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It's
All About the Journey 2002
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Riverhead
students waiting to speak to International Space Station Crew
(Riverhead,
2002)
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The
students in the Riverhead School District are excitedly
preparing for their turn, through a special NASA educational
program, to speak to the astronauts and cosmonauts in the
International Space Station.
According to Mr. Jester, a science teacher on special assignment,
the program is made possible through a grant and the generous
cooperation of a group of East End HAM radio operators called
the Peconic HAM Radio Club. This club of very professional
HAM radio operators will provide the knowledge and equipment
to the school within 48 hours of being notified that it’s
their turn to speak to the space station.
The students, however, are not just passively sitting and
waiting for their “call to action.” As Mr. Jester
notes, “It’s really not about those six minutes
of questions and answers, as exciting as that might be.
It’s all about the journey, not the destination.”
The journey has included a plethora of teaching materials
provided by NASA that have been used as part of science
and math projects. Over 1,600 students submitted questions
that will be honed down to a list of about twenty questions.
It has resulted in spin-off MESTRACT mini-grants that have
brought books, posters, rocket and space module models,
software and other items into the classroom.
In March, a group of students will travel to the IMAX theatre
at the new Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island to watch
a movie shot in space about the international space station.
Elementary school art clubs and classes are enthusiastically
preparing art projects that include long, black, paint-spattered
backdrops of deep space, colorful paper astronauts, and
a 10-foot model of the space station, which will form a
backdrop on the stage at the Aquebogue School, which will
act as the “command center.” Aquebogue’s
size and position with relation to other buildings makes
it an optimal place to make the connection. Ten students
will be chosen throughout the school to pose the questions
and as many as 150 will be there to witness the interchange.
The rest of the school will watch through live feed over
televisions connected to the school’s computer network.
Soon work will begin on designing t-shirts and an official
space patch will be purchased for the students chosen to
represent the school at the question and answer session.
A list of twenty questions will be gleaned from the 1,600
questions submitted by students throughout the district.
The questions to be asked are still being edited, but
include queries like first grader Mark Huysman’s,
“At night do you dream of earth or space?”
Or
fourth grader Robert Mullen’s more technical question,
“If you exercise in micro gravity, do you get
muscle?”
Third grader Juliana Marcucci, with a related question,
wonders, “Do you sweat in space?”
And in light of the recent tragedy, a pre-first student
from the Riley Avenue School asks the question on everyone’s
mind these days, “Do you ever feel scared?”
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