From Seminole Ridge to Saturn

Congratulations to Kris Hansen, a Seminole SECME Hawk. He may be a semi-finalists from Seminole Ridge Community High School in an national competition for an interplanetary mission. We received an e-mail because at least one of the Seminole Ridge students’ essays passed the first round of selection in the Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest!

Kris Hansen, seen here working on a mousetrap vehicle for Seminole SECME, will teleconference across the country to take a picture across the solar system.

The Cassini Scientist for a Day contest challenges students to become NASA scientists studying Saturn. Participants examine three target images taken by Cassini and choose the one they think will yield the best scientific results of the Saturn system. This choice must then be supported in a 500-word essay.

The cameras on the NASA Cassini-Huygens Mission have been taking stunning images of Saturn and its rings and moons. These images have helped planetary scientists learn more about this amazing planet. Picking out just where the Cassini spacecraft points its cameras as it tours the Saturn system is one of the most challenging and exciting parts of the science team's job. For most of its tour, Cassini has a chance to point its cameras at various targets, but only one image can be taken at a time. Before each imaging opportunity, Cassini scientists have to decide which image they think would yield the best science. They make a case for specific images, and debate why one image would be better than another. Finally, they agree on which image will be taken, and the command to take the image is uplinked to the spacecraft, a billion kilometers from Earth.

In Cassini's "Scientist for a Day" contest, the students get to be the scientists. Students from the school with the winning essay participate in a Cassini mission staff meeting via teleconference or videoconference. Participating schools offered the chance to debate their choices with Cassini scientists. All semi-finalists’ essays are now being judged to determine the overall contest winners. Kris and the other semi-finalists will participate in a teleconference with Cassini scientists at calTech in the first week of June. The can ask questions live Winners will be announced in mid June, or shortly thereafter (after the end of the school year). Please visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov to see the winners list online when it becomes available.

2009 Seminole SECME VEX

In 2008-2009, Seminole SECME facilitated a low-cost, high impact robotics program. Grant money purchased two VEX Robotics Design System starter kits. Kits contained everything students need to collaborate and construct two competitive robots to meet a preset series of tasks for the VRC annual challenge.

Seminole SECME Sends "Students Signatures in Space"

SEMINOLE SECME SENDS SENIORS SIGNATURES INTO SPACE

On Wednesday, May 27th and Thursday, May 28th, students in Seminole SECME at Seminole Ridge Community High School will join with more than 500 other schools around the world by signing Student Signatures in Space (S3) posters.

Jointly sponsored by NASA and Lockheed Martin, S3 is one program for the SECME (science, engineering, communication and math) club. Senior Aleen Touma is spearheading the collection of the class of 2010 names.

S3 began in 1997 as a way to draw kids into space studies by giving them a personal connection to space. Five hundred participating schools are sent large posters for students to sign. After schools return the posters to Lockheed Martin, their signatures are scanned onto a disk which will be flown aboard space shuttle mission STS-129, a flight to the International Space Station that is scheduled for November 2009. Schools also receive lesson plans and information about the mission their signed posters are flying on.

After the signatures return from space, the poster will be returned for permanent display at Seminole Ridge Community High School along with a flight certificate and picture of the crew that carried the signatures into space. Schools are allowed to participate in the signatures program once every six years.

“Our goal with Student Signatures in Space is to spark kids’ interest in school and to give them a personal connection to the wonders of the universe,” said physics teacher Erich Landstrom, the Seminole SECME school co-ordinator, “In SECME we use space-related activities to inspire students to continue the stellar work of today’s space program, and to prepare young people for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

Barbara Reinike, program manager for Lockheed Martin, said “Classes usually follow their Signatures mission together from launch to landing, so it really piques the students’ interest in the whole process. Counterpart lesson plans that incorporate math and science activities help teachers take the learning experience to the next level.”

More information about S3 is available online at www.spaceday.org.

2009 AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest

Seminole SECME senior (and now recent graduate from Seminole Ridge Community High School) Nadia Beni is an offical entrant into the 2009 AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest. Nadia's photographic genius can be seen here on YouTube.



The AAPT High School Photo Contest provides an opportunity for students to show their creative and artistic talents along with their understanding of physics. The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) sponsors this photography contest for all high school students. Participants may submit an entry in one of two categories: Natural and Contrived. Natural photos are those that involve everyday situations that demonstrate a variety of physics concepts. Any spontaneous event is considered natural (like a girl blowing bubbles). Contrived photos are those in which the objects were manipulated to produce the phenomena photographed, or are set up to show a particular physics concept or related set of concepts. Contrived Photos represent non-spontaneous events (like a girl blowing bubbles being photographed with thermal imaging).

The top 100 photos will be posted for judging during the annual Summer Meeting of the AAPT at Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 25-29, 2009. Photographs are judged on the quality of the photo and the accuracy of the physics in the explanation that accompanies the photograph. Vernier Software & Technology has contributed prizes for first, second, and third place winners, a certificate for honorable mention, and prizes for the teachers of winning students in each category. If Nadia is in the top 100, she will be notified by letter from the AAPT before the national meeting. All prizes and letters of thanks will be sent by AAPT in the fall after the summer meeting.

Entry Number C-413
Essay Title: Thermal Imaging, Refraction, and Surface Tension

Essay: In this photo, a student blows a chain of bubbles. At the same time, a thermal imaging device is directed in her path while she stands in front of the real-time projection of a thermal map. The thermal imaging device used in this photo is measuring the amount of infrared waves being radiated from the substances. The device uses the measurements of infrared radiation and stores the data to create a color-coded map of temperature differences in a setting. The student and the bubbles' thermal energy are radiated away in the form of infrared waves. Some materials, like the bubbles, that are transparent to visible light, appear to be opaque or reflective when shown in the infrared map. In visible light, the soap film on the bubbles show refraction of light into a rainbow spectrum. The spherical shape of the bubbles demonstrates the even distribution of air blown into the bubble and surface tension.

President Thomas Jefferson once said, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." Thank you for all your hard work in SECME, Nadia, and good luck!


UPDATE: Thursday, August 6, 2009

Congratulations to the 2009 High School Photo Contest Winners

This year more than 800 high school students from around the world submitted photographs to this annual competition. Students enter their photographs in either the Natural or Contrived Category. Final winners are selected by attendees during the AAPT Summer Meeting. The Contest is sponsored by Vernier Software and Technology.

In the Contrived Photo Category
1st: Kelsey Rose Weber
2nd: Samantha Nicole Gold
3rd: Christopher Michael Curti

Honorable Mention: Stephanie Fitzpatrick, Rachel Sarah Karten, Jayme Lauren Littlefield, Katie Marie Thompson, Heather Rebecca Wilcox

In the Natural Photo Category
1st Natural: Chase William Lampe
2nd Natural: Bethany Jeanne Schmitkons
3rd Natural: David Abraham Levine

Honorable Mention: Austin Thomas Ferro, Catherine Guenther, Cindy Cin Yee Law, Alexander Craig Norton, Ruijun Wang

Special Recognition: John Stefan Kusiv

Star Trek: The Reality

(click here to view)

MStreeter Savannah Morning News May 19, 2009 EditorialCartoonists.com

Film Fundraiser on Wed., May 13th

FAU SECME Scholarships

Florida Atlantic University SECME SCHOLARSHIPS
DEADLINE MARCH 6
Awards of $3,000 per year are available to a limited number of students from SECME High Schools in Broward and Palm Beach counties for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Selection Criteria: Students must meet the academic requirements for admission into FAU and have participated in the SECME program in their high school. Minimum score of 1000 on the SAT-I or a 21 on the ACT. NOTE: This scholarship is renewable for up to four years based on academic requirements.

Application Requirements:
- Engineering and Computer Science Scholarship Application
- Most Recent Transcript
- One Page Essay on "Your Participation in the SECME Program and Your Future Goals"
- Two Letters of Reference

VEX Elevation Practice

The April 29th meeting gave the Hawks a chance to see the Elevation competition field. We assembled the practice kit to prototype field elements (like cardboard goals) and sample game objectives.










With the field spread out in front of us, the rules started to make sense (like how to "own" a goal). It was our first time seriously reading through the Elevation manual and becoming familiar with all the rules & regulations of the VEX Robotics Competition.



The Protobot was upgraded. It's arm had a new claw installed to manipulate the 3" foam cubes. Design is an iterative process – we'll keep revising and improving our robot until it dominates the competition.









Using the items in the kit allowed a team to get a feel for the Elevation field (without actually possessing a $400 full playing field). We saw first-hand our robot’s stability and center-of-gravity, trying to grab cubes on the center platform with inclined ramps. Kudos to Kyle, as he got the protobot back on it's "feet."



As a new team, it was a walk-through for what to expect on tournament day in June at SECME Summer Institute. Next up: the Seminole SECME Hawks Teams will have a chance to test their robots and compete against each other.

Rocket Launch at SF Sci Museum - This Saturday!

Launch It from the South Florida Science Museum’s Drop It, Build It, Fly It, Launch It Engineering Competition has been re-scheduled to May 2 (this Saturday), Astronomy Day!

On Wednesday, registration will be open to new contestants on the SFSM webpage, http://www.sfsm.org/dibifili.html. Check-in begins at the SFSM at 9AM on Saturday, May 2, 2009. SFSM admission is free to registrants and up to 2 family members.

2008-2009 SECME Outstanding Angel of the Year for the School District of Palm Beach County, FL: Edward Batchelor

At the Fifteenth Annual Celebration of Achievement Banquet on Saturday, April 25, 2009, the South Florida Industry Partners For Education recognized Edward Batchelor with the 2008-2009 Palm Beach County Outstanding Angel Award for his outstanding SECME support at the High School level. Congratulations, Mr. Batchelor! Below is his letter of nomination:

Reason for this award: Ed’s angelic assistance with the Seminole SECME program began in 2007 when he would just show up, entering the club’s classroom after school and assisting with the students. Like an angel, his presence at the meetings had a calming effect – both in offering adult supervision to one team submission, and in offering the harried school coordinator a chance to helped make progress and halt regressing. I asked him about it once, and he said he really liked that the school had a club with hands-on activites that applied math. Ed had worked with school’s former Physics teacher on a showcase project of science experimentation and engineering, and he wanted to keep doing that. He found that in SECME.

Delightfully, Ed’s participation involvement got his son involved. Eddie started attending because his father was there, but he rapidly choose SECME over marching band. By the spring, Eddie was on the brain bowl team for the Olympiad, so the brain bowl became a domain that Ed mentored the team of students. Eddie also competed beyond the Olympiad at the South Florida Science Museum’s engineering contest “Drop It, Build It, Fly It, Launch It.” Watching Eddie launch water bottle rockets independent of outside involvement really proved that his dad had engaged him in the SECME style.

Ed has been instrumental to the success of Seminole SECME. For example, it was Ed that helped the students with their technical drawings for Olympiad. The credit goes to him for his work that step by step turned student sketchs on looseleaf into scaled rough drafts, to finished submissions for the competition. At movie matinee fundraisers, Ed is the box office, collecting donations, distributing tickets, and supporting SECME. With water bottle rocketry, he brings real world experience. Ed talks to teenagers about his service in the Air Force, chasing down the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. And that time he spends is more than just projectiles and parabolas, it’s career path advice for juniors and seniors to consider.

Ed is always planning big. He wants to work with the students after the Olympiad to build a Focault pendulum on the school’s campus by the media center. He has already helped plan a solar system scale model at starts at Seminole Ridge High and stretches across the entire school district. He has been of great help with the lesson planning for the proportions of the planets and the grant writing for the funding to realize this project.

To recap: Ed’s been invaluable asset this year, a guardian angel of the angles in science, engineering, communication and math at Seminole Ridge.