Smyrna High School teacher Kellie Michaud gets “a little nervous” on airplanes, so being selected to conduct experiments on an extreme flight that simulates zero gravity will be a challenge, but also an extreme honor.
Michaud and fellow Smyrna High teacher Sarah Bell were among the first four agriculture teachers in the nation to be selected by NASA and the National Science Teachers Association for the zero-gravity program.
“That’s the best part,” said Michaud. “We use so much science and math in our (agriculture) classes, but we’re not always recognized for it. It’s so exciting. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Michaud was selected as the leader of Delaware’s “Team Ag” which also includes Catherine DiBenedetto from Caesar Rodney High School and Scott Haldeman from Milford High. Also selected for the NASA program from Delaware was the Dover High science teaching team of Sharon Densler, Kristin Lupo, Andrew Gorlich, and Jacob Abrams.
They left for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, after a send-off ceremony July 27 at the Delaware AeroSpace Education Foundation’s Environmental Outpost at Big Oak Park just south of Smyrna. Governor Jack Markell joined representatives from the Delaware Department of Education, the Delaware Association of Agriscience Educators, and sponsors DuPont and Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, at the ceremony.
The “Team Ag” experiment involves capturing carbon emissions from biofuels (ethanol) and fossil fuels (kerosene) to see if gravity matters. They demonstrated the experiment at the send-off ceremony July 27.
“We’ll only have 22 seconds to test something because that’s the time of the drop, so we had to figure out something we could do in such a short amount of time,” said Michaud. “We’re always telling students to think outside the box. Well, this is an example of that, and we’re going to bring it back on video, in pictures, and be able to tell them about it from our own personal experiences.”
Michaud is a Smyrna High graduate and has been a teacher for six years, all at Middletown High School. She has returned to Smyrna High for the 2010-11 school year.
Bell has taught agriscience mechanics for four years at Smyrna High.
“I teach about fossil fuels and biofuels in my classroom, so it’s really neat to look at the efficiency of emissions in zero-gravity and how it affects engines,” said Bell. “Are emissions going to be the same in space if eventually we have a colony in space? I’m very excited and I can’t wait to take this information back to my classroom.”
‘HIGH’ SCHOOL
The teachers selected by NASA and the National Science Teachers Association are conducting their experiments on board a modified Boeing 727 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from July 29 to Aug. 7.
The Delaware teachers will join other educators from New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, and Washington state on the flights, which will be operated by Zero-Gravity Corporation of Las Vegas in cooperation with NASA’s Reduced Gravity Office.
