Resources and Sharing for Teachers and Classes/Clubs

[casadyc]

Hey everyone, I thought I would start a topic that's dedicated to sharing resources for teachers who are doing a HAB launch as a classroom project or school club.

I'll kick it off with the following document for "Launch Day Roles" that I put together for a middle school class of 20+ kids, ages 5th-8th grades:

Launch Day Roles

I wanted to get everyone involved who could be, and while not everyone participated in their roles as assigned, I think they all participated in the way they wanted to. Most of the roles/duties that were assigned worked really well. Some kids lost focus during prep, but that was fine because we had so many. For the next launch, I want to get the kids more involved in the pre-launch prep than I did with this one.

We also did a "hosted payload" using the PongSat idea, and hosted science experiments for my daughter's 3rd grade class. Here's the document I sent to her teacher to prep for it:

Hosted Payload / PongSats

[lawrenceleung]

Great idea @casadyc! Reviving this thread for the GSBC 2016 discussion.

Here are some resources that I've collected over time:

• AIAA Curriculum Materials: https://www.aiaa.org/Secondary.aspx?id=17585
• Minnesota Space Grant Consortium Middle School High-Altitude Ballooning Initiative: http://national.spacegrant.org/meetings/presentations/2011_Fall/12.pdf
• Teaching on the Edge - Lesson Plans: http://ilearn.bsu.edu/tote/resources.php
• Give Freshmen a Hands-on Introduction to the ”Space” Side of Aerospace: http://www.aem.umn.edu/people/faculty/flaten/ballooningteacherworkshop2013/Flaten_Ballooning_ASEE_Paper_7457_June_2013.pdf
• Examples of experiments and data logging: http://www.globisens.net/sites/default/files/docs/sample-activities/project-based-learning/What%27s%20It%20Like%20Out%20There.pdf
• Example of a 3-day summer HAB project: http://www.ncedservices.org/hab/
• Academic High Altitude Conference - a yearly gathering about academic high altitude balloon launches: http://www.stratoballooning.org/conference
• Reference Materials from past Academic High Altitude Conferences: http://www.nearspacelaunch.net/references-links.html
• Research paper - Inquiry-Based Learning in Remote Sensing: A Space Balloon Educational Experiment: http://www.aboutgis.com/Publications/Mountrakis_JGHE_2012_Educational_Remote_Sensing.pdf
• Research paper - High-Altitude Balloon Curriculum and Hands-On Sensors for Effective Student Learning in Astronomy and STEM http://nebula.wsimg.com/7be97a2ebe71d54d7223850ca313618f?AccessKeyId=2150098A98A3948388C8&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
• Research paper - Strengthening Balloon Programs: University and Business Collaborations, Research, Outreach, and Internal Support http://nearspacelaunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Voss-Takehara-FINAL-Programs-AHAC-2014.pdf

[dgerson]

[Rachel]

Our AP Physics teacher wanted his classes to be involved in a year-long design project. He chose a HAB project, then when the AP physics curriculum split into two years, he chose the HAB project for the AP II class . This project is in it's 3rd or 4th year, and each year, the requirements become more stringent. Now, our payload must be 0.500 kg or under, we must record pressure, temperature and 3D accel,, as well as maintain constant contact to our ground base.

We start off in teams of one or two people, and these teams make a memo with their design idea. The top teams move into Stage II. The people whose ideas didn't move on are integrated into larger teams. Stage II ideas are presented to the class, and the top teams move on, and the others are again integrated into the top teams.

Stage III is when it gets really intense. The teams present their ideas, along with budgets and needed materials to a panel of experts (National Weather Service people, lawyers, etc). The school and the general public are allowed to sit in on these presentations. People vote, and the winning team gets the funding to design their payload. Any left-over monies go to the other teams (in order of placement) to work on their designs.
The students get to chose their roles-theorists, climatologists, legal council, fabrication, journalism, safety crew, etc.

Here's our website: http://civicbloom.com/smithapphysics/, and a video from one of last years (3 were launched) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2oyAYGu9aY. Bakteriak sent up petri dishes to see what affect high altitude had on bacterial colonies.

[dgerson]

How are you enjoying having HABs integrated into your education as a student? What are the benefits form your perspective for you?

[Rachel]

These long-term design projects are done in part to prepare us for real-world collaboration. The class is self-regulating, so we have to work as a team. We have so many things we have to do, in many different areas (getting a FAA waiver, assembling the circuitry, coding and documenting our progress), and I think it helps prepare us for projects we'll do in the future for our careers. Even the people who aren't as STEM-minded benefit; one guy who wants to go into finance is in charge of budgeting and council. We have a climatology team, so some people have to run weather simulations; we have a coding team, a theorist team, and a testing team, so we have a lot to do.

[lawrenceleung]

Rachel, this is so awesome, thanks for sharing! It sounds like your physics teacher has put together a very thorough and rewarding program! Are you planning to launch as part of GSBC? Has the HAB project at school inspired any of the students to work on other projects/hobbies in their own time?

[Rachel]

We are launching tomorrow and submitting the results to GSBC. Our other AP physics course has a design project, so they are pretty swamped (they're working toward water purification systems). Some kids who aren't in the course are helping, and many are excited to take the course next year to be a part of the design challenge.

[lawrenceleung]

Good luck with the launch! Don't forget to share pics on the forum

[Eagle81]

Cub Scout Pack 409 in Omaha, Nebraska is starting a space balloon program this year. The Webelos Scouts (5th Grade) are going to do most of the heavy lifting, but we will involve the whole Pack. I stumbled upon this forum last night. This is great. Being able to use this site for research with the Scouts will be very helpful.

We are considering launching two balloons or recruiting another team to launch at the same time. There are obvious advantages to this. What are some disadvantages to launching more than one balloon at the same time. We should get this decision out of the way early.

[dgerson]

A lot of teams do this so definitely possible and as you say, has many benefits. The two main things to watch out for is that it is just more to keep track of on launch day which will already be hectic and sometimes the comma systems on the balloons can interfere. But no show stoppers for sure. Good luck and have fun!