Around the Schools
Ballard students to place experiment aboard U.S. space shuttle
Ballard High School will be one of 15 schools across the United States that will place a science experiment aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour, scheduled for liftoff Feb. 27.
The Ballard experiment was designed by students in the school’s Biotechnology and Astronomy programs. Once in orbit, a population of dormant non-pathenogenic E. Coli will be inserted into a liquid growth medium. After the flight, students will recover and freeze a population of well-traveled cells grown in microgravity that many subsequent students can compare to the same strain of stay-at-home E. Coli. The students can observe changes, such as mutations, plasmid uptake ability, and growth rate.
Only 15 school districts in the United States are participating in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. Selected student experiments from schools across the United States will fly for 10 days aboard Shuttle Endeavour. Seattle Public Schools has secured partial funding for this project through the Washington Space Consortium. The program will engage not just students and teachers in the process of inquiry and this remarkable opportunity – but also parents and the community through a customized blog, and Tweetups with scientists and engineers.