Round Rock teacher to test the limits of gravity
Round Rock teacher to test the limits of gravity
Written by Staff Thursday, 13 November 2008
A Round Rock ISD educator will soon defy the laws of physics aboard a Reduced Gravity Aircraft as part of NASA's LiftOff program. Katie Maybuam, a fifth grade teacher at Brushy Creek Elementary, along with three other Texas teachers, will participate in scientific experiments while on the reduced gravity aircraft in January. Two other teachers will serve as ground crew for members of the team.
The group will honor fallen educator Christa McAuliffe, who lost her life as a part of the Space Shuttle Challenger crew 25 years ago, as they fly "Challenger's Lost Lessons." Test videos and lesson plans from the first teacher selected for spaceflight were uncovered and re-packaged for teachers last year by NASA engineer Jerry Woodfill. The teachers are flying experiments with updated technology, enhanced by students in the classroom.
The team will conduct two experiments, one on magnetism and one testing Newton's Law of Acceleration while flying 42 parabolas per day – 30 in zero gravity, 6 in Lunar gravity, and 6 in Martian gravity. Students of teachers who have attended the LiftOff Summer Institute will replicate the same experiments in classrooms across the state.
"As the plane flies, we have 20 seconds of weightlessness to conduct the experiment," said Margaret Baguio, Education and Outreach Coordinator for NASA's Texas Space Grant Consortium and advisor for the project. "It is certainly the team's hope that if they prepare themselves, they won't have any problems and can overcome the nickname of the NASA craft, often referred to as the 'vomit comet'."
The team members, who met each other face-to-face for the first time last week as they learned their project had been selected, have already conducted research and simulated experiments in the classroom with their students. A winning student robot design will fly with the team as part of the Newton's Law Experiment.
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