Mrs. Kelli Mawaring and her 8th period Science Enrichment ClassSJHS Writer
On November 7th at Springville Junior High School, Kelli Manwaring’s science enrichment class held an astronaut drop.
Mrs. Manwaring gave her students a simple plot not to long ago saying, “You are a NASA engineer. You and your team of engineers must solve the following problem: How can you return your astronaut (egg) safely to the Earth after his trip to space (the roof)?” The students “space ships” could be no larger than 1’ x 1’ x 1’, and they could use whatever trinkets and gadgets they had at their disposal to make their astronaut survive.
In her 7th period class, Mrs. Manwaring reported that 9 of 14 eggs survived, and that in her 8th period class, 10 of 12 survived, totaling up to 19 of 26 eggs surviving, or 73%. “It was funny to watch. Some of the creations just plopped to the ground,” Nathan Leatham, a 7th grader at SJHS, commented.
Seventh graders Gregg Davis and Jackson Averett show off their successful "Space Shuttle."The purpose of the Egg drop was to finish up their units on the solar system, space, and its affects on the human body. Now the classes are discussing the process of reentry. “We discussed how NASA engineers have to design every detail of their ships because if anything goes wrong, the ship will disintegrate or burn up on re-entry,” Mrs. Manwaring said.
“We hope we can do it again very soon,” said Megan Negus and Madisen Joyner. Unfortunately, the students will not be holding another egg drop, but will be doing some other fun experiments in the future.
