By Jill Weaver, M.Ed., 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher at

Valley View Junior High, Farmersville, Ohio

We were so excited to have our “HAB-SPACE” (High Altitude Balloon-Student Practical Applications Carrying Experiments) grant funded through the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation in conjunction with the Dayton Regional STEM Center Aspire Microgrant program. We were preparing for launch with possible launch dates posted on the school calendar. The excitement was building. Students were working on their engineering logs, completing research on the atmosphere, student and community member teams were assembled, experiments had been chosen, payload materials were ready for assembly.  

What could be more exciting than sending the first Valley View Spartan into near space?

The purpose of our project was to send 7th and 8th grade student-designed experiments to near space through a high altitude ballooning program called HAB. Students would use the engineering design process to launch a payload on a weather balloon into the upper atmosphere and safely recover it. (A weather balloon project involves designing a payload and using a helium balloon to send it up to 100,000 feet into the stratosphere.)

Students had voted on experimental idea proposals and the winning project idea for our maiden flight was: “Save the Seeds.” We are linking this project to seeds being necessary to continue life on Earth, the Moon, or Mars. Our proposal: If we expose seeds to the extreme conditions of near-space, specifically UV light during our HAB flight, then we expect to see a genetic variation in the flavonoid of the seed coat that protects the genes inside.

We started by researching seed banks and contacted a seed bank that generously donated seeds to us for our project. Next steps were to plant our ground truths and start data collection. Ground truths are the statistical or ideal model -- our expectation of how the seeds "work" or bear fruit on earth. We would use the genetic properties/observations from these plants — once they germinate and produce seeds— to compare with seeds we launched into the upper atmosphere via the weather balloon.  

“I was so excited to have this part of the work take place in our classroom, but the shift had to be made for this to happen virtually.”

- Jill Weaver

Throughout the process we worked with a stellar crew:

*A former student who is completing an engineering degree and was involved in an internship with NASIC (National Air and Space Intelligence Center) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He came in several times to speak to students and work on payload design.

*A retired physics teacher/HAM radio operator from our district who worked with us to use radio signals to track our "live" flight.

 *Our elementary STEM coach who would add experiments from our younger students.

 *A current High School teacher/STEM coach and a team of 5 high school students who worked on the payload -- pounds per square inch properties --and helped with swing testing of the completed payload assembly.

 *Several local engineers; the AAIA president from Wright State University with his college student members; and our local police chief, who is also a pilot and in charge of the chase team to recover our payload. 

We spent weeks planning for every contingency, except a Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of brick and mortar school for the remainder of the year.

I was so excited to have the data collection on seeds we planted take place in our classroom, but the shift had to be made for this to happen virtually. The greenhouse was set up at my home and I planted those beautiful seeds. Growth is being monitored and data is being collected to share with students as we return to thoughts of flight this fall, in person or virtually.

What Can We Expect in the Fall?

I have no idea, only conjecture about what public education will look like for the 20-21 school year, but this is what I do know. As I have tended to our planted ground truths that we will use to compare to our flight experiments, and watched them weather a few storms and some really late unexpected frosts and a freeze warning (in May), they are still thriving. Just like our experimental plants our students will thrive. With careful guided attention to detail, just like our predicted flight path, balloon burst and likely final destination as seen in our predicted flight model below, teachers will guide students along the path of knowledge. We will expect shifting winds, changing flight paths and unexpected changes in our plans, but we will have a final destination and we will have a better handle on recovery of lost time in the classroom. This fall my students will model new flight predictions, we will build our payload in person or virtually, we will set new probable launch dates, we will ready our experiments and payload and we will launch a Spartan into near space and collect flight data as we watch our live stream experimental balloon flight. Next, we will recover our payload, analyze our data and bask in the glory of our new knowledge, all the while thinking about our next launch in the spring and next set of data points to add to our collection.

Ultimately, what I want my students to take away from this experience is the desire to be involved in citizen science and the ability and desire not to work in isolation but to become an active member of a team that seeks the unique abilities of all members and puts them to use for a common goal.

Editor’s Note: Each year the Dayton Regional STEM Center brings together a learning community made up of PK-12 classroom teachers, higher education professors, and STEM industry professionals through the STEM Fellowship Program. The groups immerse themselves in a collaborative, yearlong effort aimed at understanding how to incorporate best practices in STEM education in a manner that promotes critical thinking, student engagement, collaboration, technology integration, and hands-on learning linked to career skills. Essential to their work is understanding and applying the engineering design process. The STEM Fellows become members of a community of teacher-learners who share a common ambition to provide their students with rigorous and relevant classroom experiences that engage students’ minds and ignite their imaginations.

Current and former Dayton Regional STEM Center STEM Fellows can apply for grants to support innovative STEM learning opportunities. The microgrants, which are funded in part by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, support STEM activities, curriculum, equipment and/or materials not traditionally funded through school dollars