Liberty Science Center and students from Jersey City Public Schools have entered the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). SSEP was launched in June 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in strategic partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. SSEP is designed to follow the STEM education initiative as the students design and propose experiments that will be conducted in a microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Jersey City schools include PS #8, PS #11, PS #14, PS #16, PS #20, PS #25, PS #27, Dickinson High School and McNair Academic High School. Liberty Science Center is working with approximately 270 students that are in the process of compiling 62 projects to propose. Topics range from seed germination, water filtration, testing the stability of medications, bacterial, fungal and virus growth, material science, bone density, neuronal signaling, synthesizing brick building process, tissues and cell cultures, crystal growth and much more.

Students experiment and observe certain concepts and behavior under the influence of gravity. Once these concepts are explored, the students discuss which of the properties would alter in a microgravity environment. This is the beginning phase of mentally preparing the students to design experiments that can be tested aboard the ISS.

During this 7-week project, Liberty Science Center staff have visited schools to assist the students and students have been attending Liberty Science Center to perfect their proposals. On November 9th, Liberty Science Center will host a symposium to provide opportunities for the students to showcase their work. Students will be judged on the merit of their effort, research collected, and the experiment design of their proposals.

Students are challenged to develop tangible research proposals that have practical applications to further scientific research. One project from the Jersey City School District will be selected to be tested aboard the ISS. Once the experiment procedures have been conducted, the experiment will be returned to the students, where they will be prompted to collect the necessary data and relay the results at a conference at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.

STEM blog by Andrew Bjorge, STEM Enrichment Specialist and Deepa Shah, Specialized Programs Coordinator. Andrew and Deepa facilitate lab-based programs in the Jennifer A. Chalsty Center for Science Learning and Teaching.