Abstract
Taylor University has partnered with Marion High School in Marion, Indiana to implement high altitude ballooning into their AP Chemistry classes (40 students), Chemistry II classes (60 students), and Integrated Chemistry and Physics classes (275 students) covering a broad range of student ability and motivation in science classes. The curricula ranged from engaging students with the scientific method and discovery process to the specific topic of the chemistry of nuclear reactions. In all cases, real world, hands-on project based learning was employed with experiments reaching near space. Outstanding gains with high practical significance in student learning for the first AP Chemistry class were obtained in all six areas of intrinsic motivation, valuing science, application knowledge, metacognitive processes, cognitive skills, and the scientific method. Some statistically significant gains were also obtained for the other two courses. This is very encouraging considering that these were first time implementations. This suggests that HARP appears to be a promising tool to significantly engage and teach high school students in STEM. In general, these implementations into high school classes show that ballooning can be transitioned from the undergraduate classroom to the high school with strong potential for significant change in student learning.
How to Cite:
Takehara, D., Dailey, J. F., Gavin, S. D., Snyder, S., Smith, B. & Krueger, J., (2012) “High Altitude Ballooning in High School Science Classes”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2012(1), 15–19. doi: https://doi.org//ahac.8316