Looking for More Guidance? Check out the FAQ

If you are looking for additional guidance about your experiments and what can and cannot be used or done. Check out the FAQ linked below.

SSEP FAQ

Proposal Guide Template

Below you will find a link to a template SSEP Proposal Guide. Please be sure that you are using this if you are not sure what things should be included or how they should look. Download the template and fill it in. The last thing you want is to not be considered because of formatting.

The video below is a brief overview of what is include in the Template Proposal guide with some specific explanations.

Link to Template Proposal Guide

Dr. Derrick Pitts is Coming to Visit STEM.

On Monday, April 15th, Dr. Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute will be here during Advisory and Seminar to discuss the importance of Space Based Research. If you have questions about microgravity, experiments in space, and the value of experiments there will be a chance for some students to get their questions answered. Here is a summary of Dr. Pitts…

Dr. Derrick H. Pitts, Franklin Institute Science Museum, Senior Scientist, Chief Astronomer, Planetarium Director, Exhibit Developer, will be on hand to lead a space-based research discussion with our students on Monday, April 15th. Among Dr. Pitts many accomplishments; he has developed many of the museum’s public programs and exhibits. Currently Dr. Pitts is a NASA Solar System Ambassador and NASA’s first Astrobiology Ambassador.

Think about questions you would like to ask and be ready on Monday. The entire school will be in attendance.

New Information from the SSEP about Experiment Operations

There has been some new information provided from the SSEP National Organization about the functioning and timing of the mini-lab experiment. Please make sure that at least one team member has read these documents thoroughly.

Mini-Lab Operations and Constraints – this is a MUST READ for all groups.

How the Mini-Lab if put together – This may be useful for you to see how it will be put together.

Design the Mission Patch for the Flight to the International Space Station

Through out NASA’s history, each manned American space flight has included a mission patch to showcase NASA’s military heritage and the uniqueness of each mission.

This example set by NASA is the foundation for an extension of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program. Students are invited to develop and submit mission patch designs to compete for the opportunity to be flown alongside the STEM Academy’s experiment to and from the International Space Station.

This competition is open to all students in the district with one elementary (K-5) and one secondary (6-12) winner being selected for the flight.

If you are interested in participating in this portion of the program please download the entry form linked here and get working.

All entries are due to Ms. Long by the end of school on Friday, May 3rd.

9th and 10th Grade Rough Draft Assignment Is Now Live

The rough draft assignment on turnitin.com is now live.  You can begin to submit rough drafts.

If you need the class information, it can be found on the “Documents for Students” page.

9th and 10th Grade Submission of Rough Drafts

Rough draft submissions are due this Friday, April 5th, by 3:00PM. To do that you need to complete the steps listed below.

1. Create a GoogleDoc for ONLY your team’s rough draft. The title should be: SPACE ROUGH DRAFT: Team Names (ex. SPACE ROUGH DRAFT: E. Daney, J. Staub, M. Hopson, C. Dinger, M. Sheehan, T. McCafferty, M. Schwartz)
2. Share this GoogleDoc with your mentor teacher. This is where teachers will be making their comments.
3. One person on your team should sign up for the Space Project Turnitin.com class. This is where you will submit a single copy of your rough draft to be checked for originality. Information for the class is listed under “Documents for Students“

If you have any questions about this submission or anything else make sure that you post under “Questions“.

Using Biological Substances

Looking for more information on the use of biological substances in your SSEP experiment? Check out the document titled “Using Biologicals” for information about dormant forms, fixatives and growth inhibitors.It can be found on the Documents for Students page.

For all of those groups wanting to use cells, viruses and bacteria, this is full of good information.

Clarification of Constraints

Here is some additional information on the operation of the mini-lab and constraints of the experiment. This is from the national organization so spend some time reading carefully.

Operation & Constraints

Thoughts after Second Round Reviews

After having the opportunity to look through almost all of the 9th grade GoogleDoc’s today there were a couple things that jumped out at me that I think all of the teams could benefit from thinking about. 

1. You only want to study how microgravity influences one thing. Pick something and stick with it.
2. Scientific writing needs to be clear, concise and to the point. Cut out the fluff.
3. How do you measure effectiveness? What data does that require being collected? How do you collect it?
4. The astronauts will execute the experiment for you. They will not collect any data or record any observations.
5. Timing is crucial. The experiment will be put together over the summer and shipped off to NASA early next school year to be launched in Sept-Oct and returned after 6 weeks on the ISS. How is this going to impact the design of your experiment since we are looking for the influence of gravity?
6. We need to keep reading the materials provided in the Documents for Students. Divide them up and read the content. You don’t want to be disqualified because you didn’t read a document. 

I have been really impressed with many of the ideas that we are developing. Keep up the good work.