High-altitude Ballooning workshop for middle school teachers July 26-29, 2010

1. High-altitude Ballooning workshop for middle school teachers July 26-29, 2010 Offered by the MN Space Grant Come fly with us! Build real miniature spacecraft To carry science experiments To the very edge of outer space!

2. Workshop Overview Middle school teachers (two from each participating school) will work in teams to construct payloads for a high-altitude balloon flight, join the MN Space Grant (U of MN) High-altitude Ballooning Team to fly a mission to “near-space” (the upper atmosphere, above 80,000 ft, which is much like outer space), then analyze the photographs and atmospheric data collected. There will be general discussions of the role high-altitude ballooning plays in atmospheric and space exploration. Some standards-based curricula will be distributed. Workshop participants will generate and share additional curricula and plan for implementation of ballooning activities in their schools. Participating schools will receive a set of payload materials (worth over $500) to build follow-on payloads with their students. Participating schools will be offered one flight for a 2-lb payload during each of the next 2 academic years, probably in May of 2011 and May of 2012. Participants will be encouraged to share their experiences at teacher conferences and possibly go beyond payload-building to develop launch capabilities of their own, for program sustainability. Workshop Details • Dates: July 26-29, 2010 • For whom: Middle school teachers (grades 6-9). Two teachers must attend from each participating school. The teachers need not teach the same grade at their school but must be able to work together when implementing payload-building for high-altitude balloon missions during following two years. • Location: TBA (somewhere in the Twin Cities metro area) • Cost: No cost for participants. • Standards: High-altitude ballooning activities can meet national and state middle school Science and Engineering standards in The Nature of Science and Engineering, Physical Science, Earth Science, plus Earth and Space Science as well as Mathematics standards in Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis, and more! • Instructional mode: Hands-on learning. • Take-home: Each participating school will take home payload equipment worth over $500. • Clock hours: 24 CEU’s • Field trip: One day-long field trip (transportation provided) to launch a balloon mission to “near-space” then track the flight using GPS and radio telemetry and recover the payloads after they return to the ground by parachute. (This one day will run from 8 a.m. till about 6 p.m.) • Food arrangements: TBA • Contact: U of MN Professor James Flaten, MN Space Grant Consortium, 612-626-9295, flaten@aem.umn.edu • Learn more: See “Overview” presentation from a U of MN ballooning class http://www.aem.umn.edu/people/faculty/flaten/ballooningfreshmenseminar/

3. MN Space Grant Ballooning Workshop: Application Information School Name and School District: Teacher #1 Name: Grade Teaching: Main Subject Area: Home Address: E-mail Address: Phone: (work) (home/cell) Any Food Sensitivities? Teacher #2 Name: Grade Teaching: Main Subject Area: Home Address: E-mail Address: Phone: (work) (home/cell) Any Food Sensitivities? Statement of Interest (written by both teachers). In the space below briefly explain why this workshop will be valuable to both you and your students and how you envision working together to engage your students in high-altitude ballooning activities: payload-building, flying missions to near-space, and/or data analysis from balloon experiments. E-mail completed application to James Flaten at flaten@aem.umn.edu or FAX it to 612-626-1558.