my colleagues and I were eager to sustain and expand the experiences so more students could benefit. I encourage my fellow teachers to seek out and develop similar educational partnerships and opportunities using the resources in your area--with luck like ours, you'll find the benefits out of this world!
Learning Takes Off
To begin, in September, students attended a kickoff visit at the university campus for a project presentation by faculty. The university participants introduced the project and described what a high-altitude balloon satellite was and what it did. Students learned that the high-altitude balloon satellite, referred to as a Balloon-Sat, is a stack of payloads (attachments) affixed to a helium-filled weather balloon that ascends to altitudes between 80,000 and 130,000 ft. Each payload contains an experiment designed to test an atmospheric property and/or its effect on nonliving systems or materials. A communication module containing a GPS transmitter is the bottom component of the stack. This enables "chase crews"--students who participate in the chase and recovery portion of the program--to track the satellite where it lands.
At the kickoff, students viewed a slideshow about the overall program and were then invited to participate in the college project by adding their own payload experiment. The university participants gave students the parameters for the project: deadline, methods for attachment, and weight allowed.
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Two weeks later, a parent meeting took place at school. At this meeting, my partners and I shared the steps of the project, its purpose, what it would entail (e.g., toward the end of the project, parents participate in a breakfast and then the launch as volunteers). With everyone--students, teachers, parents, and university participants--on the same page as to the scope of the project, we got down to the business of learning in the classroom.
Preparatory Lessons
Over the next several months, students completed various activities to learn the skills and develop understandings necessary to participate fully in the balloon satellite launch, which was scheduled for May.
Latitude and Longitude
In late October, students tackled the topic of latitude and longitude. One lesson involved a "missing student." The student was placed in an open gym and students needed to call rescue teams to locate him/her giving as exact details as possible. The other students positioned themselves on the outskirts and attempted to communicate the location of the lost student to rescuers. Because the rescuer can't "see" the lost student, communication is based on verbal description. And, because there are no identifiable landmarks, finding the student is difficult. When we placed imaginary string lines in positions of latitude and longitude, students discovered that they only needed to call out the name of two imaginary crossing lines to easily locate the student. After this exercise, I presented the idea of "imaginary" lines running horizontal and North-South around Earth (Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, etc.). This was followed by daily instant challenges to hone skills: coordinates were placed on the whiteboard for students to then locate on the globe.
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GPS
By the end of October, students were ready to learn about how GPS (Global Positioning Systems) work. We used some of our grant money to purchase GPS units. We located our school and practiced finding hidden objects using programs that come with the unit.
Data Collection
A data logger is a device that collects temperature, relative humidity, and/or light intensity data. When it is connected to a computer, the program plots the data on a graph. A data logger is not necessary for a launch, but it becomes a part of a launch if students choose an experiment that requires the data that it can collect.
I taught students to use a data logger by taking data loggers along field experiences throughout the fall, whether they related to the balloon project or not. For example, on one field trip, we recorded temperatures and light intensity over time. Analyzing the computer-generated graphs, I asked students: What do the peaks mean? (We were in the school, then got on the bus, where it was warm.) What were we doing at this time? (Getting off the bus, having lunch, or hiking under the trees.) What do dips mean? (Getting off the warm bus or hiking under the shady trees.) With practice, students soon recognize that every graph tells a story, and a logger can help reveal it.
Atmosphere Research Projects
In order to design an experiment for their payload, students need some basic understanding of atmospheric properties like air pressure, temperature, energy, and cloud formation. Students worked in teams of four to research one of these questions:
1. What are characteristics of the layers of Earth's atmosphere?
2. How do air molecules (gases) change in each layer of Earth's atmosphere?
3. What is pressure in the atmosphere, and how does it change with altitude?
4. How does the Sun's energy (electromagnetic radiation) travel to Earth, and what happens to it when it enters the Earth's atmosphere?
5. How is the Sun's energy (heat) transferred within the atmosphere?
6. How is air pressure connected to weather?
7. How are layers of the atmosphere, heat transfer, and the formation of clouds related?
We spent 10 days on the projects, including one day of presentation. Four days were devoted to research. Students used the internet and trade books, science books, experts, and other resource books. On the fifth day, tasks were divided (editor, illustrator, and reporter). Once students had collected their information, each team created a poster on their chosen topic and presented the information to their classmates. This resulted in "jigsaw learning" in which student teams shared their research with the rest of the students. With these experiences under their belt, students were ready to begin designing their payloads.
Designing Payloads
Four weeks prior to launch, students divided into teams, and each team created a payload design using the parameters given to them by the university. If students were going to use a data logger, the devices work most effectively above 0[degrees]C, so students must consider methods of insulating the payload to prevent freezing. Student-designed payloads also needed to be able to withstand pressure change, temperature change, clouds, violent winds, hard landings, and possible water landings. Each team made a prototype and developed a presentation of why it would work.
To begin, each team brainstormed materials for the payload construction ranging from cardboard to Styrofoam to aluminum. Each team ranked the items on their ability to withstand cold temperatures, moisture, low air pressure, and the landing (either in water or hard ground) and weight constraints (16 oz total). Teams then collected construction materials at home or from a contractor family member or friend, and I collected other materials, such as duct tape.
After drawing their designs on paper, including size, color, and material details, student teams constructed their prototypes.
Next, each team prepared a presentation to showcase their design, and then the class voted for one payload design they believed most likely to succeed in the atmospheric conditions. The payload design they selected would contain a window and a data logger to measure light intensity and temperature and would carry an egg to test if the low pressure would cause it to burst or if radiation would cause a yolk color change.
Launch Prep
In preparation for the launch, students divided into new teams, each with separate responsibilities. The payload construction team constructed the payload box, following the class's choice of materials and final design. The experiment assembly team placed the egg and data logger inside. The insulation testing team researched insulation techniques that would keep the egg from freezing and the inside of the payload above 0[degrees]C so the data logger would work effectively. The ground control team monitored the school's computer lab on launch day, communicating with the chase team (students selected to follow the balloon to the landing site) via cell phone and marked the balloon's path on a map and on Google Earth. The documentation team took photographs and later created a scrapbook for parents and future classes.
As launch day grew closer, in March, we held a "Breakfast With the Scientists," which provided parent-student teams practice in accomplishing a "mission." The mission for the breakfast was to construct a landing craft from Legos that could deliver a sensitive payload (a lightbulb) onto a landing surface within a target zone.
Launch Day
Finally, on a clear Saturday in May, launch day arrived. Elementary students, parents, university participants, and community members filled the university parking lot. Our payload was weighed and given to the OIT students to attach to the balloon's stack.
The crowd cheered as tethers were released and the balloon rose upward, reaching for the stratosphere. Eight vans retrofitted with equipment to receive signals from the balloon's communication module, driven by myself and my colleagues, carried the elementary chase team and several university students to track the balloon.
Two or three students tracked the balloon's progress using GPS units and a map. The BalloonSat command module sends signals to a computer program, which features a balloon icon on a map so it can be located. One student rode with a computer on his lap and called out altitude, coordinates, and times to student recorders. Students cross-checked their data against the computer readout. When the balloon landed, the computer program provided final coordinates of its location, and the students entered those on handheld GPS units in the field to follow on foot to the balloon location.
GPS units guided teams to the final coordinates. Getting out of the van to travel the final distance on foot, the teams hiked to the forest location. Team members scanned the trees and the undergrowth for a first glimpse of the orange parachute or communication module.
Suddenly, "I found it!" echoed through the forest. Searchers converged on the spot. The stack was found, but the parachute and one payload were missing. The teachers' payload, holding the launch camera, had separated from the rest, which were found in a tangled jumble on the ground.
It was suspected that the piano wire used to connect each of the payloads became brittle at such low temperatures. Given the violent nature of the winds, it most likely caused a breakage. The missing parachute and payload have not been found to this day. It is assumed that because the load was lightened at that point, they traveled many miles farther. Since they had no tracking device (it's in the bottom unit, the command module), it has not been found. This was actually a good learning experience for my students, as they discovered firsthand that not all science or engineering experiments turn out perfect. The other items in the stack and the broken connections were documented, photographed, and analyzed by elementary and university students before the payloads were separated and given to their teams.
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My students documented, through pictures and writing, the physical appearance of their class's payload before opening it there in the field. The chase team huddled as one member opened the payload. Our egg, carried in the payload, did not explode in the near-zero air-pressure environment and remained intact despite returning from 88,800 ft. in altitude without the aid of a parachute! My students whooped and clapped.
Students removed the data logger, linked it to the laptop in the van, and downloaded and plotted the temperature and light intensity data. "Did the temperature inside the payload remain above freezing?" they asked. Not quite. The lowest recorded temperatures were -3[degrees]C in a-63[degrees]C environment. The payload is only 5x5x5 in, so it is susceptible to quick temperature changes. Because it is in flight for nearly two hours, to maintain that kind of temperature inside the box for that long was an admirable achievement for our design team.
Following Up
Back at school on Monday morning, students analyzed the data logger plot. Then, they opened the "space egg," comparing it to a control egg. Students cracked each egg into a separate dish and compared yolk colors. Both yolks looked the same. Students then shared experiences of the event and documented their experiences and analysis in their science journals.
Our final project was to design PowerPoint presentations documenting our yearlong journey. The criteria included using a minimum of 12 slides, music, pictures, and transition timing, and putting together the story of our balloon projects and key concepts learned. On June 9, parents came to our classroom for the presentations. Students displayed materials and equipment they had learned to use and their research posters, newsletter, and project journals.
Multiple Assessments
Continuous assessment occurred throughout the project. In the classroom, I hung a KWL (what I Know, what I Want to know, what I Learned) chart on which students posted their ideas and discoveries. As students learned new concepts, they documented them on the chart. For example, before beginning the adventure, students knew that molecules were present in the atmosphere and that the atmosphere was made up of gases (although most thought it was mostly oxygen). Afterward, students could describe the makeup of the atmosphere and use a GPS and a data logger. Student journals were assessed for understanding of key concepts written during and after each activity, and teamwork was evaluated daily using a rubric.
Technology Skills Blossoming
This project enabled students to learn how to use data loggers, GPS units, digital cameras, video cameras, and PowerPoint programs. Students learned to analyze data plotted on a graph and were exposed to engineering concepts such as the design process. Through these experiences, we observed students move from teacher-dependent "think it out for me" students to problem solvers and team players.
Since its inception in 2004, the project continues to evolve and provide rich learning experiences for students. The project has been inspirational for me as a teacher. With the assistance of colleagues, ideas sprang to life. Support from our parents, families, university, corporations, and community helped us get this program "off the ground," providing truly rewarding learning experiences for all involved.
Internet Resources
Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium http://spacegrant.oregonstate.edu Toyota TAPESTRY Grants for Science Teachers www.nsta.org/pd/tapestry
Linda Kehr
Linda Kehr (kehrl@kcsd.k12.or.us) is a fifth-grade teacher at Ferguson Elementary in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Connecting to the Standards
This article relates to the following National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996):
Content Standards
Grades 5-8
Standard A: Science as Inquiry
* Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
* Understandings about scientific inquiry
Standard B: Physical Science
* Properties and changes of properties in matter
* Motions and forces
* Transfer of energy
Standard D: Earth and Space Science
* Structure of the Earth system
Standard E: Science and Technology
* Abilities of technological design * Understandings about science and technology
National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
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