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

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 our 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?

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 is: 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 had started researching seed banks and contacted a seed bank that had 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 these plants genetic properties/observations once they germinate and produce seeds to compare with the flown seeds. Ultimately, what do we send to terraform Mars and provide food.

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 is with us to use radio signals to track our "live" flight.

 *Our elementary STEM coach who is adding student 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 had 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 this part of the work 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 in process of collection to be shared 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, 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.

“We know from both narrative data, and lots and lots of anecdotal data, that students often feel disenfranchised, marginalized, in mathematics,” Dr. Yoak says, explaining that too often only a few students have “mathematical status” within a classroom.  “We want to create classrooms where all students have the same mathematical opportunities, where all students feel empowered as mathematicians, as mathematics learners.”

While recruiting participants, Dr. Yoak relied on each district’s curriculum director to reach out to teachers who were willing to make a personal commitment to the program’s goals.  “We have teachers involved who are at every different point along the continuum as to what they are doing in their practice,” remarks Dr. Yoak.  “The wonderful thing is that they are all willing to be self reflective, to be self critical, and to challenge themselves.” 

At the onset, 13 teachers and an equal number of administrators signed on.  “The administrators are really key and in some ways a unique element to this program,” she adds. “We want them to participate because they are a way to spread what we are doing beyond individual classrooms.”

The first step in the program, which began in January, 2019 and will stretch into the 2019-2020 school year and beyond, was to engage participants in book studies specific to the three themes: equity, empowerment, and deep learning. Dr. Yoak facilitated video discussions with grade band teachers and the educators connected with colleagues during two full day workshops and through online discussions.

“I was a reading teacher before I was an intervention specialist so math has always been an area of weakness for me,” admits Callan Ruff, a fifth grade teacher at East Woods Elementary School in Hudson, who participated in the experience as a way to fine tune her skills.  “You are working not only with colleagues in your building and your district but with so many people from surrounding districts who may be teaching the same thing as you.  It is interesting and fun to compare lessons and practices.”

An essential aspect of the program is the component that allows Dr. Yoak to visit each participant’s classroom several times to observe and co-teach lessons.  She makes on-the-spot suggestions that often lead to immediate shifts in practice. “The time we spend together in classrooms is absolutely vital,” Dr. Yoak affirms when thinking of the most important features of the program. “In the classroom is where deep learning is taking place and that’s where we can make the changes that are going to be the most salient.”

Dr. Yoak views the first full year of the program as a pilot project hoping it will expand as time goes forward.  This fall, the participants are continuing with workshops, sharing, and setting new goals.

“We are working to change students’ mindsets about themselves as mathematics learners,” adds Dr. Yoak. “We want all students to leave our doors believing they are capable of learning, doing, and using mathematics, and thinking mathematically. And it is done through practices that promote deeper, not superficial, learning.”