The Student Launch Program provides many opportunities for learning. The process is rich with educational objectives that cover the entire spectrum of education and learning. The project will meet a wide variety of educational objectives that have been established as national science education standards by the National Research Council. The project will provide material for the education of K-12 students, undergraduates and graduate students.
4.1: Undergraduate Education
This proposal began as the centerpiece of an honors astronomy course at Boston University, and is the final project of the class. Each student wrote a section, and they chose to write this proposal over other possible projects. The class contains four freshman students and one junior, and is titled Astronomy from Space.
The engineering senior design class in the ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) department under Professor Mark Horenstein will participate in the project. The class is organized into 3 to 4 groups, at 4 students per group, and will design and construct of many of the electronics. ECE students will work on support electronics for power requirements, data collection, storage, retrieval, and module interfacing. The Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering department will work on the mechanical aspect of the project. An independent study course under Professor Thomas Bifano will help with this criterion. The Boston University Astronomical society, an extra-curricular group has also agreed to provide support in computer related tasks. The club has provided eleven students who are willing to help. This brings the number of expected Boston University students involved to about 50. These activities will expose students to engineering aspects of spacecraft design and real world design tasks related to space exploration. Participation will also engage students in a multidisciplinary project from various fields.
The AS231 Class will be offered again in the next fall semester. These students will be earning academic credit with the exception of the eleven in the astronomical society. The rest of the students, since they will be helping as part of their class will be receiving credit for their efforts. Also, a selected number of students will be paid to provide continuity.
Aside from students at Boston University, the nearby school of Wellesley College will participate. Professor Glenn Stark has stated that 2 to 3 members of the all women's college will spend 2 to 4 weeks at BU in the UV calibration lab, performing radiometric calibration and calibration of optical equipment; they will also participate in data analysis.
SPECTRE includes more than students who are just majoring in astronomy. Also, it is not restricted to science or engineering majors. The team working on the proposal is multidisplinary, as are the students who will be providing assistance. The overall project scope requires engineering, management, and communication skills, all of which are provided by an eclectic group of students.
4.2: Graduate Education
SPECTRE has plans to include a graduate student in the BU Astronomy department for the project. Anthony Turvey, a student in Professor Chakrabarti's group will design, fabricate, and test a microcontroller which will control the experiment and store flight data for post-flight analysis as a Master's project.
4.3: Primary and Secondary Education
One of the educational objectives is to involve students of K-12 levels in the process. In the summer of 1997, eight teachers from the Chelsea school system will attend workshops to develop curricula based on project SPECTRE and TERRIERS [See Appendix A.]. The workshops will continue through the following summer, and a possible trip will be arranged for the teachers to see the launch. In this way the teachers can educate their students with real world information and experience. This will expand the learning and knowledge gained from this launch to encompass students of all ages, rather than just those that are directly involved. The high school students will also visit the production site and observe the process involved.
4.4: Knowledge gained from SPECTRE
In participating in this launch program, the students will gain knowledge and abilities covering a wide array of topics and situations dealing with design, management, and budget. " The National Science Education Standards are designed to guide our nation toward a scientifically literate society... the Standards describe a vision of the scientifically literate person and present criteria for science education that will allow that vision to become reality" (National Science Education Standards, pg 11). This quote, taken from a book designed to establish standards by which science is taught to students, is a guide for our proposal. Throughout this project the students involved will gain scientific literacy, meaning that they will gain "knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making" (National Science Education Standards, pg 22). The students involved will obtain a higher understanding of the sciences and of the scientific process.
Since this project is also a process, the students involved will obtain valuable real world experience. The students will be part of a process that starts with an idea, then grows, expands, and develops until it becomes a rocket launched experiment. "Learning science is something students do, not something that is done to them", (National Science Education Standards, pg 11) Students will gain experience through designing, managing, planning, and launching the project, an experience which is not obtained through lecture. It is an excellent way for students to learn since they are controllers and directors.
Another standard of science learning that will be fulfilled through SPECTRE is that of inquiry which "refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work"(National Science Education Standards 23). This proposal allows for students to study, and be a part of an approach that is used by scientists in the real world.
The most important aspect of SPECTRE is the vast array of facts, concepts, principles, theories, and models that will be gained by the students involved. They will acquire knowledge of how rockets are built, how they fly, what their applications are and what their limitations are will be acquired. Students will gain a deep understanding of how a rocket experiment is designed, drafted and carried out. This project includes several instruments and various experiments, all of which will provide knowledge in many different areas ranging from the composition of the atmosphere to the amount of high energy radiation emitted by the sun.
Students involved with this project will also learn the intricacies of data collection and data analysis. This proposal calls for the data to be both stored and transmitted, allowing the students to learn how both alternatives work. The students will also gain knowledge of the infrastructure of NASA and what NASA puts into its rocket experiments.
4.5: Skills Gained Through SPECTRE
Those involved in spectre will gain research and scientific skills via hands-on involvement in the project. They will also develop communication skills writing the proposal, managing personnel resources, budget, and obtaining outlets for public relations.
Project SPECTRE is all encompassing. It includes students of every age and every background. It provides the students with knowledge and understanding of a broad array of topics, not just within the scientific field, but in all areas of study. This project provides students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in several subjects while being a part of one central project or purpose. Finally, the rocket experiment described in this proposal allows for the fulfillment of several of the standards that have been established by the National Science Education Standards.
