Schools
Cobb County School District : Mountain View Students To Explore Space
Students at Mountain View Elementary School will soon take learning out of this world; one of 3 schools in the Space Exploration Program.
Oct. 25, 2021
Students at Mountain View Elementary School will soon take learning out of this world. Mountain View is one of three elementary schools in the world whose students will be participating in a new space exploration program.
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The Cobb students in grades K-5 will be assisting MAXIQ and bluShift Aerospace in collecting data related to three goals approved by the United Nations and UNICEF earlier this year. As part of the program, the young scientists will ask important environmental questions based on data from XINABOX Sensors onboard a bluShift Aerospace rocket.
“I cannot think of a better example than space exploration coupled with the environmental impact on Earth, which connects all facets of STEM, including ELA and Social Studies. To be a student aged 5-10, and being asked to help the environment, preserve the good health of all living beings, share data and ideas with the world, and explore space, is a once in a lifetime experience. This one opportunity bridges all interests, curiosities, and excitements in a young students’ mind,” said Dr. Cassondra Zielinski, Mountain View STEM Instructional Specialist.
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After the first of the year, the Mountain View students are scheduled to start designing and building their own satellites and model rockets testers. Once they are launched into space and orbiting Earth, the students will be able to compare Earth’s data with data from space.
According to Dr. Zielinski, her student’s multitude of ideas and questions will drive the data collection, which will be utilized to assist the United Nations and UNICEF through their sustainable goals. In addition to collecting data, students will be able to make changes to theories and resubmit those satellites to space for more data collection in the next year.
The space exploration project is part of Mountain View’s new Cosmos Colonization Immersion Lab, which is funded by a Cobb Tank grant. In the Cosmos lab, students will combine current data on colonizing processes on Earth and expand student thought on the creation of celestial colonies.
This press release was produced by Cobb County School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.