High-altitude Ballooning workshop for middle school teachers

1
High-altitude Ballooning workshop for middle
school teachers July 26-29, 2010 Offered by the
MN Space Grant
Come fly with us!
Build real miniature spacecraft To carry science
experiments To the very edge of outer space!
2
Workshop Overview Middle school teachers (two
from each participating school) will work in
teams to construct payloads for a high-altitude
balloon flight, join the MN Space Grant (U of MN)
High-altitude Ballooning Team to fly a mission to
near-space (the upper atmosphere, above 80,000
ft, which is much like outer space), then analyze
the photographs and atmospheric data collected.
There will be general discussions of the role
high-altitude ballooning plays in atmospheric and
space exploration. Some standards-based curricula
will be distributed. Workshop participants will
generate and share additional curricula and plan
for implementation of ballooning activities in
their schools. Participating schools will receive
a set of payload materials (worth over 500) to
build follow-on payloads with their students.
Participating schools will be offered one flight
for a 2-lb payload during each of the next 2
academic years, probably in May of 2011 and May
of 2012. Participants will be encouraged to share
their experiences at teacher conferences and
possibly go beyond payload-building to develop
launch capabilities of their own, for program
sustainability.
Workshop Details Dates July 26-29, 2010 For
whom Middle school teachers (grades 6-9). Two
teachers must attend from each participating
school. The teachers need not teach the same
grade at their school but must be able to work
together when implementing payload-building for
high-altitude balloon missions during following
two years. Location TBA (somewhere in the Twin
Cities metro area) Cost No cost for
participants. Standards High-altitude
ballooning activities can meet national and state
middle school Science and Engineering standards
in The Nature of Science and Engineering,
Physical Science, Earth Science, plus Earth and
Space Science as well as Mathematics standards in
Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis, and more!
Instructional mode Hands-on learning.
Take-home Each participating school will take
home payload equipment worth over 500. Clock
hours 24 CEUs Field trip One day-long field
trip (transportation provided) to launch a
balloon mission to near-space then track the
flight using GPS and radio telemetry and recover
the payloads after they return to the ground by
parachute. (This one day will run from 8 a.m.
till about 6 p.m.) Food arrangements TBA
Contact U of MN Professor James Flaten, MN Space
Grant Consortium, 612-626-9295,
flaten_at_aem.umn.edu Learn more See Overview
presentation from a U of MN ballooning class
http//www.aem.umn.edu/people/faculty/flaten/ballo
oningfreshmenseminar/
3
MN Space Grant Ballooning Workshop Application
Information School Name and School District
Teacher 1 Name Grade Teaching
Main Subject Area Home Address
E-mail Address Phone (work)
(home/cell) Any Food Sensitivities?
Teacher 2 Name Grade Teaching
Main Subject Area Home Address
E-mail Address Phone (work)
(home/cell) Any Food Sensitivities?
Statement of Interest (written by both
teachers). In the space below briefly explain
why this workshop will be valuable to both you
and your students and how you envision working
together to engage your students in high-altitude
ballooning activities payload-building, flying
missions to near-space, and/or data analysis from
balloon experiments.
E-mail completed application to James Flaten at
flaten_at_aem.umn.edu or FAX it to 612-626-1558.