Fizzix Funday 2012

20121119 Fizzix Funday

What would you ask an astronaut?

What would you ask an astronaut?

On Tuesday, the South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach will become “mission control” as 11 students and two teachers, including Mr. Landstrom, will make contact with the International Space Station. It’s a collaboration between NASA’s Teaching From Space arm and museums and educators worldwide to encourage kids to pursue careers in science.

“It’s incredible for a small museum to be one of a handful of sites chosen worldwide,” said Lew Crampton, president and chief financial officer of the museum.Students in the Palm Beach County School District as well as area private school students and homeschooled students in grades 3-12 were asked to write a 250-word essay answering the question, “Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?”


The winners will have an opportunity to ask at least one question each to astronaut Akihiko Hoshide using the museum’s Amateur Radio Station, or Ham radio, with the assistance of the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group. The window of opportunity to ask questions will only remain open for about 10 minutes, so the kids and teachers practiced their questions, which range from waste disposal on the ISS to monitoring the health of coral reefs from space, at a dry-run at the museum a couple of weeks ago.

Below is the link to the live show on The Education Network (T.E.N). Anyone can click on this link at 11:30am Tuesday October 30th and watch the entire event. https://vodcast.palmbeachschools.org/player/ten1

What would you ask an astronaut? Here is what the kids said:

Chloe-Amelie Aikman, 9, Boca Raton (Calusa Elementary)

Question: When you look back on your life, what event or activity happened that had the largest impact on your desire to become an astronaut?

Emma Lilly Menzer, 8, Boynton Beach (Sunset Palms Elementary)

Question: When you exercise on the space station, what happens to your sweat?

Jerry Allison Stegenga III, 8, Boynton Beach (Pine Tree Lane Academy)

Question: Can Americans vote in space?

Finley Keefe Murray, 8, Palm Beach (Palm Beach Day Academy)

Question: If you can see coral reefs from space, can you measure them and if so, how?

Crista Johnson, 8, Palm Beach Gardens (Watson B. Duncan Middle)

Question: How has your perception of space’s size and expansion changed since leaving Earth?

Khiarra Carter, 10, Belle Glade (Gove Elementary)

Question: How is waste disposal currently handled on the space station and what is your opinion on how waste is disposed of?

Mary Dixon, 17, Wellington (Wellington High)

Question: Tell me about the integrated cardiovascular experiment you are performing on this mission, which will determine the effects of spending long periods in space on the heart.

Peter Rawlik, Palm Beach Maritime Academy

Question: In space, the human body is put through so much stress, physically and mentally. How did you train for this?

Connor Cane, Poinciana Elementary

Question: What future space discovery are you most excited about?

Gabriela Sanchez, Woodlands Middle

Question: What is the most beautiful or inspiring thing you’ve seen from space?

Catherine Zeng, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Question: What are the benefits of doing experimentation in micro-gravity?

And what will the two teachers ask?

Linda Petuch, Pine Jog Elementary

Question: Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Do you find this to be true as a space explorer?

Erich Landstrom, Seminole Ridge Community High

Question: Other than looking at Earth, what brings you piece of mind?

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What: The South Florida Science Museum’s Ground Control Mission with NASA

When: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday

Where: The South Florida Science Museum, 4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach

Info: 561-832-1988

20121017 Raingutter Regatta

(Click on the first picture to flip through a photostream of 2012 Raingutter Regatta)


Gotta Regatta Raingutter Race: Seminole Ridge HS physics students were challenged to make the fastest ferry for a Ping-Pong passenger. Using limited supplies teams had to design and build a boat that travels across a container of water.

Complete challenge is available here:
https://a629d397-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/seminolesecme/curriculum-of-the-consortium/2012LowesLBSTrulesRaingutterRegatta.pdf


The Raingutter Regatta Racde is adapted the Design Squad "Watercraft" and "Paddle Power" activities.
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/resources/watercraft.html
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/resources/paddle_power.html

Seminole Ridge Science Teacher Selected to Speak with ISS

SEMINOLE RIDGE SCIENCE TEACHER SELECTED TO SPEAK WITH INTL SPACE STATION; SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENCE MUSEUM TO SERVE AS GROUND CONTROL WITH NASA

(WEST PALM BEACH, FL) Roger that? The South Florida Science Museum will offer a seat in “mission control” to Mr. Erich Landstrom to make contact with an astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station. The event, scheduled to take place the week of October 22 culminates an essay contest where area students and educators competed for a chance to participate in the exciting astronaut Q&A via amateur radio.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture among NASA and other international space agencies that coordinate scheduled radio contacts between astronauts aboard the ISS and school-based organizations. The South Florida Science Museum was one of few organizations in the country invited to make space station contact this year.

“Through our very own Amateur Radio Station (WS4FSM), we’ll partner with the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group and a selection of local student essay contest winners to serve as Mission Control when we connect with astronauts during their October flyover,” said Museum CEO, Lew Crampton. “This collaborative effort with the Palm Beach county School District, local ham radio operators and the Museum is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for area students and their families. This space contact is our chance to tune into a ‘real world’ application of science, technology, engineering and math through radio uplink. We are incredibly proud to have been invited by NASA as one of only a handful of US partners for this important event.”

Fifteen students and two teachers were selected from participants in an essay contest. Palm Beach County School District students, area private school students and homeschooled students in grades 3-12, and their teachers, were invited to write a 250 words or less essay on the topic: “Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?” Each school selected their most outstanding student and teacher essay to send to the South Florida Science Museum by Monday, September 24, 2012. From there, the winning essay was judged at the South Florida Science Museum by a panel including former astronauts, scientists, educators and area media.

Winners and their families are invited to attend a private party at the Science Museum Friday night, October 12th, from 6pm-8pm. Students and their schools will also be featured in the Palm Beach Post and local television broadcasts and newspaper articles the day of the event. Winners and schools are listed below:

Jerry A. Stegenga III, 3rd grade, Pine Tree Lane Academy Homeschool

Mary Dixon, 12th grade, Wellington Community High School

Peter Rawlik, 8th grade, Palm Beach Maritime Academy

Crista Johnson, 8th grade, Watson B. Duncan middle School

Connor Cane, 3rd grade, Poinciana Elementary School

Khiarra Carter, 5th grade, Gove Elementary School

Emma Lilly Menzer, 3rd grade, Sunset Palms Elementary School

Gabriela Sanchez, 7th grade, Woodlands Middle School

Chloe Amelie-Aikman, 5th grade, Calusa Elementary School

Harrison Fisher, 3rd grade, Palm Beach Day Academy

Catherine Zeng, 9th grade, A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Erich Landstrom, TEACHER, Seminole Ridge Community High School

Linda Petuch, TEACHER, Pine Jog Elementary

Mr. Landstrom was one of twenty teachers who submitted essays. He teaches physics and earth-space science, and volunteers for NASA’s "Solar System Educator Program" offering teacher training and classroom activities highlighting NASA missions of discovery and exploration. Landstrom is the winner of the 2010 SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, and Mathematics Education) National Teacher of the Year Award, and the 2004 RadioShack National Teacher Award, recognizing outstanding high school math, science and technology educators.

“The NASA ARISS program will provide a unique and exciting opportunity for students in Palm Beach County,” said Wendy Spielman King, K-12 Science Manager, School District of Palm Beach County. “This program will certainly engage students in science by allowing them to talk directly with the crews living and working aboard the International Space Station. It is sure to be an experience that our students will never forget.”

The ARISS radio contact is one in a series with educational activities in the U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is an integral component of Teaching From Space, a NASA Education office. The office promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight.

In addition to its amateur radio exhibit, the South Florida Science Museum provides curious minds of all ages with an entertaining and educational journey through science and technology. The museum features more than 50 hands-on exhibits, a digital planetarium, freshwater and saltwater aquariums, as well as natural history exhibitions. Each year the museum welcomes more than 125,000 visitors and reaches more than 45,000 students through workshops at the museum and outreach programs to local schools.

For more information regarding the Space Station essay contest, visit SFSM.org or reach the South Florida Science Museum at 561.832.1988.

“Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?”
By Erich Landstrom

1961: President John Kennedy proposed that our nation commit itself to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. In that same special message to Congress on urgent national needs he then asked for more to be spent on accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications and weather observation. He concluded, “…no one can predict with certainty what the ultimate meaning will be of mastery of space. I believe we should go to the moon.”

Improve our lives here. Extend Life to there. But space isn’t somewhere else. It’s here, there, and everywhere. There’s no “outer” to space. It begins at our feet, and our footprints are on the Moon. Space exploration is reorienting, an unsubtle shift from looking “up” to looking “around.” As long as you think of space as somewhere else, you lack cosmic awareness. Awareness opens your mind. In the deepest sense, exploration of space is an exploration of yourself. Probes span the solar system and from their new homes, so wonderfully different, look back to Earth. Even as we’re searching other worlds, we search for ourselves.

During a lunar eclipse I saw the long shadow we cast, there on the surface of the Moon. You sort of see all of us, the entire Earth full of inventors, investigators, users and improvers; the world’s whole population from pole to pole. How awesome then to be able to talk into the space between the two, and have the explorers answer back?

Transit of Venus 2012

(With my apologies to the late Charles Shultz -- the original Peanuts strip was for the July 20, 1963 solar eclipse. I hope that others had better weather conditions and enjoyed the view).

Gimme Shelter 2012 - Hurricane Proof Houses

Project Based Lab: Building a Hurricane Proof House



(Click on the first picture to flip through the Seminole Ridge students building Hurricane Proof Houses on April 10-11, 2012)

Hurricane-Resistant House Demonstration, where student teams construct houses using specified paper and plastic materials to determine the strength of the structures against hurricane-force winds using an electrical or gas-powered leaf blower.

Mr. Landstrom's students were asked to design and build the most wind resistant building you can construct, using the materials provided: "drywall" from two (2) sheets of paper (21.5 by 28.0 cm), lumber from six (6) popsicle sticks (11.5 cm), aluminum siding from one (1) sheet of foil (35.5 cm by 26.0 cm), and adhesives from six (6) pieces of masking tape (random sizes). Their home need to cover an area of at least 500 square centimeters, and students showed their blueprints and calculations before construction.

Lab Notes: Hurricane in a Classroom
Music: Stereogum and tape9 - Lockdown Shelter

The Iceberg's Accomplice

Florida's Gulf Stream current responsible for the wreck of the Titanic? Why wasn't the iceberg deflect or dissolved before the collision? An NSTA article by Erich Landstrom http://t.co/QkHY5FK9

Density Flow Model available at http://www.leaveonlybubbles.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=41_36&products_id=326

Seismic Safe Spaghetti Structure

PBL Assignment: Seismic Safe Spaghetti Structure

Problem Statement: Each year, over 800 earthquakes with a Richter Scale magnitude between 5 and 6 are detected world-wide. A magnitude 5.5 quake can have an intensity of up to VII on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. Depending on the structure, this can cause light to moderate damage in well-built buildings; considerable damage in poorly built buildings.

Request: In this lab, you and your engineering team will design and build a model bridge planned for an earthquake-prone area. You will test to see how well it withstands simulated stress, strain and shearing from seismic waves. Your bridge must: • weighs less than 250g
• spans a gap of 400mm (16 inches) and is 510mm (20 inches) long
• is less than 100mm (4 inches) wide

(Click on the first picture to flip through the Earth Science students building seismic safe spaghetti structures that can withstand stress, strain and sheering)

20120125 Seismic Spaghetti

Explore: Draw a plan of your bridge on paper first. Use your imagination; the bridge can be any shape you like as long as it is the right weight, width and length. (Hint: triangles are a strong shape!)

Engage: Build your bridge out of spaghetti and glue. The glue can only be used on overlaps, intersections and joints. Check it weighs less than 250g and record the actual weight. Measure your bridge to make sure it is the correct length and width.

Evaluate: Testing time! Place the bridge between two tables or boxes 510 mm apart. Place the rod halfway along the bridge so it runs across the center. Hang a bucket off the rod. Slowly add more and more sand to the bucket until the bridge breaks. Weigh the sand, rod and bucket your bridge held. This is the load. Divide the load by the weight of the bridge. This is your load/weight ratio. The higher the load/weight ratio, the stronger your bridge. EX: Taryn and Jasmine made a bridge weighing 75g that held 675g. This means the load/weight ratio was 9.

Explain: Two important forces you have to consider are compression and tension. Compression is a force that will try to squeeze or shorten the thing it is acting on. Tension is a force that will try to lengthen or expand the thing it is acting on. A bridge needs to be able to handle these forces without buckling or snapping. A bridge will buckle when the force of compression is greater than the bridge's ability to handle compression. A bridge will snap when the force of tension overcomes an object's ability to handle tension. A good bridge design will spread the force over a greater area, or move the force from an area of weakness to an area of strength. For example: using triangles in your bridge can create both a very rigid structure and one that transfers the load from just one point to a much wider area. Bridges are designed and constructed by civil engineers. Civil engineers work on things built in or on the ground. As well as bridges, this can include railways, harbors, roads, dams, power projects, and more.