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Mission 15 BISD / Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
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Mission 15 SSEP
BISD / Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
Welcome to the BISD Space Program!
The students of the Burleson Independent School District have the opportunity to compete in a national science competition that could see the experiments they create executed aboard the International Space Station. This site includes information and resources about the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
BISD students have the opportunity to submit a science experiment to be conducted on-board the International Space Station.
You can learn more by visiting the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program.
To read more from NASA regarding the SSEP CLICK HERE
BISD SSEP Co-Diredtor, Mrs. Stacy Hughes, introduces the Program: Mrs. Stacy Hughes
BISD SSEP Co-Director, Mrs. Stacy Hughes, introduces the Program:Watch the Mission 15 Space Night Symposium!!https://drive.google.com/file/d/1azbe11QF-ssHN31oBK1gXE5IQaGcLWCt/viewWatch this informational video about the BISD/SSEP Space Night!Mission 15 SSEP Webinar with Dr. GoldsteinYou can view the previous 2018 (M13), full-length webinar with Dr. Goldstein by CLICKING HERE.
You can view the previous 2017 (M12), full-length webinar with Dr. Goldstein by CLICKING HERE.
You can view the previous 2016 (M11), full-length webinar with Dr. Goldstein by CLICKING HERE.
Mission 13 SSEP Webinar with Dr. Goldstein: M13 Webinar
Mission 12 SSEP Webinar with Dr. Goldstein: M12 Webinar
Mission 11 SSEP Webinar with Dr. Goldstein: M11 Webinar
Mission 15 SSEP
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Mission 15 Finalists
Mission 15 Finalist Teams and Mission Patch Designs
Microgravity Experiment Design Winner and Finalists
SSEP Step 2 - International Review Winner
Kerr Middle School: The Effect of Microgravity on Cellular Regeneration of the Planarian FlatwormThe Planarian Flatworm Team's microgravity experiment design will be launched to the International Space Station later this year. Meanwhile, back here on earth, the Co-Principal Investigators and their Teacher Facilitator will have some amazing opportunities to showcase their hard work, starting this April 2021 after they have prepared their experiment for launch to the ISS. During April, Texas Christian University hosts its annual Research Symposium. BISD is the only school district that is allowed to have students present at this event, along with college and graduate researchers. The Principal Investigators will share their research with the TCU professors and the other college and graduate level research presenters.
There is also an annual SSEP International Conference held in Washington, D.C. each year at the end of June. If it is an in-person event, then BISD will pay to send its team, along with their Teacher Facilitator and chaperones, to represent our community. (If it is a virtual event, then the team will represent BISD virtually.) During this event, our Co-Principal Investigators have an opportunity not only to showcase their work, but also to learn about the cutting edge research that is being conducted at the collegiate level. The work of BISD students has been cited on several occasions by collegiate research teams who are building on the research our students have started.
In addition, there are amazing research opportunities available to these students through Texas Christian University's Research Apprentice Program: https://cse.tcu.edu/physics-astronomy/research/research-apprentices.php. Although this program is typically limited to high school students, BISD middle school students have also been routinely invited to participate in this program. For example, we have a BISD student who started in middle school student last year, and who recently published research in a scientific journal this year as a cited author, along with the TCU mentoring professor, in a peer reviewed academic article. In addition, our BISD Research Apprentices who have graduated from high school and gone on to college have been offered full rides to top universities, as well as opportunities to continue their paid research at the collegiate level.
Congratulations again to the Planarian Flatworm Team!
SSEP Step 1 - Local Review Finalist TeamHughes Middle School: The Effect of Microgravity on the Germination Process of Brandywine tomato seeds.Teacher facilitator: Jonathon SmithCo-Principal Investigators: Jaelyn Burrows & Morgan McAlpinCo-Investigators: Nevaeh Nunez, Sarina RouleauCollaborator: Kierah VirgilSSEP Step 1 - Local Review Finalist TeamTeacher Facilitator: Holly AdamsCo-Principal Investigators: Rylie Cline, Kaydan Dorman, Morgan Guidry, Peyton Martin, and Nicholas MunozMission 15 Patch Design WinnersMission 15 Microgravity Experiment Design Fan Favorite Team:
Blood Thinning Team:
Campus: Kerr Middle School
Teacher Facilitator: Mr. Jonathan Hawley Bernardez
Co- Principal Investigators: (all in grade level 6)
Anea Arriaza
Kole Bleeker
Alyssa Morrow
Layla Sherman
Garrett Walker
Mission 15 Microgravity Experiment Design Winning Fans:
Esmee Moya, Hughes Middle School
Penelope Pittaman, Steam Middle School
Nevaeh Nunez, Hughes Middle School
Mission 15 Patch Design Fan Favorites: (Tie)
#4 - Jonah Mitchell, Kerr Middle School
#11 - Jordan Campell, Centennial High School
Mission 15 Patch Design Fan Favorite Runners up:
#2 - James Seiling, Centennial High School
#4 - Ethan Barker, Centennial High School
Mission 15 Patch Design Winning Fans:
Jack Stapleton, Kerr Middle School
Santiago Rios Ordonez, Kerr Middle School
All Fan Favorite winners and runners up will receive exclusive tours of the Texas Christian University Labs led by Dr. C. Magnus Rittby whose lab is devoted to the study of Quantum Physics and Molecular Clusters, and Dr. Clark Jones, whose lab is devoted to the study of Microbiology of Human Disease.
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Mission 15 Patch Designs
Grade Levels 6-12Academy at Nola Dunn - Giselle A.
Academy at Nola Dunn - Giselle A.
Academy of Fine Arts at Bransom Elementary School - Kingston D.
Academy of Fine Arts at Bransom Elementary School - Hannah J.
Academy of Fine Arts at Bransom Elementary School - Malia
Brock Elementary School -
Sophia E.
Brock Elementary School -
Amber G.
Clinkscale Elementary School -
Katie B.
Clinkscale Elementary School -
McKinnley B.
Clinkscale Elementary School -
Matthew S.
Clinkscale Elementary School -
Unknown 2
Frazier Elementary School -
Shealeigh E.
Frazier Elementary School -
Maggie H.
Frazier Elementary School -
Iris R.
Hajek Elementary School -
Brynley D.
Hajek Elementary School -
Jarrett K.
Mound Elementary School -
Kayleah C.
Norwood Elementary School -
Delilah G.
STEAM Academy at Stribling Elementary School -
Maverick T.
Taylor Elementary School -
Dallanara B.
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Space Night
BISD/SSEP
Space Night Symposium
Tues., Nov.10, 2020
6 p.m. to 10 p.m. LIVE STREAM
The Process - to determine which 3 Student Spaceflight Experiment Designs will proceed to Step 2 Review, Judges review all of the submissions that are compliant with SSEP/NASA rules and regulations. Then, they attend Space Night to finalize their top 2 choices for winning teams. As students display their presentations, Judges have the opportunity to ask students questions and observe their presentation skills. Judges then convene to advocate their top 2 choices to the rest of the judging panel. At the end of the evening, the Judges agree to send the top 3 experiments forward for Step 2 Review by an international panel of scientists and astrophysicists.
The Presentations - Space Night is also a celebration of the hard work of all student teams. Families and friends are invited to attend this event. They can observe their student's presentation and presentations from other students in the same grade level and at other campuses. Students are encouraged to visit their peers to receive presentations and to visit friends at other campuses to observe their presentations. In addition, everyone is encouraged to learn more about space through the multitude of opportunities below.
The Ft. Worth Astronomical Society, lead by Mr. Marc Marchand, will display several large telescopes so that students and their families will have hands on opportunities to observe the night sky and look into deep space.
Dr. Kat Barger, Ph.D., Astrophysicist at Texas Christian University provides a presentation on rockets and the science of a launch. Students are invited to engage in a hands on activities and conversation with Dr. Barger about rockets and their interest in science. In addition, there are research opportunities for high school students through TCU's Research Apprentices Program. Students may learn more about this Program at Space Night or by going to the following link: https://physics.tcu.edu/research-apprentices-program/
Mrs. Nona Batiste, Gallery Assistant and Educator at TCU's Monnig Meteorite Gallery engages students with hands on activities and discussion regarding the formation and breakup of planets, asteroids, and comets from which meteorites originate. They will also discuss the long journey of meteorites through space and their fall to Earth, learn about their recovery, and discover the wealth of information they hold for scientists, including how meteorites teach us how our own Earth formed.
The Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History's Mobile Noble Planetarium will provide students a presentation of Astronomy on Wheels. Students will travel through space in the Planetarium, and Planetarium Staff will interact with students to provide a look at the current sky. Students and their families will also have plenty of time for questions and hands-on activities.
Air Force Junior ROTC DronesThe TX-801st Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) began in Burleson ISD in 1980. We currently have 146 cadets in the program with students from both Centennial and Burleson High School. Our mission is to Develop Citizens of Character serving their community and nation. We have numerous extracurricular activities to include Drill Meets, Orienteering Meets, Color Guards, a Military Ball, Dining Outs, and Awards Ceremonies. The program received the highest rating possible from HQ AFJROTC in 2017 as a Distinguished Unit with Merit
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Blog
Mission 12 in full forceMission 12 is operating in full force. Teachers have piqued student curiosities about microgravity and all the astronauts on the International Space Station have to adapt to. Students are thinking about what it's like to function in a place where gravity is seemingly turned off. The students learned that there is gravity is space (it's what keeps the moon moving around the earth, and keeps planets orbiting the sun), but they also learned how the ISS stays in orbit and why this international lab is so important to science on earth.
Once students learned about gravity, they started asking questions that could possibly work into experiments for SSEP. This is exactly how previous winners worked with their ideas. Our first winners wondered if polymers in diapers would work in space. They envisioned families living and working in space one day, and realized polymer absorption would be important. The next group learned through their research about life on the ISS that astronauts get kidney stones easily, and they wondered if there was a natural remedy they could use instead of harsher medicines. They designed an experiment testing chanca piedra on kidney stones. Last year's winners were curious about how concrete would form in space, because one of the team members was helping lay a walkway on their property at home. Through student research and daily lives, students become curious and wonder how these things might work without gravity involved. It's always fun to see!
During the next steps, students will begin to develop the steps of their experiment. They've asked their question, and now they will be determining the information needed to answer the question, and how the steps they will need to design the experiment. With the SSEP minilab, there are a maximum of three steps, so students will need to reduce their experiment to its smallest possible design.
We are approximately a month away from submitting proposals! We are looking forward to hearing about your student designs!
Students Danyel Archuleta, Cole Rose, and Christian Steele were excited to see their experiment come back to them from the International Space Station. The experiment was delivered to STEAM, where assistant principal Candice Cook helped the students perform their post flight observations and comparisons with their ground truth experiment. Students are working with a cement company to help them pressure test their experiments, so they can quantify the differences between the flight experiment and the ground truth. They will report their findings back to SSEP as a formal report. As they stated in their presentation in Washington DC, BISD's Space Program is "Laying the foundation for space exploration." (credit Ms. Quisenberry)
All BISD eyes are currently on the International Space Station, waiting anxiously for our Mission 11 team's experiment to be implemented on or around Sept. 15th. This is in the U-2 time frame, which means the experiment will be conducted two days before undocking from the ISS. Shortly after undocking, the Dragon experiment delivery system will splash down in the Atlantic, and will head to Houston where all experiments will be returned to the scientist teams. Mission 11's Concrete Compressive Strength will then receive their experiment and carry out their comparison between their ground truth and flight experiments. We cannot wait to see the results!
The BISD Space Program has had a busy and productive summer. Just ask our SSEP Mission 11 winning team, "Concrete Compressive Strength." Not only did they represent our space program at the SSEP 2017 National Conference in Washington D.C., they also prepped and loaded their minilab and sent it off to NanoRacks in Houston to prepare for lift off on August 10th!
The SSEP 2017 National Conference was held on June 28-29 in Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The students presented their experiment design "Concrete Compressive Strength" to other student researchers, astronauts, and aerospace engineers. Their experiment really tapped into the curiosity of many researchers there. One scientist told them they waited all day to hear their presentation, while another praised them for being on the frontier of space research. Dr. Goldstein personally congratulated the team on their presentation and experiment design.
On July 10th, the students and their teacher/facilitator, Ms. Mindy Quisenberry, met at STEAM Middle School in order to connect with NanoRacks scientist Brittany Balcom and to load their minilab to prepare it for flight. The students loaded two minilabs: one that will be sent to the International Space Station, and one that will be kept on campus at STEAM Middle School in order for the students to be able to conduct their ground truth experiments at the same time as the astronauts. When their experiment returns to Earth, they will then be able to compare the compressive strength between the two experiments. Their flight is scheduled to launch on August 10th aboard SpaceX-12 spacecraft.
In BISD, it's real science all the time!
See pictures of the team's summer events below:
During the 2015-16 school year, Burleson ISD participated in Mission 9 of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. The winning team was "Kidney Stone Conundrum", who wondered if kidney stones could be dissolved by chanca piedra in microgravity. The team members were fifth grade students from the Academy at Nola Dunn: Cooper Williams, Caleb Quisenberry, and Hannah Greenhill. Their presentation at the SSEP National Conference, held at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, can be viewed below. On February 23, 2017, the Mission 9 experiment was loaded onto a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket and took off to the International Space Station. During its four week stay on the ISS, an astronaut performed the first and second interactions of their experiment while the students performed their ground truth experiment interactions at the same time. Today, March 19, 2017, the Dragon space capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, and the student experiments are on their way back to Houston, and then finally Burleson ISD. Students will harvest their experiment, collect data, make comparisons, and issue a final report of their findings. We will soon know if kidney stones can be dissolved in microgravity in the same way as on Earth.
The Mission 11 team will soon be preparing to go to Washington D.C. in order to present their experiment at the SSEP National Conference as well. They have been working on their experiment, fine tuning the water to concrete ratios, and waiting for their experiment to move through Flight Safety Review at NanoRacks, LLC, and NASA. Their flight should tentatively fly some time at the end of Summer or the beginning of Fall.
From the time the students turned in their proposals and all the way to Space Night, judging teams were reviewing and discussing student researcher proposals online. On Space Night, the judges had narrowed their group of proposals down to a few, and they interviewed those teams before making their final decisions. At the judges' dinner, the judges narrowed this field to the final three proposals that could represent our district in Washington D.C. I say could, because at any point the national judges could have rejected our selection. This is the reason no announcement is made: we wait until we receive final word that all three proposals have been accepted for Step 2 Review. This takes a week.
Once they are accepted, we wait for the National Step 2 Review board to meet and decide on the flight experiment, which is the winning experiment. Given the caliber of the national judges, this is not an easy feat. To see an example of who makes up this board, see here. The Step 2 Board met on December 5th and 7th, and then it was the waiting game to hear from them. We received word of the winning proposal on Thursday after the three finalist teams were acknowledged by the School Board.
We are proud of all of the proposal teams. It is not easy to develop an experiment from scratch, let alone an experiment that has to fit in a tube, and only test microgravity's effect on something. The students worked hard, and the teachers indicated they will be building on this experiment design experience for the rest of the year!
The three finalist teams were:
1. STEAM's "Invertebrate Issue" developed by Principal Investigator Caleb Quisenberry and Co-Investigators Philip Hamilton and Billy Ward. Teacher Facilitator: Mindy Quisenberry.
2. STEAM's "Concrete Compressive Strength" developed by Principal Investigator Cole Rose and Co-Investigators Danyelle Archuleta, Mayleia Parker, and Christian Steele. Teacher Facilitator: Mindy Quisenberry.
3. Kerr's "Spectacular Nanosponge" written by Co-Principal Investigators Abby Adams, Bailey Schafer, Katie Shue, and Taylor Walker. Teacher Facilitator: Allison Buckingham.
The National Step 2 Review Board, who met at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, selected the flight experiment for Mission 11, due to launch in Summer 2017: (drumroll.....)
And the Flight Experiment for Mission 11 is: Concrete Compressive Strength designed by Cole Rose, Danyelle Archuleta, Mayleia Parker, and Christian Steele!
Congratulations to STEAM Middle School, to Ms. Mindy Quisenberry, and to the student researchers who designed an awesome experiment! We look forward to watching them present their experiment design at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and watching their experiment launch in 2017!
In the meantime, we are excitedly waiting for Mission 9's launch at the end of this month! STEAM's Cooper Williams and Caleb Quisenberry and Kerr's Hannah Greenhill have already presented their experiment design in D.C., have prepared and shipped their minilabs to NanoRacks for flight safety review, and are just waiting for launch! We'll keep you posted on the official launch date soon!
Congratulations everyone!
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program [or SSEP] is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks LLC, which are working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. SSEP is the first pre- college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.
Concrete Compressive Strength
Invertebrate Issue
Spectacular Nanosponge
Student teams are knee deep in experiment design as part of their 6th grade science curriculum. They have now formed over 200 teams, and all teams are focused on their experiment designs. This means students are asking testable questions, and then figuring out how to test them. This is not an easy task! There are a lot of constraints: the experiment has to take place in a 9 mL silicon tube that can be clipped into three separate chambers, there can be no data collection or observations recorded during the experiment, and the experiment needs to be "fixed" so the results aren't skewed when it returns to gravity's influence. This is something that certainly stretches students in ways they've never been stretched before. It also stretches teachers! It can be difficult as science teachers to stay ahead of student questions. Even young children ask good questions: Why is the sky blue? Where does sound come from when you turn on the radio? How does electricity work? Fifth and sixth grade students ask even more complex questions, so that the students and teachers have to seek out experts to help answer them. This is good, because it connects students with professionals working in their fields of study, and it gives them a glimpse of the things they do! Besides experiment design, this is probably the most exciting aspect of SSEP.
If you haven't done so already, save November 15th on your calendar. It is an exciting time for students, and it's a great night for Science!
It's safe to say all participating students have been through the introduction of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, and have learned about gravity's role in how things work in our world as well as how things tend to work in microgravity. These are important concepts, because it helps the students develop an intuition about how things might work, and therefore develop questions that can be tested in microgravity. It's also safe to say some of the students have developed their testable question, and are moving on to researching how they can answer it. This is the part of experiment design that can be the most frustrating part, but it is also the part in which students will experience so much growth. This is real science at this point, not verifications. They haven't been given the question, or the steps to follow. They are asking their own questions and creating the steps and experiment that will answer that question. And the answer is likely unknown! That's the beauty of the program. Students learn to ask questions that probably won't have answers, until it is tested and tried in a lab that is highly sought after: The International Space Station.
As the students move on to proposal writing, remember the resources on this site that are available to them. Under the "Teacher and Student Resources" tab, there is an "AP Style Reference Page." This page offers many examples for students and teachers to follow, and has the appropriate guidelines. Under the "Additional Resources" tab, there are resources for note taking, as well as online search techniques. There are website suggestions for biologicals, a microbe WIKI, and even a "Scientific and Technical Writing Tips and Checklist" document, which will prove valuable during proposal writing time.
Students are fully engaged in SSEP, and are pushing the boundaries of science as they know it. It's a good time to be a 6th grader in Burleson ISD!
I was talking to a principal yesterday about our district's SSEP webinar last month. Dr. Jeff Goldstein, the director of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, which is the parent organization for SSEP, painted a wonderful mental picture of inquiry/evidence based learning, what it truly is, and how students are born asking questions and demanding responses. I left that webinar wanting the entire district to hear what he had to say. I told this principal that the webinar was the best PD I've ever had. That was no exaggeration. I've had a lot of professional development. A lot. I've even had specialized training in Situational Leadership, the practical applications of possible hostage scenarios, and of course many years of subject specific and grade level specific trainings. Even with all of these trainings, I still whole-heartedly say this webinar is the best PD I've ever had. Dr. Goldstein talks about science, how it is multidisciplinary, and how SSEP works, but what he is really talking about is valuing our students and their education by tapping into their natural curiosity and inquiry. I just watched the webinar again, and I immediately envisioned lessons and experiments that would help students understand this process.
I encourage you to go back and view the webinar again. If you haven't watched it yet, you need to! It will focus your attention on the right things as teachers, and will remind you of critical information as you move forward in experiment design. I'm going to go watch the best PD I've ever received....again! Happy designing!
As educators, we think in terms of lists, timelines, data, and grades. It's how we manage tracking the progress and learning of so many students at once. It's an important part of what we do. However, when it comes to taking risks, and working with a design process, the things we rely so heavily on to determine growth might be the very thing that prevents our students from taking risks and making stretch mistakes. Students may think, "I'm really curious about this, but it's too risky, so I'm going to do that so I can get a good grade." They also aren't willing to look for feedback from peers, and do not see the design process as multiple iterations. Instead, they see it as a checklist to work through. Looking for fatal flaws in their design means going back to something they already "checked off" their list, and represents a step backwards.
There are two videos that helped me in thinking about this. The first is Astro Teller's TED talk, "The Unexpected Benefit of Celebrating Failure". It is a perfect example of how we should be working to inspire our student experiment designers. If we see their designs as "iterations" from the beginning, then students see their designs as a work in progress, with multiple opportunities to update and correct. The second is "The Backward Bike" by Smarter Every Day's Destin Sandlin. He uses a backward bike to prove that we have certain mindsets, or biases, that are difficult to change. It might be possible that our need for lists, timelines, data, and grades are a mindset, or even bias, that is keeping our students from really following their curiosity and developing critical and creative thinking!
This week, students learned about gravity and how it works. They were asked whether or not there was gravity in space, and they learned why astronauts feel weightless. This is important, because this background knowledge will help them develop an intuition about how particular systems here on earth might behave in a microgravity setting. This information is relatively new to the general public (watch the video below and see if you can find the artist's misunderstanding) , and it means BISD students are on the front lines of science education.
Students will take this knowledge about microgravity, and will then begin to formulate questions that will lead to their experiment designs. Next week is an important week in SSEP, as students will begin to develop their understanding of real science processes. Not only will they be developing their own questions, they will also be designing an experiment to test it.
Here is the video of an emerging technology that could be useful in space:
Before we begin Mission 11, I just want to share this meme featuring Carl Sagan, a famous astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, and all around science enthusiast. This is just as true today as it was in his lifetime (he passed away in 1996.)
"You go talk to kindergartners or first grade kids, and you find a class full of science enthusiasts. And they ask deep questions! They ask, 'What is a dream, why do we have toes, why is the moon round, what is the birthday of the world, why is the grass green?' These are profound, important questions. They bubble right out of them. You go talk to 12th graders and there's none of that. They've become incurious. Something terrible has happened between kindergarten and 12th grade."
More Carl Sagan quotes:
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the Universe."
Here's to keeping them curious.
Lesson Plans or student investigations: CASIS, a partner of SSEP.Mission 11Last year, we posted news and events on our blog. You can find Mission 9 blog posts HERE!
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Gallery - Mission 12 Gallery
Visiting TCU Microbiology LaboratoryDr. Clark Jones explains the process of growing penicillium mold in the lab. Students (from facing, far left) Ryder Huskins, Ian Ray, Kenneth Sanders, Ethan Moore, and Gabriel McCarthy listen intently.
Student hosts and teachers for these labs.
Principal Investigator Gabriel McCarthy working with penicillium mold in potato agar slants.
Agar slant with penicillium mold.
Agar slant with penicillium mold. .
Students study various swab sample growths with petri dishes. Students swabbed elevator buttons, face plants, and even their tongues!
Various microscopic samples were tested with the help of Dr. Clark Jones.
Students learned about microscopy through testing various surfaces on the TCU campus.
Overheard, "Look! It's a real lab, ya'll! They're not playing around!"
Growths from bottom-of-shoe swabs.
Students were in awe of the tiny, microscopic world that lives around them.
Dr. Clark Jones shows students how to use the microscopes they will need to evaluate their experiment.
Dr. Clark Jones shows Ryder Huskins (left) and Kenneth Sanders how to work with a slant tube.
Penicillium mold growing in a slant with potato agar.
Ethan Moore, Ian Ray, Kenneth Sanders, and Ryder Huskins present Dr. Clark Jones with a gift.
Team Penicillium Mold Growth. Teacher Laura Smith, Ethan Moore, Ryder Huskins, Ian Ray, Kenneth Huskins, and Gabriel McCarthy.
Left: Daniel Collins, Ty Vander Laan, and Kenneth Sanders prepare to present at TCU's Student Research Symposium.
Team "Hornwort Plant Water Filtering in Microgravity" and team "Penicillium Mold Growth" ready their boards for TCU's Student Research Symposium.
Insulin team: "A Crystal Clear View on Insulin" prepares their board for the Student Research Symposium at TCU.
Back row: Teacher Megan Adams, Ty Vander Laan, Daniel Collins, Olivia Gardner, Macie Grosskurth, Gabriel McCarthy, John Andrews, Teacher Laura Smith, Stacy Hughes.
Front row: Cameron Pewitt, Kenneth Sanders, Ryder Huskins, Ian Ray, Ethan Moore, Alex Rodriguez.
Team members John Andrews and Alex Ferguson explain their experiment design to TCU students at TCU's Student Research Symposium.
Team Penicillium Mold Growth with teacher Laura Smith in front of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Team Penicillium Mold Growth with Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Founder of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
"Scientists with Swag:" Team Penicillium Mold Growth show they've got what it takes to send an experiment to space.
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Gallery - Mission 11 Gallery
Mission 11 Students visit Quickrete in McKinney Texas to learn about the compressive strength of concrete, and how concrete may be used to build on other planets and to protect humans from radiation!Cole Rose and Danyel Archuleta open their flight experiment enclosure under the close eye of Professor Enderlin from TCU's geology lab.
Cole Rose and Danyel Archuleta with Professor Enderlin from TCU's giology lab.
Professor Enderlin quizzes student researchers Cole Rose and Danyel Archuleta on their concrete extraction procedures.
Danyel Archuleta listens intently to Prof. Enderlin's explanation of the concrete sample composition.
The minilab extraction setup.
Student researchers Cole Rose and Danyel Archuleta had to carefully weigh their concrete samples from the flight experiment and ground truth experiment.
Students and Professor Enderlin looking over proposal implementation plan.
The ground truth experiment (top) and flight experiment (bottom), side-by-side.
Professor Enderlin, Danyel Archuleta, Christian Steele, and Cole Rose prepare to weigh the contents of each experiment and collect the data.
Weighing experiment contents.
Students weighing experiment contents under the watchful eye of Professor Enderlin in one of TCU's geology labs.
Students weighing experiment contents under the watchful eye of Professor Enderlin in one of TCU's geology labs.
Curious minds..."How did the conrete form in space?"
First look at concrete formed in space.
The dilemma: making sure there is a flat surface for the pressure test.
Real science.
Examining the ground truth contents.
Describing the results.
Accounting for every piece.
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Gallery - Mission 9 Gallery
Mission 9 Gallery
2016 SSEP Conference at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
Mission 15 Competition Boards
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Hughes Middle School
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Kerr Middle School
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STEAM Middle School
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REALM Secondary School
Teacher & Student Resources
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Teacher and Student Resources - Overview
Teacher and Student Resources
The AssignmentMission: Write a proposal for an experiment to be tested in space at the International Space Station. The materials must not include problematic materials and must fit into a small tube. The experiment needs to have a direct application in space, on earth, or both.
Deadline: November 4st
Click HERE to get the document template!
Background ResearchThe description of the proposed experiment (Section IV) should include, but is not limited to:
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A description of the basic question to be addressed by the experiment.
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Ex. Will bacteria grow on meat in microgravity?
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A discussion of current scientific understanding that is relevant to the question:
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Explain what is already known. How does this knowledge lead to the question to be addressed by the experiment.
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A description of the insight that will be gained from the experiment:
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How does the answer to the question posed either add to, or provide added confirmation of, the current understanding.
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Your Experiment Design will include figures, photos, and references to any articles cited, based on the template provided.
See recent BISD/SSEP Mission details:
Mission 13 successful launch on Space X-18 and SSEP Conference presentation
Mission 12 successful launch on Space X-15 and SSEP Conference presentation
Mission 11 successful launch on Space X-12 and SSEP Conference presentation
Mission 9 successful launch on Space X-10 and SSEP Conference presentation.
Mission 7 successful launch on SpaceX-8 and SSEP Conference presentation.
There are 9 separate categories of science that can be addressed in microgravity including:
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protein crystal growth
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inorganic crystal growth
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bacterial studies
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fish/aquatic life
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food product studies
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seeds and plants
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fluid diffusion
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cell biology
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micro-encapsulation
Websites:
Try MicrobeWiki at https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/MicrobeWiki.
MicrobeWiki is a free, university-monitored wiki on microbes and microbiology. Curated pages are reviewed and updated by microbiologists at Kenyon College. Search for your microbe in the box on the left or browse the Taxomony Index. Then look in a supply house below.
Biological Supply Houses:
Carolina Biological Supply Company sells specimens that we can order in a dormant state. Search the word microkwik in the search box for samples of specimens you can use.
The ATCC Supply House also sells specimens. Make sure that it's a Biosafety Level 1 organism.
Your proposal guide must follow a standard style and conform to the following requirements:
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Font: 12 pt Times New Roman
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Line spacing: single spaced, 12 pt
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Standard 8.5” x 11” pages; single-sided
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1-inch margins all around
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all pages numbered
Allowed Crew Interaction Days for Mission 12 to ISS
Student teams can only choose Crew Interaction Days from the Table below for the assigned astronaut to manipulate their FME – days which best fit their experiment design. For the days listed below, A=0 is the Time of Arrival, when the SSEP experiments payload is brought from the ferry vehicle through the hatch on ISS, and U=0 is the Time of Undock.
Crew Interaction Day - Description - Day
1 - on arrival at ISS - A=0
2 - during first week - A+2
3 - 2 weeks prior to undock - U-14
4 - in week prior to undock - U-5
5 - i n week prior to undock - U-2
You can scroll through the document below, or click the link in the upper left hand corner to open the document in a new tab. Database passwords can be obtained from your campus librarian.
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AP Style Reference Page
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Video Hangouts
BISD/SSEP Mission 15 Kick-Off Webinar - CLICK HERE
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Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Cornell Note-Taking Method - https://goo.gl/zYek81Once you open the Cornell Note document, click "File>Make a Copy" to generate a copy of your own, or hover your cursor over the right top corner of the document below, and a new file will open in a new tab.
Other ResourcesBetter Search Techniques:
I typed steroids in Destiny Quest, and found that there is a print book I can check out. To expand my keyword search, I also looked for performance enhancing drugs. There is an e-book available though Follett Shelf that I can check out too. My local library also has a book I can borrow.
Now I am looking for scholarly studies on my topic of Steroid Use Among High School Students. My essential question is: How can steroid use among high school students be prevented? All my research should go into answering this essential question. I typed the keywords “high school ” steroids for my search in the following issues-based library databases: Opposing Viewpoints, TopicSearch, and JSTOR.
From my research in the databases, I learned that there was a study done in 2012 called "Monitoring the Future." In Google, I searched: steroids “monitoring the future”. From there, I found information and links to the National Institute on Drug Abuse which provided more data.
When I did the same search in Google: “high school” steroids, I got a lot of old articles from various newspapers. This wasn't exactly what I wanted. I scrolled to the bottom, clicked on Advanced Search, and changed the Last updated to Past Year. I received a lot of newer newspaper articles. Some of them were interesting and had information that I could use. I went back to Advanced Search and typed .gov in the Domain. I received a lot of government reports. Then, I changed the .gov to .edu and received college and university studies. These will prove useful for my paper.
Information about microbes:
https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/MicrobeWiki. MicrobeWiki is a free, university-monitored wiki on microbes and microbiology.
Curated pages are reviewed and updated by microbiologists at Kenyon College.
Search for your microbe in the box on the left or browse the Taxomony Index.
Then look in a supply house below.
Carolina Biological Supply Company sells specimens that we can order in a dormant state.
Sources for research:
https://scholar.google.com/?hl=en
http://www.crscientific.com/microscope-fixatives.html for information about how to use fixatives and when.
Sources for biological materials, fixatives and growth inhibitors:
Official student experiment design and proposal guidelines:
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