STATUS PAGE
Status Report -Duchesne Academy 8th grade 2013-2014 School Year
Week of Aug. 19-23
Introduced the CASIS Project
Researched previous shuttle and ISS experiments
Week of Aug. 26-30
Continued researching past experiments
Students introduced to the engineering notebook
I attended 2 afternoons of training
Week of Sept. 3-6
Finished research
Students took a test over basis information including what CASIS stands for, what is microgravity, etc.
Students used the design process to build pasta and marshmallow towers.
I attended 2 full days of Sparkfun training
Week of Sept. 9-13
Students worked in groups and finalized their experiment ideas
Students learned about the design process
Sent in 13 possible experiment ideas for review
Week of Sept. 16-20
Discussed the review from Alli Westover
Students voted on pros/cons of each experiment that was considered feasible
Week of Sept. 23-27
Students learned basics of static and current electricity and series and parallel circuits
Parent gave us some guidance in selecting possible plants or the experiment
Week of Sept. 30- Oct. 4
Worked with small group of students to do some additional research and to begin writing their TEDP.
Continued electricity basics in preparation to using the Sparkfun Inventors Kits next week.
Week of Oct 7-10
Students learned some basics of force, gravity, and weight, as well as the electromagnetic spectrum.
Students started writing 3 possible flow diagrams for their plant growth in different wavelengths of light experiment.
Week of Oct 15-17
I participated in a Zoom video conference with Alli Westover and several other teachers.
Three 8th graders worked with the 4th graders to help them write their 3 possible experimental designs.
Wrote the 3 possible experimental design paragraphs in 6 groups and then as 3 whole classes. several
Week of Oct 21-25
Listed the pros and cons of the 3 experiment designs, received some advice from Dr. Brian Stephens.
Used the Sparkfun Inventors kits and built several circuits, the girls also changed some of the programming commands.
Started working on the flow chart and the design matrix.
I participated in a Zoom video conference with Alli Westover, other teachers, and CASIS representatives.
Week of Oct 28-31
Worked in small groups on the design matrices and on the flow charts.
The students also took a test on waves, electromagnetic spectrum, and gravity. We studied these concepts to increase our background information to better understand/design our NDC Pilot experiment.
Week of Nov 4-8
Determined subsystems and the students selected their subsystem.
Each subsystem analyzed the design matrices pertaining to their subsystem to begin to set up the Earth based experiment.
Met with several representatives from National Geographic Education.
Week of Nov 11-15
I participated in 3 Zoom Video conferences- Monday 11/11 with Dr. Stephens, plant physiologist from U of H Clear Lake,
Tuesday 11/12 with Dr. Morgan and his students from Texas A & M, and Wednesday 11/13 with Patricia from Nanoracks
My students took part in a live NASA Digital Learning Network webcast with CASIS' Dr. Mike Roberts on microbes on the ISS hosted by NASA's Rachel Powers
My students created a Power Point for the ISS Increment 39/40 web-based symposium.
Here is a summary by my student, Evan Rolfe,
In science class lately, we have been working on our project that is going to get sent up to space. For our materials and purchasing managers we have been making a list of what will be needed for this project. So far we will need Phyto blend gel, a divider, LEDs (4 blue, 4 red, and 2 white), a two cameras, seeds, a programming board, and grid material. For our seeds and plant researchers, they are making a PowerPoint that will be presented to a web based symposium, including our experiment hypothesis and ideas. Also we have a student named Lauren Reed, who is drawing the Ardulab and how it will be planned and laid out. This will help us because we will know everything that we need, and how it will work. It will also show us how good our ideas are. We have a diver group too! It will help us plan how the dividers are going to work, so we can do multiple things at once, with is with plants growing on each side. We also have to control lights, and cameras. Currently we are working on the programming, changing around so that circuit 4 will keep the lights and camera on constantly and not changing. Now last but not least, we have our programming group. The programming group will control the red and blue lights, also the timer. This will help and support our plants in outer space.
Week of Nov. 18-22
We eliminated the water subsystem since the phytoblend agar should hold enough moisture for our plants so these students selected other groups.
The lights and camera subsystems groups decided if they would work primarily with the hardware (wiring) or software (programming).
The divider group decided on a diagonal orientation for the divider.
We received the super bright red and blue LEDs so the lights subsystem started preliminary wiring and programming.
I participated in an all-day meeting at Duchesne with all of the other NDC Pilot teachers, Dr. Joe Morgan, volunteer adviser, from Texas A & M, and CASIS mentor Alli Westover.
We received the Phytoblend agar with nutrients form Dr. Brian Stephens, our plant physiologist volunteer mentor from Univ. of Houston Clear Lake.
Week of Nov. 25-29
We completed the functional block diagrams and believe that we figured out what to use as the triangular shaped containers we need for the plant growth media.
We students made more progress programming the lights.
Over the Thanksgiving holidays I sent and received numerous emails about the camera selection. Dr. Joe Morgan from Texas A & M, Manu Sharma from Infinity Aerospace, and Jeff Branson at Sparkfun have been making suggestions; however, the small reasonably priced cameras that might do what we need do not work with Ardurino Mega. This issue has been very time consuming and challenging.
Week of Dec. 2-6
Week of Aug. 19-23
Introduced the CASIS Project
Researched previous shuttle and ISS experiments
Week of Aug. 26-30
Continued researching past experiments
Students introduced to the engineering notebook
I attended 2 afternoons of training
Week of Sept. 3-6
Finished research
Students took a test over basis information including what CASIS stands for, what is microgravity, etc.
Students used the design process to build pasta and marshmallow towers.
I attended 2 full days of Sparkfun training
Week of Sept. 9-13
Students worked in groups and finalized their experiment ideas
Students learned about the design process
Sent in 13 possible experiment ideas for review
Week of Sept. 16-20
Discussed the review from Alli Westover
Students voted on pros/cons of each experiment that was considered feasible
Week of Sept. 23-27
Students learned basics of static and current electricity and series and parallel circuits
Parent gave us some guidance in selecting possible plants or the experiment
Week of Sept. 30- Oct. 4
Worked with small group of students to do some additional research and to begin writing their TEDP.
Continued electricity basics in preparation to using the Sparkfun Inventors Kits next week.
Week of Oct 7-10
Students learned some basics of force, gravity, and weight, as well as the electromagnetic spectrum.
Students started writing 3 possible flow diagrams for their plant growth in different wavelengths of light experiment.
Week of Oct 15-17
I participated in a Zoom video conference with Alli Westover and several other teachers.
Three 8th graders worked with the 4th graders to help them write their 3 possible experimental designs.
Wrote the 3 possible experimental design paragraphs in 6 groups and then as 3 whole classes. several
Week of Oct 21-25
Listed the pros and cons of the 3 experiment designs, received some advice from Dr. Brian Stephens.
Used the Sparkfun Inventors kits and built several circuits, the girls also changed some of the programming commands.
Started working on the flow chart and the design matrix.
I participated in a Zoom video conference with Alli Westover, other teachers, and CASIS representatives.
Week of Oct 28-31
Worked in small groups on the design matrices and on the flow charts.
The students also took a test on waves, electromagnetic spectrum, and gravity. We studied these concepts to increase our background information to better understand/design our NDC Pilot experiment.
Week of Nov 4-8
Determined subsystems and the students selected their subsystem.
Each subsystem analyzed the design matrices pertaining to their subsystem to begin to set up the Earth based experiment.
Met with several representatives from National Geographic Education.
Week of Nov 11-15
I participated in 3 Zoom Video conferences- Monday 11/11 with Dr. Stephens, plant physiologist from U of H Clear Lake,
Tuesday 11/12 with Dr. Morgan and his students from Texas A & M, and Wednesday 11/13 with Patricia from Nanoracks
My students took part in a live NASA Digital Learning Network webcast with CASIS' Dr. Mike Roberts on microbes on the ISS hosted by NASA's Rachel Powers
My students created a Power Point for the ISS Increment 39/40 web-based symposium.
Here is a summary by my student, Evan Rolfe,
In science class lately, we have been working on our project that is going to get sent up to space. For our materials and purchasing managers we have been making a list of what will be needed for this project. So far we will need Phyto blend gel, a divider, LEDs (4 blue, 4 red, and 2 white), a two cameras, seeds, a programming board, and grid material. For our seeds and plant researchers, they are making a PowerPoint that will be presented to a web based symposium, including our experiment hypothesis and ideas. Also we have a student named Lauren Reed, who is drawing the Ardulab and how it will be planned and laid out. This will help us because we will know everything that we need, and how it will work. It will also show us how good our ideas are. We have a diver group too! It will help us plan how the dividers are going to work, so we can do multiple things at once, with is with plants growing on each side. We also have to control lights, and cameras. Currently we are working on the programming, changing around so that circuit 4 will keep the lights and camera on constantly and not changing. Now last but not least, we have our programming group. The programming group will control the red and blue lights, also the timer. This will help and support our plants in outer space.
Week of Nov. 18-22
We eliminated the water subsystem since the phytoblend agar should hold enough moisture for our plants so these students selected other groups.
The lights and camera subsystems groups decided if they would work primarily with the hardware (wiring) or software (programming).
The divider group decided on a diagonal orientation for the divider.
We received the super bright red and blue LEDs so the lights subsystem started preliminary wiring and programming.
I participated in an all-day meeting at Duchesne with all of the other NDC Pilot teachers, Dr. Joe Morgan, volunteer adviser, from Texas A & M, and CASIS mentor Alli Westover.
We received the Phytoblend agar with nutrients form Dr. Brian Stephens, our plant physiologist volunteer mentor from Univ. of Houston Clear Lake.
Week of Nov. 25-29
We completed the functional block diagrams and believe that we figured out what to use as the triangular shaped containers we need for the plant growth media.
We students made more progress programming the lights.
Over the Thanksgiving holidays I sent and received numerous emails about the camera selection. Dr. Joe Morgan from Texas A & M, Manu Sharma from Infinity Aerospace, and Jeff Branson at Sparkfun have been making suggestions; however, the small reasonably priced cameras that might do what we need do not work with Ardurino Mega. This issue has been very time consuming and challenging.
Week of Dec. 2-6
We melted the Phytoblend agar with nutrients and prepared 40 mL triangular containers. We place seeds on top to see how long they will take to germinate.
This is from two of my students. 5 December, 2013- Sophie Kidd & Daisy Ford
Throughout the week, all of the CASIS work groups have been working hard to complete their parts of the CASIS project. Currently, Dr. Morgan of Texas A&M University is testing cameras to assist the Camera Group in forming their final decisions about the cameras to be installed in the ArduLab. The cameras will have to be small enough to install two on each side of the ArduLab to capture the growth of the plants on both sides. The Lighting Group is developing different programs for the LED lights in the ArduLab, as well as assisting the fourth graders in their CASIS project. The Growth Media Group is planting a variety of seeds into phytoblend agar in order to test plant growth before sending the completed experiment onto the International Space Station. Seed and Plant Group: The seed and plant group are placing broccoli and pea seeds on the Phytoblend Agar and pushing them in slightly, and covering it with a nylon hose.The Divider Group has just received the Lexan polycarbonate sheet, which will be sized to fit into the ArduLab. The purpose of the divider is to provide division between the two sides of the experiment, separating the light from reaching the opposite side’s plants. The patch group is still deciding on what the patch will be. The Science 8E class is currently working on drawing their idea of the patch (a picture of the ISS covered in vines and a Sacred Heart).
This is from two of my students. 5 December, 2013- Sophie Kidd & Daisy Ford
Throughout the week, all of the CASIS work groups have been working hard to complete their parts of the CASIS project. Currently, Dr. Morgan of Texas A&M University is testing cameras to assist the Camera Group in forming their final decisions about the cameras to be installed in the ArduLab. The cameras will have to be small enough to install two on each side of the ArduLab to capture the growth of the plants on both sides. The Lighting Group is developing different programs for the LED lights in the ArduLab, as well as assisting the fourth graders in their CASIS project. The Growth Media Group is planting a variety of seeds into phytoblend agar in order to test plant growth before sending the completed experiment onto the International Space Station. Seed and Plant Group: The seed and plant group are placing broccoli and pea seeds on the Phytoblend Agar and pushing them in slightly, and covering it with a nylon hose.The Divider Group has just received the Lexan polycarbonate sheet, which will be sized to fit into the ArduLab. The purpose of the divider is to provide division between the two sides of the experiment, separating the light from reaching the opposite side’s plants. The patch group is still deciding on what the patch will be. The Science 8E class is currently working on drawing their idea of the patch (a picture of the ISS covered in vines and a Sacred Heart).
Week of Dec 9-13
Casis Ardulab Update 12/13/13
In science class, we are still working on our Casis project. We created a google document to help us stay on task, and update our TEDP. Also in addition to our google document, we are working in groups. Our groups are purchasing managers, social media, camera, plants and seeds, patching, dividing, and lights. In our purchasing managing group we are trying to find test tubes as an option to use for our project. In our social media group, which has six people, Camilla Valente, Lauren Garcia, Kristen Schank, Sonya Fares, Evan Rolfe, and Alyssia Ewing, we are working on writing entrees in our journals so then we can have updates everyday on how the project is doing. Also in our social media group we are writing blog entrees to tell everyone how the project is going and how it all works. In our camera group has been having challenges finding the right cameras that will fit and work with the mega arudino. In our plants and seeds group we finally got some seeds to germinate in the phytoblend agar. In our patch group we are creating a patch that our grade could use to represent Duchesne. Last but not least, there is our lights group which is working on modifying the code to make our lights stay on for 12 hours per side and off for 12 hours.
We watched the video that Laura Colville sent us that showed what Valley Christian HS in California is doing. It was very informative.
Dr. Morgan and his student Dakotah Kerrer from Texas A & M University visited with the lights and camera teams for 2 hours on Wednesday, 12/11/13. Duchesne senior Anwesha Dubey also attended this meeting. Dr. Morgan and Dakotah asked the girls numerous questions to better understand their experiment. They are building an inset for us that will hold the lights and hopefully the camera in the orientation we need. We also have now decided to divide the ardulab into two rectangles instead of triangles. It seems that it will be easier to set up the board with the lights and camera this way.
Here is the email from Dr. Morgan after his visit: “Thanks for all the hospitality today. The A&M Team had great time and learned a lot about each project. Highly recommend that we work together in completing the mechanical and electronics for each of the ardulab experiments. Once we have these completed we can then focus on the software for each experiment. (during this time the software teams can be integrating and testing the various peripherals using their Uno brds.
I think we were able to standardize on the camera from Adafruit that has the manual focus. We have determined that the Ardulab Megabd can handle two UART connections for the two camera -- we will test this just to make sure.
However the Uno appears to have only one UART port so it probably won't support two cameras.
We will provide the plexiglass and ABS inserts for each experiment -- working on these over the break.
Each team now has its own Mentor -- so pls feel free to work directly with them.” Dakotah Kerrer is our mentor.
Today, 12/13/13, Susan Knizner, Janet Thorson (Duchesne’s Director of Technology), and I (Kathy Duquesnay) had a conference call with Manu Sharma from Infinity Aerospace in California. He said that his team is still working on the camera issue, trying to get the adafruit cameras to work with the mega boards. He also suggested that us could add a uno board to the mega board to make a camera work but we do not have the space to give up from our experiment design.
He also said that they will be sending us a new Ardulab since the one that we have has several cracks. The new one is out of a stronger opaque material. We can us the Ardulab we already have for our ground based experiment.
We start final exams and I will not have the 8th graders in class until Jan. 7th.
In science class, we are still working on our Casis project. We created a google document to help us stay on task, and update our TEDP. Also in addition to our google document, we are working in groups. Our groups are purchasing managers, social media, camera, plants and seeds, patching, dividing, and lights. In our purchasing managing group we are trying to find test tubes as an option to use for our project. In our social media group, which has six people, Camilla Valente, Lauren Garcia, Kristen Schank, Sonya Fares, Evan Rolfe, and Alyssia Ewing, we are working on writing entrees in our journals so then we can have updates everyday on how the project is doing. Also in our social media group we are writing blog entrees to tell everyone how the project is going and how it all works. In our camera group has been having challenges finding the right cameras that will fit and work with the mega arudino. In our plants and seeds group we finally got some seeds to germinate in the phytoblend agar. In our patch group we are creating a patch that our grade could use to represent Duchesne. Last but not least, there is our lights group which is working on modifying the code to make our lights stay on for 12 hours per side and off for 12 hours.
We watched the video that Laura Colville sent us that showed what Valley Christian HS in California is doing. It was very informative.
Dr. Morgan and his student Dakotah Kerrer from Texas A & M University visited with the lights and camera teams for 2 hours on Wednesday, 12/11/13. Duchesne senior Anwesha Dubey also attended this meeting. Dr. Morgan and Dakotah asked the girls numerous questions to better understand their experiment. They are building an inset for us that will hold the lights and hopefully the camera in the orientation we need. We also have now decided to divide the ardulab into two rectangles instead of triangles. It seems that it will be easier to set up the board with the lights and camera this way.
Here is the email from Dr. Morgan after his visit: “Thanks for all the hospitality today. The A&M Team had great time and learned a lot about each project. Highly recommend that we work together in completing the mechanical and electronics for each of the ardulab experiments. Once we have these completed we can then focus on the software for each experiment. (during this time the software teams can be integrating and testing the various peripherals using their Uno brds.
I think we were able to standardize on the camera from Adafruit that has the manual focus. We have determined that the Ardulab Megabd can handle two UART connections for the two camera -- we will test this just to make sure.
However the Uno appears to have only one UART port so it probably won't support two cameras.
We will provide the plexiglass and ABS inserts for each experiment -- working on these over the break.
Each team now has its own Mentor -- so pls feel free to work directly with them.” Dakotah Kerrer is our mentor.
Today, 12/13/13, Susan Knizner, Janet Thorson (Duchesne’s Director of Technology), and I (Kathy Duquesnay) had a conference call with Manu Sharma from Infinity Aerospace in California. He said that his team is still working on the camera issue, trying to get the adafruit cameras to work with the mega boards. He also suggested that us could add a uno board to the mega board to make a camera work but we do not have the space to give up from our experiment design.
He also said that they will be sending us a new Ardulab since the one that we have has several cracks. The new one is out of a stronger opaque material. We can us the Ardulab we already have for our ground based experiment.
We start final exams and I will not have the 8th graders in class until Jan. 7th.
Week of Dec 16-19
On Monday several students worked on designing 2 seed troughs, a modeling clay rectangular box that was to be lined with plastic wrap and filled with the Phytoblend agar. Several other students worked on the programing and starting to get the plastic softball display case set up to run our ground based experiment over the Christmas break.
On Tuesday 3 students melted the agar, poured 35 milliliters in the plastic wrap lined troughs, one using red and pink clay for the side with mostly red lights and one with blue clay for the predominantly blue side. After the agar cooled they placed 6 pea seeds and 9 broccoli seeds in each.
The seed troughs were attached to the bottom of the box using hot glue. The Sparkfun adruino uno board was attached to the end of the box via Velcro, and the ½ size bread boards were Velcroed to the side opposite the seeds. A divider was created out of cardboard and grid paper was glued to it to measure the growth. The out side of the box will also be covered with grid paper. We borrowed a computer from our tech dept to dedicate to the experiment and the code was loaded on it. One of the students, Abby Contant, took it home with her to run, however she brought it back today because the code needs a bit of a fix. She is going to take pictures the old fashioned way since we still have not ordered the cameras.
I am hoping that Manu Sharma will be able to get the Adafruit cameras working with the mega boards soon otherwise I don’t know what we will do to get pictures sent back to us from the ISS.
Week of Dec. 30-Jan. 3
I spoke with Alli Westover for an hour to understand the information needed to fill in the Investigative Summary Form and to answer several questions needed by NASA. I spent another 2 hours filling out the requested form and adding information to the TEDP. The ISF and answers to the questions are both on the documents page.
I spoke with Alli Westover for an hour to understand the information needed to fill in the Investigative Summary Form and to answer several questions needed by NASA. I spent another 2 hours filling out the requested form and adding information to the TEDP. The ISF and answers to the questions are both on the documents page.
Week of Jan 7- -11
On Friday, Jan 11, 2014 Susan Knizner, Livia Santos, and I drove to Texas A & M to work with Dr. Joe Morgan and his students Dakotah Karrer and Colton Schimank. They had my lights placed and soldered but needed more information before placing the Adafruit cameras. We decided on the placement and I left the ardulab with them to finish the wiring. Dr. Morgan and these young men worked very hard over their Christmas break to get the cameras working. These cameras worked well with arduino uno but it took a long time to actually make them work properly with arduino mega which operates the board in the ardulab.
I also worked on gathering information needed for the toxicology report form.
The experiment that my student, Abby Contant, took home over Christmas provided us with a great deal of information that will help us adjust the number of seeds that we use.
On Friday, Jan 11, 2014 Susan Knizner, Livia Santos, and I drove to Texas A & M to work with Dr. Joe Morgan and his students Dakotah Karrer and Colton Schimank. They had my lights placed and soldered but needed more information before placing the Adafruit cameras. We decided on the placement and I left the ardulab with them to finish the wiring. Dr. Morgan and these young men worked very hard over their Christmas break to get the cameras working. These cameras worked well with arduino uno but it took a long time to actually make them work properly with arduino mega which operates the board in the ardulab.
I also worked on gathering information needed for the toxicology report form.
The experiment that my student, Abby Contant, took home over Christmas provided us with a great deal of information that will help us adjust the number of seeds that we use.
Our mission patch design
Week of Jan. 27-31, 2014
We worked hard completing the TEDP. We also poured more Phytoblend agar and planted seeds because the amount we tried in previous tests was used up too quickly. We are trying to maximum the amount we can fit into our limited space. We also worked on a 3-sided display board to help explain our experiment at the SEEC( Space Exploration Educators Conference) on Feb. 7th. We also tried to correct/modify our programming code but are having difficulty. We will have a conference call on Feb. 10th with Dr. Morgan's team at Texas A & M to see if we can correct the problem.
We worked hard completing the TEDP. We also poured more Phytoblend agar and planted seeds because the amount we tried in previous tests was used up too quickly. We are trying to maximum the amount we can fit into our limited space. We also worked on a 3-sided display board to help explain our experiment at the SEEC( Space Exploration Educators Conference) on Feb. 7th. We also tried to correct/modify our programming code but are having difficulty. We will have a conference call on Feb. 10th with Dr. Morgan's team at Texas A & M to see if we can correct the problem.
Week of Feb. 3-7
On Feb. 7th I attended the Space Exploration Educators Conference Mini-Innovation Day at Space Center in Houston, TX. I displayed the 3-sided board created by my students. I also brought the Ardulab as well as simple prototype of our experiment contained in the softball display cube. I was able to share what we are doing with many other space science educators.
On Feb. 7th I attended the Space Exploration Educators Conference Mini-Innovation Day at Space Center in Houston, TX. I displayed the 3-sided board created by my students. I also brought the Ardulab as well as simple prototype of our experiment contained in the softball display cube. I was able to share what we are doing with many other space science educators.
Week of Feb.10-14
One of my students, Anna Kuryla, designed a seed container that will maximize the amount of Phytoblend (plant growth media) that a former student who is doing an internship at NASA will have 3-D printed for us.
Also, our computer technologist spent a few hours working on the code and realized that she needs 10-15 hours more to get it working properly to run our experiment. She also felt that it is not something that my 8th graders could accomplish.
One of my students, Anna Kuryla, designed a seed container that will maximize the amount of Phytoblend (plant growth media) that a former student who is doing an internship at NASA will have 3-D printed for us.
Also, our computer technologist spent a few hours working on the code and realized that she needs 10-15 hours more to get it working properly to run our experiment. She also felt that it is not something that my 8th graders could accomplish.
seed_container.skp.docx | |
File Size: | 28 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Week of Feb. 24-28
Friday
We had a very busy week. Monday our Computer teacher, Livia Santos spent the entire day getting the arduino code to work correctly and run our experiment. She was aided by a parent that suggested that she use time stamps when each photo is taken. She also wrote a code to allow the girls to focus the cameras. We also received a new metal Ardulab box that needs to have the arduino mega board added to it before we can add the experiment. Thursday Alli Westover and Dr. Brian Stephens, a University of Houston Clear Lake plant physiologist, came to meet with the girls, answer questions, and offer advice. Friday we followed his advice and sterilized the pea seeds by placing them in a 5% beach solution and rinsing with sterile water. We also sterilized the 3 D printed seed containers by rinsing them with 3% hydrogen peroxide. We melted and poured the phytoblend agar into the clean seed containers. We we also pre-germinate our seeds to maximize the chances that the plants will grow. Friday the girls spent hours focusing the cameras in the Ardulab. Other students wrote an outline for the 2 minute video we plan to make to document our entire CASIS experience.
Friday
We had a very busy week. Monday our Computer teacher, Livia Santos spent the entire day getting the arduino code to work correctly and run our experiment. She was aided by a parent that suggested that she use time stamps when each photo is taken. She also wrote a code to allow the girls to focus the cameras. We also received a new metal Ardulab box that needs to have the arduino mega board added to it before we can add the experiment. Thursday Alli Westover and Dr. Brian Stephens, a University of Houston Clear Lake plant physiologist, came to meet with the girls, answer questions, and offer advice. Friday we followed his advice and sterilized the pea seeds by placing them in a 5% beach solution and rinsing with sterile water. We also sterilized the 3 D printed seed containers by rinsing them with 3% hydrogen peroxide. We melted and poured the phytoblend agar into the clean seed containers. We we also pre-germinate our seeds to maximize the chances that the plants will grow. Friday the girls spent hours focusing the cameras in the Ardulab. Other students wrote an outline for the 2 minute video we plan to make to document our entire CASIS experience.
Week of March 3-7
We found out that we can use laminated graph paper inside the Ardulab. We had the paper laminated and will cut out an try attaching to the Ardulab next week. We started more pea seeds and alfalfa seeds. One of the 3-d printed seed containers is leaking phytoblend. We will try the other 2 and may need to tty a different material if we can't get two that do not leak. One is holding the phytoblend without any leaking.
Susan Knizner and I had a joint Zoom conference call with Brian Reiger from Infinity Aerospace and Alli Westover. I am looking forward to Brian and Manu's visit on March 17th. I also uploaded my code into the shared Dropbox that Brian set up for us. We also placed on order for t-shirts with our mission patch design printed on the back of the shirt.
We found out that we can use laminated graph paper inside the Ardulab. We had the paper laminated and will cut out an try attaching to the Ardulab next week. We started more pea seeds and alfalfa seeds. One of the 3-d printed seed containers is leaking phytoblend. We will try the other 2 and may need to tty a different material if we can't get two that do not leak. One is holding the phytoblend without any leaking.
Susan Knizner and I had a joint Zoom conference call with Brian Reiger from Infinity Aerospace and Alli Westover. I am looking forward to Brian and Manu's visit on March 17th. I also uploaded my code into the shared Dropbox that Brian set up for us. We also placed on order for t-shirts with our mission patch design printed on the back of the shirt.
Week of March 10-14
This week I updated the TEDP by adding more to the materials list and a few more MSDS sheets. I finished focusing the cameras and poured phytoblend into 2 cleaned 3-d printed boxes. I added the laminated grid to the Ardulab. My students transferred 3 pre-germinated seeds into each
3-d printed box and we attached the ardulab to the computer via the USB cord. At 11 AM on March 13th we started running the full program with the seed boxes in place. We will run it until Monday 3/17 for a 3 (almost 4) day test of the program.
Week of March 17-21
Worked with Brian Rieger and Manu Sharma from Infinity Aerospace Switched form the clear Ardulab to the black Aluminum Ardulab. Brian and Manu worked on the code and suggested that we add a real time clock to help make sure no data is lost when the images are downloaded.
I also updated my TEDP. I am now on revision # 4.
Worked with Brian Rieger and Manu Sharma from Infinity Aerospace Switched form the clear Ardulab to the black Aluminum Ardulab. Brian and Manu worked on the code and suggested that we add a real time clock to help make sure no data is lost when the images are downloaded.
I also updated my TEDP. I am now on revision # 4.
Week of March 24-28
Received distressing news that the launch date was pushed back to October 2014. Shared the news with my students.
Week of March 31- April 4
Poured fresh Phytoblend, added 3 seeds and set up the ground based experiment. Taped the grids on two of the Ardulab walls. Glued 2 small pieces of gore-tex to the 2 walls of the Ardulab. Updated the code to run without the real time clock and to take pictures every 30 minutes while the lights are on. Switched to an 8 gig mini SD card to make sure we have enough memory space. Screwed all 6 panels in place. Started the experiment running for a 30 day test. Note: we will check the SD card photos on Monday to make sure everything is working properly.
Received distressing news that the launch date was pushed back to October 2014. Shared the news with my students.
Week of March 31- April 4
Poured fresh Phytoblend, added 3 seeds and set up the ground based experiment. Taped the grids on two of the Ardulab walls. Glued 2 small pieces of gore-tex to the 2 walls of the Ardulab. Updated the code to run without the real time clock and to take pictures every 30 minutes while the lights are on. Switched to an 8 gig mini SD card to make sure we have enough memory space. Screwed all 6 panels in place. Started the experiment running for a 30 day test. Note: we will check the SD card photos on Monday to make sure everything is working properly.
Spring 2015 had to switch from the Ardulab above to a NanoLab with a NESI+ designed by Dr. Joe Morgan's group of students at Texas A & M University. Shown below on the left Susan Knizner, 4th grade teacher, Dakotah Karrer, Texas A & M student, and Kathy Duquesnay. On the right Gus Ordonez showing the new 3D printed inset.
May 2015 Duchesne students Emma Rhode and Julia Powell getting the experiment ready for flight on Space X 7
June 28, 2015 at Kennedy Space center waiting for the launch