STARBASE Alaska

STARBASE
Alaska
3rd Issue October 2007
Supernova Notes
Wow! The summer went by fast and
now we are full speed ahead with the
new school year. During the month of
July we worked on making various
improvements to the Program, one
Instructor – Blast Off, attended a
Professional Conference in WA DC.
She brought back great ideas, some
that we implemented this school year.
Russian Jack Elementary Students practice Newton’s
3 laws of Physic – Trying to save Eggbert!
August was filled with more
preparations for the upcoming school
year; a class for DMVA employee’s
children and a STARBASE Open
House.
We had two schools attend in
September, Lake Otis and Russian
Jack Elementary. Both schools were
willing to allow us to try out our new
schedule, activities, and curriculum
modifications. We implemented a new
process where students switch classes
two out of the five days, to allow
students the opportunity to experience
a different classroom teacher. We had
great feedback from all four teachers.
We look forward to continuing this
change during the upcoming year.
During this summer, I was also
fortunate enough to meet Nick M. who
introduced our Program to ETerra. We
were able to purchase new laptops,
install Microsoft Flight Sim X and
incorporate ‘real time’ Alaska data from
actual satellite footage. STARBASE
appreciates all of ETerra’s hard work
on setting up our laptops with over $8M
worth of data! We can’t wait to share it
with our students.
And finally we are hard at work
contacting a variety of organizations
with hopes of expanding our career
mentor list – students really enjoy it.
Thanks to all who have volunteered
thus far.
Shanna McPheters, State Program
Manager
[email protected].
Eggbert & Eggberta get ready to
take a ride.
Students work in teams to prepare
their “Eggstronaut” for flight”
Scary ride,Safe landing!
This Eggstronaut was not as lucky!
Inside This Issue:
Page 1
Page 2
Supernova Notes
Meet Deb Jones, Instructor
Lunar Moon adds Excel lesson
5 Day Schedule
Sand Lake Students make Observation
Ms. Lunar Moon has added EXCEL to our classes!
Hoping to hit two marks with one lesson, Ms. Lunar Moon
introduced an EXCEL lesson into our day 3 schedule. Teaching both
technology and math, Ms. Lunar Moon exposes students to the concept of
organizing, calculating, and graphing data. Once the basic understanding
of spreadsheets is in place, students are set loose to create a spreadsheet
using data from a previous lesson on Earth’s atmosphere. Everyone
agrees that the best part of the lesson is when they make the pie! Branding
them all “Mathematical Chefs,” students are then taught how to graph their
data into a 2 dimensional pie graph. No matter how you slice it, those pies
are filled with knowledge!
Important Dates:
10/18 – Alaska Day
10/19 – ASD In-service Day
Meet Ms. Orion
10/25 & 26 – Matsu Parent
Teacher Conferences
Aka – Deb Jones, Instructor
11/6-8 ASD Parent Teacher
Conferences
11/9 – ASD In-service Day
11/12 – Veteran’s Day
11/22 – Thanksgiving
11/23 – ASD & Matsu Holiday
12/21 – ASD In-service
Ms. Deborah “Orion” Jones was born on Ft. Richardson, Alaska. She has come full circle
to now be working at her birthplace. She and her family later homesteaded in Eagle River,
where she grew up and graduated from Chugiak High School. Her dad, Sgt. Paul Jones, ret.,
enjoyed flying his family all over Alaska and the Lower 48 in their Cessna, and Orion’s love
of airplanes and flying was born. This coupled with her knowledge and enthusiasm for
Science makes Ms. Orion a perfect fit to our program. She is truly at home when dazzling
students with her many science experiments.
12/24 –1/4 – ASD Vacation
Here is the example of our most recent schedule for our five-day classes:
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
STARBASE Intro
PTC/CCS no B
Newton’s laws
Bernoulli’s Principle
Shuttle Breakdown
STARBASE Jeopardy
Drug Prevention
Excel Spreadsheet
Construct Air rockets
CPS Assessment
Lunch
Lunch
Flight Simulator
Science Centers
PTC Shuttle Part 2
Four Forces of Flight
Lunch
Lunch
Mission Control
Parts of a Plane
Intro to Solar System
Eggbert
PTC Space Station
Captain Cornelius
Great Solar System
Rescue
Nav Notes/Review
Nav Notes/Review
Planetary Posters
CPS Assessment
D+A=R
Luna Glow
Lunch
PTC Shuttle Part 1
Properties & States of
Matter/Air
Nav Notes/Review
Rocket Launch
Graduation
Nav/Notes/Review
Sand Lake Students Make an Interesting Observation
When asked on their Navigation Notes which of the four forces of flight did they like best, most
students were in agreement. While a few picked “thrust” because of their need for speed,
about 85% chose lift as their favorite. Jie Joo said, “Lift is the best out of the 4 forces of flight
because it's going up in the air like a bird. “ Kaleb Desjarlais agreed with Jie when he wrote, “I
like lift because I could imagine flying a plane and lifting high into the sky.” Many students
echoed the same, as pictures of soaring through the skies filled their mind. However, there
were a few practical students who thought past the excitement of soaring and remembered that
day old saying, “what goes up, must come down.” Dreton Lena explained his favorite with this
comment, “Drag, because it makes the plane stop!” But my favorite had to be Kastin Boberick
who put it in very simple terms “Drag, its useful.” Now there is an understatement.
STARBASE Alaska
PO Box 5185
Camp Carroll, Building 60730
Fort Richardson, Alaska 99505-5185
PH: 907-384-6351 Fax: 907-384-6350
Alaska Website www.starbasealaska.org
National Website www.starbasedod.com
VISION STATEMENT
STARBASE Alaska exists to educate and develop
responsible, productive, life-long learners and critical
thinkers capable of assisting and leading America
successfully in the 21st century.