Space (Classroom) Exploration

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

Have you ever done a science experiment? "Sure," is the most likely response, from anyone, to that question. But if we were to define "experiment" as Steve Jones, "The Space Teacher" does, the answer would be "no". Steve, who teaches STEAM at Hopewell Middle School in Milton, Georgia, is a lifelong space-science enthusiast. He is both a NASA Solar System Ambassador and freelance Principal Investigator for experiential STEM learning organization Magnitude.io. What that translates to, in his science-enrichment classes, is a lot of discovery. As students research, no one is sure what they'll find. Even Steve can't tell them what the final result will be. Because, as he says, in real science, "We don't know what's going to happen at the end. And that's the exciting thing." In February, Steve and his class saw an experiment culminate in a space launch. Through Magnitude.io, their class was among the ones researching new crops that might grow well in microgravity. Magnitude.io sent the selected crop to the International Space Station, in its ExoLab-8 experiment. And today, that crop is the first-ever red clover to be cultivated aboard the ISS. But what's even more exciting? Steve's students can monitor its progress in real time, as they grow their own red-clover crop in the classroom, under conditions that simulate the ISS environment. On this edition of Over Coffee®, we cover: How the space program first sparked Steve's imagination; Why Steve (who originally didn't care much for math!) came to incorporate it into his passion for science; The best creative challenge that faced Steve, in interesting non-science-oriented students in science; How Steve's unusual perspective on failure in his classes encourages students in engineering; One of Steve's favorite STEAM lessons from the NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador program; A new experiment which the students are doing in cooperation with NASA and Miami's Fairchild Botanical Garden; How Steve gave the students ownership of their own creativity on this particular project; What first started Steve off as a STEAM teacher, when beginning his career in education; The work of Magnitude.io and how Steve first became involved in the program; How Steve's seventh-grade class began research with Magnitude.io's ExoLab 6 experiment; How to get involved in the Magnitude.io program, if you are an educator; One "failure" that led to better research in Steve's science class; Some additional educational resources, including Zooniverse, which relates science to various arts and humanities topics among its citizen science exploration.