IPSD Report

The following report provides an overall review of Project: Flight to Mars, the International Public Science Day (IPSD) 2003 project run by the Long Island Museum of Science and Technology (LIMSAT), and assisted by Joseph Fili of the Nassau Technology Educators Association (NTEA), who joined us as a follow on to last year’s events. We deeply appreciate the large contribution of time and effort, both on the part of Joe and the NTEA itself for sharing its resources.

From the beginning, there was skepticism about Flight to Mars from outside of our organization, and this skepticism took the form of two questions:

Ø Can you accomplish a satisfying and significant science project without partnering with a major university?; and

What we discovered is that yes, we can do work that is satisfying and important (that also meets National Science Education Standards), and yes, these students are every bit as concerned about their education as others, and probably more so. We were delighted with the strong and outstanding participation from the schools and students who became involved in our hands-on science project and extension projects and related events. From a personal perspective, in twenty years of delivering presentations, for the first time, I saw a breathtaking 100% participation in speculative discussions. I was further impressed and particularly proud of student achievements in Goal # 5 below.

ì School Statistics (for Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School, the school that fully completed all projects and from which the bulk of the in-person participants came; the other statistics were not yet published or available).

GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. Goal: Facilitate an inquiry-based, hands-on science project incorporating learner-centered, constructivist learning theory to stimulate interest and excitement in scientific inquiry, math, and engineering skills.

i. Accomplishments: A wide variety of communications were used to advise schools and teachers of the opportunity to participate in Project: Flight to Mars. Recruitment efforts included online outreach to Science teachers, presentations to teacher groups, and online through a special LIMSAT IPSD Centennial of Flight web space. An online threaded discussion board was set up to encourage conversation by anyone interested in participation. The Forum section of the website is intended for post-event use and project development throughout the 2003-2004 year.

b. Objectives: Establish a series of planning workshops to develop methodology for participating teachers and team members such as: Building the test mechanism, Using digital photography to capture the Flight to Mars project, and Using automated mechanisms to aid in the collection, graphing, analysis, and reporting of data.

i. Accomplishments: Multiple workshops and seminars were held at schools with subject matter experts as facilitators. The focus was on science, construction, and generating activities for students that were engaging and exciting.

2. Goal: Identify and find innovative methods to utilize evolving Internet technologies to achieve the collaboration, sharing, and reporting of data and images related to the project.

a. Objectives: Develop an effective, functional Website or web space with text, images, and methods of sharing information among team participants.

i. Accomplishments: The LIMSAT team created the design and architecture for the Flight to Mars Website. The various links within the site provide participants and visitors with the scope of the project, protocol, photographs and diagrams, photo galleries for participating schools and groups, data and reports from the participants, and commentary. Hundreds of hours of work were devoted to the design, development and maintenance of the project Website. Development will continue.

b. Objective: Establish electronic interaction as learning and facilitation tools.

i. Accomplishment: In the initial stages of the project, participants were invited to join an online threaded discussion in which they could exchange information, and collaborate. Discussion board capability was utilized to facilitate this activity.

ii. Accomplishment: One of the most significant uses of the Internet was for moderate and large-scale communication via e-mail. E-mail was essential in the day-to-day coordination of the project. Large volumes of e-mail messages were transmitted in the process. This communications medium enabled the rapid transfer of images, spreadsheets, graphs, and more. While Flight to Mars could have been accomplished without the use of the Internet, there is no way in which it could have been as efficiently accomplished in such a timely manner. Participants were able to collaborate, question, and share information any day and at any time.

3. Goal: Create extensions of the core science project as models of interdisciplinary learning.

a. Objective: Establish a linkage between Science teachers and Technology Educators in the design and building of the testing mechanisms used for the project.

i. Accomplishments: Throughout the project the close cooperation of science and mathematics teachers with Technology Educators was evident. Students worked with the Tech Ed teachers to build the test equipment. As the project progressed, other collaborations also took place, e.g. in preparation for IPSD Celebration Day.

b. Objective: Develop the protocol for extension science projects related to the core project, i.e. extensions which are about aerodynamics, and which are age/grade appropriate. As an example, Flight to Mars Project Manager and Aerospace Engineer Norman Weingart visited Hempstead High School, Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School and Deer Park High School, up to eight classes each, for instruction and workshops for designing a plane to fly in the rarefied atmosphere of Mars. This experiment was intended to teach the basic principles of aeronautics. With a greater understanding of the underlying concepts, the students would then have a much greater appreciation for the science related to Project Flight to Mars. A summary of this extension project is posted on the Website on the activities page.

4. Goal: Bring benefits to disadvantaged communities not served by prior year activities. Objective: Determine the greatest needs in the community consistent with our organization’s mission.

i. Accomplishments: Being that LIMSAT is a central component of a large-scale community revitalization project on the doorstep of the largest, most vital minority community in Long Island, it was natural to bring Flight to Mars to the Hempstead Union Free School District, and in particular to the Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School. In doing so we found a reservoir of high-potential students who had brought themselves up dramatically in an environment where further performance improvement was strongly desired and needed. [See SCHOOL STATISTICS below.]

a. Objective: Introduce electronic learning methods to groups with traditionally minimal access to technology.

i. Accomplishment: Students utilized Internet research to identify such experiment conditions as gravitational conditions on the subject planet.

ii. Accomplishment: Conversation areas were established as a component of the Flight to Mars Website to facilitate online threaded discussions for the various collaborations.

i. Accomplishment: The March 20^th IPSD Celebration at Nassau Community College, the Cradle of Aviation Museum and LIMSAT was face-to-face, rather than online. Approximately 40 of the students and teachers who had taken part in all the preliminary activities for Flight to Mars, gathered at our several locations for the day’s activities. In total there were 4 Flight to Mars-related activities occurring on International Public Science Day itself: Engineering Challenge—protecting a payload in a hard landing on the surface of Mars; Flight to Mars Presentation—a highly interactive power point session given by the author in his role as NASA/ JPL representative; and Instructional Seminars in the Cradle of Aviation Museum, reinforcing engineering principles by example, and featuring several types of Flight Simulators.

b. Objective: Encourage teamwork as a science and engineering methodology and a broad-based skill

i. Accomplishment: The Middle School students were formed into seven teams of five or six students each. Students worked harmoniously and successfully to develop team approaches to problem solving.

a. Objective: Introduce the concept of real-world budget considerations to Flight to Mars thereby creating a tool that will benefit students throughout their lives. This element, to our knowledge, was done here for the first time, having never been incorporated into similar projects.

i. Accomplishments: Each element of protective payload material in the engineering challenge had a real-world analog keyed to realistic costs. Cost effectiveness was included in the challenge as a criterion for achieving the objectives. In the process, students became passionate about cost management while meeting their goals, and parents were delighted that these very practical engineering and broad-based skills were being introduced.

SCHOOL STATISTICS

Students

Student Ethnicity

Ethnicity

This School

State Avg.
(grades 6-8)

African American	67%	19%
American Indian	0%	0%
Asian	0%	5%
Hispanic	32%	15%
White	1%	61%

New York State Assessments

About the Tests

New York uses the New York State Assessments to test students in grades 4 and 8.
These tests are standards based, which means they measure how well students are mastering the specific skills defined for each grade by the state of New York.
The goal is that 90% of students meet or exceed grade-level standards on the test.

GRADE 8

Scale: % of students meeting or exceeding grade-level standards

Math
27% (2001)
14% (2000)
13% (1999)
The state average for grade 8 math was 39% in 2001.

English
31% (2001)
15% (2000)
21% (1999)
The state average for grade 8 English language arts was 45% in 2001.

100

Source of data

Source:

· Basic information about this school comes from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) from the 2000-2001 school year, the most recent year available.

· Test score information for this school comes from the U.S. Department of Education, last updated June 2002.

Press Coverage

International Public Science Day 2003

Total Publications: 9 Print Circulation: 144,639 + larger online viewership

LESSONS LEARNED

Throughout the preparation and execution phases of Project: Flight to Mars there were numerous lessons learned by leaders, teachers, and students. Several such lessons were significant and are therefore incorporated into this report:

a. The first goal was to insure uniformity in the release mechanism whereby each project would be unaffected by human variance. This would also insure fairness. Teacher-Team Member Joe Fili devised an automated release arm that solved this problem.

b. The second, and closely related goal was to insure scientific accuracy in measurement to be accomplished by fully automating the recording of flight time for each project. A second function of the release mechanism was to start the clock, and this worked perfectly. However, the optical system intended to stop the clock did not work out, and we went to the backup system affectionately known as the Mark One Eyeball, which is to say that judges hit the stopwatch upon observing impact. Although we believe that reaction time on each drop was fully consistent and fair (especially due to the fact that the critical measurement, the product of flight duration and weight were not close), on future use of the system, we will incorporate a pressure sensitive plate.

a. With a later start than the previous year, and fewer partner institutions at the outset, we could not reach the sheer numbers of students involved in our IPSD 2002 project. Some team members were initially disappointed but later realized that having nearly forty students in the March 20^th events and approximately 170 students share other aspects of the learning experience is a major accomplishment in itself.

a. As with last year, whenever we were able to involve students in leadership roles, in serving as facilitators or vital team contributors they continually rose to the occasion. This is an extension of one of LIMSAT’s cherished concepts—“encourage development of role models close to home.” Good examples this leadership include:

i. The tenth grade student, Matt Emma, the son of a long-time volunteer and supporter, who did most of the work on the Website and designed the March 20^th student participation and winner’s certificates; and

ii. Vaughn Johnson, the son of another highly valued volunteer, who did much of the photography while his dad filmed. Vaughn also assisted in facilitation. Flight to Mars proved to be an ideal opportunity to help develop our future leaders.

a. Based upon visits to schools, and interviews with students and their teachers, students engaged in unprecedented levels of subject matter involvement and interest.

b. School Administrators reported unanimously that Flight to Mars was one of the best projects that they had ever seen their students involved with.

CONCLUSIONS

We appreciate the opportunity to have participated in the IPSD-2003 competition and are gratified to have played a role. In particular, we extend our thanks to Ms. Gaynelle Bowden of AAAS and Ms. Karen Elinich of the Franklin Institute for their ongoing assistance and professionalism. The LIMSAT Board of Directors was saddened to hear that International Public Science Day as we know it might not continue if the current sponsor shifts focus. Therefore LIMSAT has taken the decision to find ways to continue holding events in the same spirit.

On behalf of everyone who took part in Project: Flight to Mars, thank you for an extraordinarily powerful experience.