An experiment proposed by a team of eighth-grade scientists at William S Hackett Middle School will travel to and be performed on the International Space Station this spring.
Astronauts on the space station will perform “Microgravity’s Effect on the Germination of Basil Seeds Using Hydroponics,” the proposal crafted by the team of Aimee Diana Arias, Alina Gasanova, Kaylee Garcia Ramirez, Jasmine Suarez, and Sage Volmer, all students of science teacher Craig Ascher.
Team members were celebrated Tuesday during science class, when Principal Michael Paolino and Middle School Science Supervisor Amanda Powers congratulated them and presented them with certificates.
In November, eighth-graders in the district’s three middle schools took part in the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) and worked in teams to design an experiment that tests the effects of microgravity – weightlessness – on a particular scientific variable.
A group of teachers and administrators judged all the experiments and forwarded the top three to SSEP, which selected the Hackett project from others submitted throughout the country.
