A project about Mars is bringing together Middle School students from Lab and their counterparts in Wales.
Science teacher Florence Vaughan, who studied last summer as part of a NASA program, has organized the virtual exchange program around a project intended to help students learn about the solar system by planning a space station for Mars. The federal space agency is looking at establishing such a station on the planet in 2020 or 2030.
The Lab students, about a dozen sixth-graders and eighth-graders who meet during lunch hour, have looked up information about the planet on a Web site and now are making a model of their station design.
Their Welsh colleagues are engaged in a similar exercise and the students have begun e-mailing each other to discuss their progress. The two schools also will arrange video conferences during the year so that the students can learn more together.
"This has become a cultural exchange as well as a scientific collaboration. We will learn quite a bit about Wales before the year is out," Vaughan said. A NASA official put Lab in touch with the Welsh school and Vaughan is drawing on her summer experiences to help the students with their work.
"One of the things the students are learning is how far away Mars is. When the crew goes to establish a space base, they will have to stay there a matter of years, and that consideration is something the students have to think about as they look at how the crew will be able to eat and work on Mars."
During the summer, Vaughan was one of 25 educators who attended a two-week workshop at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It was one of 18 education workshops conducted at 10 NASA field centers.
During the workshop, Vaughan observed NASA's research and development as she talked with NASA scientists, engineers, technicians, and educational specialists about their work. She was among 250 teachers selected by NASA for the program.