Not really. Those are fourth graders dressed in space suits
exploring a foreign planet which has been carefully created in
the gymnasium of Coshocton's Central Elementary School. Space
City, a project taught in conjunction with planetarium programs,
is a simulation of space colonization and exploration developed
by planetarium director, Charles R. Derewecki, who received a
grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation of Cleveland,
Ohio, to make it operational. Presently, this project is being funded by the Coshocton City Schools Foundation.
Though the city's fourth grade classes arrive at the gym by bus,
they immediately embark upon an imaginary three month long space
flight. During this flight they must find exercises that will
keep their muscles from atrophying in weightless space. The
needed resistance was provided by large rubberbands cut from a
truck inner tube, and students were challenged to find exercise
which would work all the muscles in the human body.
Eighth grade students formed a ground crew to help the fourth
graders upon their landing. Each student was given a one piece
"space suit" with hood and feet attached while rubber gloves
completed the outfit, adding an extra challenge to the dexterity
needed for exploration tasks. The explorers were now ready for
their mission in an alien environment. To the south they saw a
series of volcanoes erupting with an outpouring of lava (painted
on a huge backdrop); to the west, mountains showed individual
layers of rock giving clues to their possible origin; to the
north, high hills formed from the erosion of a plateau exposing
reddish-orange rock.
In the center, two large huts, (formed of clear plastic sheets
folded, taped, and inflated), housed labs by previuos astronauts
where some of the teams would perform their investigations. Teams
were assigned to geologic survey, mining, atmospheric survey,
construction of a satellite, research and development, and house
and furniture construction. Each group received challenging but
developmentally appropriate problems to solve. Materials such as
rock samples and fossils were located in the environment and
tranported to testing labs where the necessary equipment and
further instructions were found. Eighth graders provided
encouragement and direction. When the main assignments were
completed, "down" time was used to construct a soft landing
vehicle, experiment with escape velocity by developing rockets
with various engines (paper rocket on a string powered by various
size balloon and clustering of ballons), spectral analysis of the
stars, and a study of new constellations (provided on the
ceiling) and the creation of myths to fit the new mapped stellar
pictures.
As a record of the experience, each teacher was loaned a camera
and given a roll of film to photograph their students'
activities. A "log book" with organizational headings returned to
the schools with each class, allowing them to make a scientific
journal of their adventures. Some parents videotaped the project.
The project objectives of Space City are to create an interest in
science; to show science as practical knowledge, not just
something in a book; to demonstrate the interrelationship of math
and science; to show students the need to study science; and to
convince students that science can be enjoyable.
