PR_01_30_2022

TITLE-1 CHARTER SCHOOL PILOTS SPACE-THEMED S.T.E.M. CURRICULUM Monday January 31, 2022  — > With more students losing interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, a change in course, or rather, an addition of a course, is needed to capture the imagination of high school students. > For the 2021-2022 school year, Los Puentes Charter School in Albuquerque, NM offers a space-themed S.T.E.M. class that couples high school mathematics with real-world companies to provide a realist experience in the classroom. > Los Puentes Principal Anna Phillips: "We wanted to increase the level of rigor without losing the interest of the student." Located in a lower than average income area of a city in the southwest, a charter high school is an unlikely place to find a space-themed S.T.E.M. class. It is a last chance school for at-risk students that may need that extra nudge in the right direction, just like a spacecraft. That's when Principal Phillips saw an opportunity and decided to take a chance. The math teacher she recently hired turned out to be a space nerd who created an entire high school class from eight different math topics tied to eight different real-world space companies. "I realized that this was going to be a great way for the students to explore mathematics while at the same time keeping it real instead of theoretical," said Phillips. "But I had to allow the regular curriculum of a class to be altered. They will get the same math but delivered in a different way. my favorite is where the students code a Google spreadsheet app for each of the projects they encounter." The space nerd Principal Phillips hired even created a website that contains the lesson plans, handouts, worksheets, spreadsheet apps, quizzes, and exams. While the site is not yet finished, the Fall semester is complete, with the Spring Semester due to be completed by, well, the Spring semester. The Fall semester begins with Project 1, which uses polynomial equations to determine the center of gravity and stability ad control of a DJI drone. Project 2 finds the students using quadratic equations to describe the characteristics of a Blue Origin suborbital spaceflight. Students use trigonometric identities in Project 3 to describe an unpowered glide landing from suborbital space to Spaceport America. Project 4 finishes the semester by using simultaneous equations to calculate the engineering parameters of a Bigelow space station. The Spring semester will find the students on Project 5 using square root equations to find the change in velocity needed to transfer from one orbital altitude to another. Project 6 uses linear functions to determine the duration of a space mission depending on the number of astronauts in the crew. The Rocket Equation allows students in Project 7 to determine the cargo capacity of a SpaceX vehicle. The semester and the school year end with the most interesting project of them all. The students use Project 8 uses Projects 5, 6, and 7 to calculate a Return On Investment on a space mission to an asteroid or comet! "We hope these projects and this class inspire the students to pursue a career in S.T.E.M.," said Principal Phillips. "But even if they don't, at least they were exposed to it for a little while." ___________________________ S.T.E.M. Adventures in Outer Space is a unique high school algebra curriculum designed to help prepare learners for life beyond high school. #

Richard Kerry Holtzin, Ph.D. Educational Liaison Albuquerque NM