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Aeronautics Video-conference to NASA at Holy Cross Convent School
Background | Experiments | Evaluation
As
part of the development of 'video-conferencing across the curriculum', on
Wednesday 5th July, 2000 at 10.30 US time and 2.30 UK time, the Holy Cross
School, Surrey, UK began their first science link direct with the NASA Glenn
Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Work in the aeronautics area of the science curriculum is quite new for the school. This new initiative therefore forms part of the development of science work at Holy Cross: NASA has an 'out-reach' programme whereby they kindly support the development of science teaching in schools through a dedicated web site, and through video-conferencing sessions with American and, more recently, with UK schools.
In the Kells Library at Holy Cross, there is a 55-inch colour monitor, and a dedicated teleconferencing system running on ISDN 2 (128K). NASA can connect at ISDN 2 or ISDN 6, running on up to 384K, through the Integrated Design and Analysis Center (IDAC), a facility developed to support collaborative engineering between NASA, industry, and academia. The aims of the conference were:
To develop an understanding of aeronautics, through discussion with the three NASA scientists, Cheryl Bowman, Structures and Acoustics Division; Tom Benson, Turbomachinery and Propulsion Systems Division; and Brent Nowlin, Facilities and Test Engineering Division
To share with NASA some of the teaching methods used in the UK for the development of science
To gain an understanding of the real work in which a career scientist is actually engaged
To give the girls at Holy Cross a successful role model, through discussion with a woman scientist working at the highest level of achievement
Following introductions, the conference began with a demonstration by Year 9 students (aged 13-14) of terminal velocity, by releasing various sizes of ball bearings into a tube of glycerine. The demonstration proved successful, and provided an interesting discussion focus. A further group of Year 9 students carried out an experiment on controlled propulsion, which was taken from the NASA web site.
This simple experiment, using a film canister and an Alka Seltzer tablet, amused the NASA team because the lid of the canister blew off quite explosively. The bang was literally heard on the other side of the world! Despite its simplistic nature, the experiment introduced the concept of propulsion in an effective manner, and this theme was developed as the conference progressed.
Annie, a Year 7 student, aged 12, enthusiastically explained the principle of jet propulsion by releasing a large inflated balloon, which whizzed across the Kells Library at high speed. She then went on to discuss with the scientists the principles at work. Real time transmission to NASA of the relevant worksheet aided the discussion, through the use of second document display facilities in both countries. A group of Year 10 science students then discussed with NASA their recent work on rocket propulsion, which linked in with their Key Stage 4 curriculum work on Newton's laws of motion.
As a finale to the theme of propulsion, Annie carried out a further demonstration by puncturing a soda siphon bulb that was secured to a small trolley. This primitive vehicle accelerated across the library in a cloud of carbon dioxide.
The students discussed how this demonstration was related to their Key Stage 3 work on unbalanced forces and Newton's third law of motion. The Bernoulli effect was clearly demonstrated using drinking straws and table tennis balls, by two sixth form students who are studying aeronautics as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. Blowing air between the two suspended table tennis balls causes them to move together, contrary to most people's expectation that the air flow will force them apart.
The NASA team advised the students on how to develop this experiment further. At one point, the NASA team left the camera area around their conference table in order to see the science experiment more clearly on a large monitor at the back of their conference room in Cleveland. On our own monitor in London, we were able see them looking at our science work on their screen simultaneously with the work going on in our Library.
It was an amazing 'virtual' moment. At the end of the conference, Annie read a charming poem about a mouse travelling on a journey to the moon with Neil Armstrong, which she had written especially for the occasion. It gave great pleasure in both countries, and the NASA team was so delighted that they asked if Annie would kindly email them a copy, so that they could put it up on the NASA web site.
Because of tight time-schedules in both countries, and with the end of the school term in sight, the conference was arranged at very short notice, and we felt, inevitably, that more time might have been spent in London on the detailed preparation of the students' experiments. Nonetheless, the urgency of the preparation gave a real purpose to problem-solving, and the early deadline brought about an essential and very sharp focus on the work.
We also felt that discussion of scientific issues would be even better for our students when they were further along into their studies, so that they could reflect more on the work they had done.
This would make better use of the profound experience of the NASA team, who showed great patience and skill in dealing with questions, of different orders of difficulty, from a variety of year groups. However, the students of all ages found it an absolutely amazing experience, and they felt very privileged indeed to be involved in discussion with such a distinguished team of experts.
Here are some comments from the students' evaluations:
'It was a great experience, and would love to do it again.'
'I enjoyed seeing the scientists watching our experiment on the other side
of the world. It was a wonderful experience.'
'I was impressed by the amount of detail we were given in the answers of the
NASA scientists. I have a lot to learn!'
From NASA, the view was that in the UK students probably do much more active science than is typical in the USA. The scientists were therefore delighted to give the Holy Cross students some feedback on their experiments, as well as answering more general questions about aeronautics. We thank them all for their enthusiasm, kindness and expertise.
The teachers at Holy Cross are thrilled at the possibilities that this way of working might be developed. Recently, the school has been exploring how to develop ICT as interrelated tools for learning, including music, dance and drama, through our video-conferencing link with Ikeda Junior High School, Osaka,
We were delighted to see NASA using email, a related web site and video-conferencing in the same sort of integrated way. The Science Department hopes to continue the link with NASA, and we are now working on plans to develop science education at the school in the same way as our very successful work in the expressive arts.
by Veronica Gowan, Patrick Kivlehan, Lawrence Williams
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