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Weightless in Texas
KPMS teachers get unique opportunity
By Erica Ma, Hugh McMillan and Rodika Tollefson
KP News
Nearly everyone, at some point in
time, has combined vinegar and baking soda together,
reveling in the chemical reaction that results. However,
what happens when the two are combined in a weightless
environment? Will the chemical reaction differ?
Presented with those questions, a NASA team from KPMS
set off to find the answer.
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Photos courtesy NASA |
Amy D’Andrea, Kathy Tucker-Patton,
Ron Stark, and Brianna Randall, the four teachers/test
subjects, flew to Houston, Texas, in February to try out
the experiment aboard NASA’s “Weightless Wonder,” a
modified McDonnell Douglas DC-9 capable of executing a
series of parabolic maneuvers to produce about 25
seconds of weightlessness. (To produce each weightless
moment, the DC-9 makes a steep climb followed by an
equally steep dive, when everything not nailed down
floats.) KPMS was one of 20 NASA Explorer schools
selected for the activity.
The teachers were joined by former
KPMS students John DeLeo (now Peninsula High senior) and
Brett Knisely (now a physics student at Washington State
University), who served on the ground crew at Johnson
Space Center’s Ellington Field.
The many twists and turns of the
jet may cause dizziness and nausea, hence the famed
nickname “the vomit comet.” The teachers were advised to
prepare accordingly. There were two trials; the first
done by D’Andrea/Randall and the second by
Tucker-Patton/Stark. Both groups claimed they were
nervous at first, but ended up enjoying the ride.
After the first trial, the crew
held a live video conference with several KPMS science
classes. “The most exciting part of the experiment was
actually performing it in microgravity… It was a lot
different than practicing it at KPMS! The syringes
[containing the baking soda and vinegar] were harder to
plunge, and the body positioning was different than
expected,” Randall described during the conference. “We
didn’t know how our bodies were going to react to the
G-forces and microgravity, so we had a lot of ‘unknown’
elements to deal with, and most of the time, unknown is
scary!”
Despite those little snags, they
were treated like professionals. D’Andrea, the KPMS team
leader, said in an interview upon return the project was
very well organized by NASA staff, who “lived up to
their every word.” The flights weren’t just for show
either: During D’Andrea’s flight, two NASA scientists
from the Glenn Research Center were aboard with a “real”
experiment.
To the relief of the team and the
slight disappointment of the students, no actual
vomiting was involved. KPMS teachers successfully
completed their “missions,” and data concerning chemical
reactions in weightless environments was collected.
Eighth-grade astronomy students will finish analyzing
the data from the experiment, comparing it to the data
collected by KPMS students under normal gravity
conditions.
“This opportunity is one more
connection our students are able to make with the STEM
(science technology, engineering and math) community
through collaboration with NASA scientists and
engineers,” said KPMS science teacher Kareen Borders,
who initiated the process that turned KPMS into a NASA
Explorer School. “We are very proud of our students.”
This is the last year of the
three-year KPMS partnership with NASA that is designed
to inspire future science, technology, engineering and
mathematics professionals. KPMS was the first of two
NASA Explorer Schools in Washington and has taken part
in many unique, NASA-sponsored activities to help
address the math and science needs of its students.
Recently, KPMS’ participation in the Explorer Schools
program was recognized by state Superintendent of Public
Instruction Terry Bergeson, who highlighted it as one of
three middle schools making exceptional progress in
Washington state.
By investing in the nation’s
education programs, NASA’s goal is to attract and retain
students in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. To compete for the
minds, imaginations, and career ambitions of America’s
young people, the space agency seeks to encourage the
students’ pursuit of educational disciplines critical to
its missions.
DeLeo, despite graduating from KPMS
before the Explorer program began, is one example of how
NASA’s approach is working. The Key Pen resident is
interested in aerospace and plans to study engineering
in college. Visiting the Johnson Space Center, watching
“mission control” in action and interacting with the
engineers “was an awesome experience” for him — and he
hopes to work for NASA some day. He passed that
excitement on to KPMS students during the video
conference from Texas.
“It impacted our kids a lot,”
D’Andrea said. “(His) message was, ‘Do well in school,
and you, too, can do cool things.’”
Tucker-Patton had some
inspirational advice of her own: “From what I saw,
everyone who worked for NASA loved, loved their jobs,”
she told the students. “Investigate careers with which
you may not be entirely familiar. The sky’s the limit
and failure is not an option!”
Excellent advice for the students,
it applies to the adults as well. D’Andrea was
fascinated to see the science behind NASA’s
explorations. “What humans are doing is incredible,” she
said. Like DeLeo, she left Houston thinking that a job
with NASA could be cool, indeed.
“If there is a place for me at NASA
some day, don’t be surprised,” she said.
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