25th STARBASE: Students learn science and math through aerospace applications
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on June 22, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Rising fifth-graders Maverick Hinnant, Alec Buskey and Ben Seegars discuss their safety restraint design after an experiment in their Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion class at STARBASE Camp Tuesday at Greenwood Middle School. This is the 25th year of the camp that teaches science and math using aerospace applications.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Teacher Kristin Acorn holds a wooden rocket before letting it zip down a line during an experiment Tuesday to test pilot safety.
The 25th anniversary of the STARBASE program launched this week at Greenwood Middle School, where upcoming fifth-graders learn science and math -- aerospace style.
Sixty-four military and non-military children met Tuesday at the school for Science and Technology Academy Reinforcing Basis Aviation and Space Education, and the students divide in the morning into four classrooms or "flights" -- rocketry, laws of motion, oceans of air and compass reading.
The students tour Seymour Johnson Air Force Base each afternoon to learn about jet engines and to sit in the pilot's seat.
"We feel we are very fortunate for Seymour Johnson inviting us on the base for 25 years," Director of STARBASE Connie Atkinson said.
Mrs. Atkinson developed the program in 1992 as a young astronaut course with fellow teachers Francis Southerland and Norma Griffin. The three teachers learned at a conference in Florida about aerospace and the need for an active military base to train students. After the conference they created a summer-long STARBASE event in Goldsboro.
Today the program has been condensed from a summer-long event to one week, but Mrs. Atkinson continues to educate children on real-world lessons with current teachers Tanya Grady, Jean Gardner, Russ Ann Cook and Kristin Acorn.
Ms. Acorn's class -- Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion -- tied a wire from one pole of the school's outdoor walkway to another for students to learn pilot safety and the potential dangers of impact. Ms. Acorn released a wooden plane holding a strapped-in egg down the wire, and children watched the plane slam against the pole -- and the egg remain seated or busted on the ground.
Ten-year-old Alex Buskey and his classmates watched three eggs hit the pole safely while two eggs splattered below.
"I'm learning how to craft things and learning about airworks," Alex said, who enjoys working as a team. "If everyone works together, tries to do the project together, then that's when I know we'll get done quicker."
"We launch walnuts across the room, and they have to try to apply the right amount of force to see whose goes farther," Ms. Acorn said.
"It is fun to watch them get in that kind of mode."
Each student is building a rocket this week before setting it off Friday at 8:30 a.m. for the program's graduation.