‘Take your classroom into space’ winners announced

With Europe’s Columbus laboratory recently attached to the International Space Station (ISS), ESA invited European educators to propose new ideas for experiments that can be carried out onboard the Station to demonstrate the effects of weightlessness to young students.

Unique environment

The International Space Station, the largest international space project of all time, orbits the Earth at an altitude of 400 km, providing a unique location in which to carry out experiments in a weightless environment.

Primary and secondary school teachers and other educators, such as those involved in science education at a museum, or an educational organisation, were challenged to come up with original ideas that use this unique aspect of the ISS to illustrate to students the effects of gravity and weightlessness.

ESA received many interesting proposals from throughout the ESA Member States in response to the call. A panel of judges including education experts, scientists, space engineers and ESA astronaut Frank De Winne selected the top 20 entries.

Space and ground

The two best experiment ideas will be developed for flight during De Winne’s six-month International Space Station mission currently set for launch in May 2009. A parallel activity on the ground will be developed to allow European school students to perform the same experiment in their classroom. The activity will conclude with a live event during De Winne’s mission, where students will be given the opportunity to compare their results with those obtained in the microgravity environment.

All top 10 entries receive 500 Euros, plus educational material and a scale model ISS kit. A further ten runners-up receive educational material and a scale model ISS kit. All winners will be contacted over the coming weeks to be officially informed about their prize.

The proposals received in response to the call address students from 9 to 18 years old, covering almost all groups from primary to secondary school level. Topics proposed range from physics and life sciences, through to arts and technology.

The ISS Education Team expresses its gratitude to all who responded to the call. All readers are invited to regularly check the ESA website for updates about the ‘Take your classroom into space’ experiments, including how to participate on the ground, the latest news about Frank De Winne’s ISS mission and how to follow the live event.

Winners

The two best proposals and the winning entries are:

First place (joint winners):

Project title	Name	School
Measuring the mass of an object in a zero gravity environment	Theodoros Pierratos	2nd Lucyum of Echedoros, Diavata, Greece
How are cosmonauts weighed?	Anicet Cosialls	Les Guindavols, Lleida, Spain
How healthy is an astronaut? Check his weight	Mieke Recour	Onze Lieve Vrouwecollege, Oostende, Belgium

(With a special mention for Theodoros Pierratos’ project)

For their demonstration, students will have the opportunity to calculate the mass of an object on the ISS by measuring the time it takes to oscillate whilst hooked onto a spring. The experiment will help to illustrate the difference between the concepts of weight and mass.

Second place (joint winners):

Project title	Name	School
Exploring Capillarity and surface tension	Jef Luyten	Rozenberg S.O., Mol, Belgium
Capillarity without gravity	Luigi Lombardo	Liceo ScientificoSeveri, Milan, Italy

(With a special mention for Jef Luyten’s project)

Their demonstration aims to illustrate the effects of weightlessness on capillarity and to understand how gravity affects this amazing phenomenon.

The remaining top 10 entries:

Project title	Name	School
(=3rd) Does it float?	Francesco Serafini	ITIS E. Mattei, Urbino , Italy
(=3rd) Archimede’s ball *	David Tosolini	Immaginario scientifico, Trieste, Italy
(=3rd) Would Archimedes shout Eureka! in the ISS?	Lieve Van Assche	Mariagaarde Instituut, Malle, Belgium
(4th) MicroArchimedes: fluids in microgravity, or “The disappearance of Archimedes”	Marco Nicolini	Liceo Scientifico A. Tassoni, Modena, Italy
(5th) Convection needs gravity	Jaume Riera Codina	IES Montserrat Roig, Terrassa, Spain

In positions 11-20:

Project title	Name	School
(6th) Amazing Magnetic Field	Joachim Lerch	Science House, Rust, Germany
(7th) Doing art in space	Antonio Richart	Escola Lestonnac, Badalona, Spain
(8th) Soap bubbles	Friederike Hoffmann	Grundschule Auf dem Loh, Hannover, Germany
(=9th) Demonstration of Pascal’s principle	Francesco Marazzi	Liceo Scientifico E. Stein, Varese, Italy
(=9th) The strength of the water *	Dieter Scholz	Grundschule Mitte, Nördlingen, Germany
(10th) Influence of gravity on the existence of life	Laura Camacho	IES Pedro Muñoz Seca, Cadiz, Spain
(11th) Goal	Hubert Baudouin	Scientastic Museum, Brussels, Belgium
(=12th) How does convection works?	Nigel Bowen	Endeford Business & Enterprise College, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
(=12th) Convection without gravity *	Jon Tarrant	Hautlieu School, Jersey, United Kingdom
(13th) Effect of gravity on the organization of multilayers of immiscible liquids of different densities	Cesar Prado	Colegio de San Francisco de Paula, Sevilla, Spain

(* For joint winners, these projects receive a special mention)