Cubes in Space - Cadet Aerospace and STEM Academy

My philosophy: learning through exploration and discovery! 

If students successfully complete this class, their experiment will be launched on a NASA sounding rocket mission to space in June 2025 (U.S citizens and permanent residents eligible) or on a NASA conventional scientific balloon to near space in August 2025 (US and international students eligible) as part of the Cubes in Space program (www.cubesinspace.com)

The combination of science and engineering are necessary for space exploration missions.  Scientists determine what will be explored, what data will be collected and why.  Engineers design the instruments, tools and systems that allow science to be conducted and data to be collected and stored.  

This 6-week course will introduce students to the fundamentals of the scientific inquiry and engineering design processes along with aerospace science and engineering concepts to develop and build a small experiment and fly it on a NASA suborbital space mission this summer.  

Cubes in Space Cadet STEM Academy seeks to: 
INSPIRE students to be inquisitive and willing to seek out knowledge
DEMONSTRATE relevant interconnections between STEAM concepts
PROVIDE real-world experiences in which students apply their knowledge and skills
BUILD students’ confidence in their own intelligence and problem-solving abilities

The end goal for students is to send their experiments into space on a NASA mission.  Along their learning journey students will:
-Learn and practice how to observe and ask powerful questions
-Learn how to organize thoughts, questions, ideas and data
-Develop and use a scientific notebook to keep in one place all relevant data and information related to their experiment 
-Learn and introduction to scientific and technical writing 
-Understand the nature of the environmental and spaceflight conditions associated with the NASA sounding rocket and high-altitude, long-duration flight scientific balloon
-Learn what is required for the experiment design (what can and can’t be sent to space)
-Conduct research
-Design an experiment 
-Build experiment and conduct pre-flight testing and data collection-Develop a post-flight data analysis plan
-Develop a proposal presentation and create a scientific diagram of the experiment to be submitted as parts of the Cubes in Space - Application for Spaceflight. 

Yes - mature 11-13 year old learners can write a proposal and draw a technical diagram!  

HOW THIS COURSE WORKS:
In this highly engaging and interactive course, students will meet face-to-face with the instructor two times per week for six weeks. These live 1.5-hour meetings involve presentations, seminars, hands-on activities, collaboration and lively discussions. Between live meetings, students will be actively engaged in learning through course discussions, viewing supplemental videos, completing relevant activities and projects that challenge their minds and allow their imaginations and creativity to flourish.  

Learning is a social process; therefore, peer-to-peer communication and collaboration are integral components of deep learning.  Often virtual or remote learning classes can be lonely and boring experiences.  Well that’s not happening with this course (or any of our courses for that matter)! Students receive discussion or activity prompts that catalyze the exploration and discovery of new knowledge and skills.

Because the use of online teamwork and collaborative tools are standard in many academic and professional fields, students will begin to acquire digital technology and communication skills by engaging in activities that use the visual thinking program, Padlet (an Outschool-approved online third-party learning tool).  

Students will complete and submit weekly assignments for which they will receive high-quality and timely feedback.   Expect learners to spend 1-4 hours on activities and assignments outside the meeting times. 

**There will be two follow-up single-class courses or one-on-one sessions for mentoring and experiment inspection prior to spaceflight.  I will need to work with the students a bit more prior to receiving their experiments.  But this can be on a small group or individual basis that can be scheduled with me.