With these funds, the Waterford Elementary School hopes to participate in the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) Mission 10 to the International Space Station (ISS). The total cost of the program is $23,500. Roughly $5,000 has been raised for us by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE), but we are well short of the total cost.

The SSEP will enable our students to experience and participate in authentic scientific experimentation, while developing team-building skills. This opportunity is a real world experience that breaks the model of traditional teaching and creates excitement for our learners. Students, parents, and community and teachers will gain from their experience. We expect a minimum of 60-80 flight experiment proposals to be formally submitted by our student teams, with one selected for flight to the International Space Station in Spring 2016. Waterford Elementary School would like to participate in this high visibility STEM education program that has garnered very significant media attention across the nation.

The experiment design phase of the SSEP will provide a structure for students to observe their environment, question it, create hypotheses to explain their observations, and to develop experiments to prove/disprove their hypothesis. This is what science is all about. It will address content knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These are all the higher level thinking skills that we are aiming for. The ultimate final reward that one of the developed experiments will actually be sent up to the International Space Station. The experiment will be performed by working astronauts in space making the experimental design work more real and more engaging for the students.

Specifically, SSEP will provide authentic immersion in a multi-faceted research experience, with students being asked to truly be part of America’s Space Program. Over 60 teams will be designing real microgravity experiments with real world constraints imposed by the operation of a flight certified microgravity mini-laboratory, and flight operations to and from low Earth orbit. Student teams will be required to write real research proposals and experience a formal proposal review and selection process. This effort will require self-directed learning, and the nurturing of students’ skills in critical thinking, problem solving, seamless navigation across a transdisciplinary landscape, communication, and teamwork. An interdisciplinary team of teachers will be immersed in the facilitation of an authentic project-based student research experience. A Waterford Township School District delegation can travel to the Smithsonian to attend their own research conference, reporting on experiment design and analysis of ground truth data with the flight team reporting on flight results. Through a mission patch art and design competition, grades Pre-K through 6th engagement provides for a broader community-wide experience; and expected media coverage for this program will help provide visibility for WTSD strategic efforts in STEM.

Waterford Township School District will participate in the Mission Patch Design Contest which will involve over 800 students. This will be a valuable STEAM education program for the entire student body. Two patches will be selected: one patch will be selected from Pre-K to 3rd grade, and the second patch will be selected from 4th - 6th grade. These patch designs along with the three finalists will be displayed at an evening community event. We are planning to present our finalist groups the opportunity to showcase their proposals to our school board as well as to their peers and community at Waterford Township's Space Flight Night!

The following link will explain in greater detail the full scope and sequence of this program. www.ssep.ncesse.org/2015 

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