ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

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NASA SPACE LIFE SCIENCES TRAINING PROGRAM: EXPERIENCING PROJECT MANAGEMENT, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND INTEGRATION OF A K-12 EXPERIMENT.   P. Currier¹, A. Fitch², C. Gunn², R. Hall², S. Hart², J. MacIntire², M. Soliman², and D. Thomas³. ¹The Bionetics Corporation, . Kennedy Space Center, FL; ²Space Life Sciences Training Program; ³Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.

The Experiment Design Team was developed to provide multiple experiences for the students: to learn Project Management and integration of an experiment, to experience the roles of a manager, scientist, and engineer through hands on training; to understand aspects of technical decisions involved in the development and implementation of a flight experiment, and to stress the importance of teamwork. In this context, the students were told to complete a fairly easy NASA-related experiment suitable for teachers to use in K-12 students. To act as Project Manager of a NASA experiment, each student was responsible for creating a schedule (Gantt chart), analyzing budget and expenditures, and reporting results. Each student also played the role of engineer and biologist by designing hardware and preparing specimens. The students designed and built hardware for their experiments, conducted verification tests, reviewed and reworked designs, and eventually conducted fully integrated biology experiments. Collaboration and teamwork within the group of scientists was required. Student majors included aerospace engineering, ceramics engineering, pharmacology, and biology, so they were able to make significant contributions to projects other than their own. Several overlapping experiments were developed. Two students analyzed hypergravity effects on development by building a centrifuge and running experiments at varying G levels. One scientist used a Mars soil analog to grow a variety of plants and another examined Martian soil toxicity on a denitrifying bacteria. That student also studied the effects of Martian atmosphere, paralleling a study on bacterial and algal growth "on Mars." Students proved to be good project managers, were innovative and artistic, and gained an appreciation of the intermarriage of science and hardware. Their experiments will eventually be developed into K-12 outreach activities available on the Internet. (Supported by the NASA Space Life Sciences Training

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