The universe is getting a little smaller for students in Kate Krosse’s gifted and talented classes at Akron’s King elementary school.
Not only do the third- and fifth-graders connect with students from other Akron Public Schools through the use of Google Hangouts online, but they also got a visit from a representative of NASA’s Glenn Research Center on Monday for a presentation on communications and weightlessness.
David DeFelice, community relations team lead for the Brookpark center, even brought a replica spacesuit with him.
The presentation fits in with the classes’ theme of Mission Control, which Krosse came up with to relate how King students would communicate with students at the other schools, much like NASA’s Mission Control has to communicate and collaborate with the International Space Station and other research bases.
“It was an easy way to connect the two,” Krosse said.
Classes from Barber, Forest Hill, Harris, Helen Arnold and Leggett elementary schools, or “satellite bases,” observe the King classes online. Headset-wearing students sit at laptops and serve as the key communications liaisons between the schools. Monday, students from Forest Hill were online with the third-grade math class.
The other schools don’t have a gifted intervention specialist of their own, Krosse said, so they are able to access her classes.
DeFelice showed the fifth-grade math and reading classes a replica spacesuit worn by astronauts when they go outside the International Space Station.
“This becomes kind of like their own little spaceship,” DeFelice said. The suit provides everything they need to survive: air to breathe, protection to keep warm and water for drinking.
He showed students a “Snoopy cap” astronauts wear under their helmets, so named because it’s white with black sides that look like Snoopy’s ears.
“The most important thing is communications, so they can talk to each other, talk to the astronauts inside the space station and talk to Mission Control,” he said.
To demonstrate just how important clear and specific communication is, DeFelice set out to make an apple butter and jelly sandwich using only the instructions the students gave him.
Houston, they had a problem: DeFelice was told to take out two pieces of bread but no one told him to first open the bag.
The sandwich mission ended successfully when students told him to put one piece of bread on top of the other, ingredient-side in.
The students also got to experience “the chicken leg effect,” in which astronauts’ legs actually get a bit smaller because of lack of gravity’s effect on blood flow.
First they measured the circumferences of their calves.
After lying on their backs with their legs elevated against a wall or desk for about 10 minutes, they measured them again. Most were about a half-inch to an inch smaller.
How did it feel?
“Like all the blood is coming down,” said Donny Rodgers, 9, a fifth-grader. He said he was having trouble walking around afterward.
“My leg’s numb,” said Arianna Gwen, 10, also a fifth-grader. “And a little sore at the top.”
Now imagine six months of that, which is why astronauts try to exercise when they’re in space.
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and https://www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.