Space Explorers 2

Sunspots

It's been a stellar week for the campers of Space Explorers 2!!  We started the week learning all about stars, constellations, and the star most important to us: the sun! Did you know that the number of sunspots changes over the years? We made a bar graph plotting the number of sunspots between 1969 and 2001, and the results were pretty fascinating!  We also made a "sunion," which taught us about the different layers of the sun!

The sun has layers, like an onion...hence, it's a sunion!

On Tuesday, we focused on the Solar System.  We learned the order of the planets by making an orbiting planets model, and watch a planetarium show.  Many of us really enjoyed this show, saying it was one of our favorite parts of the day!  

Wednesday we learned what it would be like living and working on the International Space Station!  We got to see all different kinds of space food, and got to see what it would be like to try and eat with a fork in outer space.  Also, did you know that fire fighter equipment, invisible braces, and joystick controllers were all originally invented for the space program? We learned about these and many more inventions for space.  Finally, we packed our bags for the international space station in a friendly competition to see who packed the best!

 

Simulation of using a fork in zero gravity

Thursday was all about Mars.  The highlight of the day was learning about the Mars rover, then making our own obstacle courses where we had to drive our rover not by looking at it, but by following the directions of our group members.  It was a great lesson in teamwork! We also made a model of ice on Mars and watched the changes that occurred as the ice melted.

Green group's obstacle course

Red group's Ice on Mars

Orange group's Ice on Mars

 


































We finished out the week with our most exciting day yet: rockets!!  We made our own soda straw rockets and measured how far they would travel, launched alka seltzer rockets to see how high they would fly, and saw a demo of a balloon rocket from the first to the second floor of the museum!

 Despite the constant rain, it’s been a great week for all of our campers, and we can’t wait to see old and new faces next week for Science Extravaganza!!