Bringing science closer to home; Teacher uses NASA experience to launch students’ ambition, curiosity
Published 7:01 pm Saturday, March 28, 2015
Stephen Zaffke, a physical science teacher at Austin High School, gave a presenation Friday showcasing the trip he took to NASA to watch a rocket launch. Zeffke worked on the NASA project a little while he was in college at the University of New Hampshire. Jenae Hackensmith/jenae.hackensmith@austindailyherald.com
Austin High School physical science teacher Stephen Zaffke got the chance of a lifetime, and on Friday he told students about his experience.
In graduate school, Zaffke worked on a project for NASA, and a few weeks ago he was invited to see that program finally launched.
“I got invited down to go see a rocket launch,” Zaffke said. “It’s a NASA MMS [magnaetospheric multiscale] mission studying a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection.”
Photo provided by Stephen Zaffe.
Zaffke worked on some of the preliminary data calculations for the project in graduate school at the University of New Hampshire. A few weeks ago he made his way to Florida to see the rocket launched. He and a group of others stood three and a half miles away from the launch. On Friday, he was able to share that experience with his students.
“I’m kind of bringing that whole experience back to the kids, trying to take space and NASA, something that usually happens pretty far away, and making it relevant, making it a real thing for them,” he said. “And it worked out really well because we’re right in the middle of Newton’s laws and energy, so it all fits really well in the science of rockets and things.”
As he showed students photos and videos of the rocket launch, he hoped the students gained a better understanding of some of the reasons science is important. He also wanted the students to realize doing something like this is attainable for them.
“This is a real thing, it’s an application of what we’re learning right now. This is why we learn the things that we do; this is why we take time to learn science. Because we can do amazing things with it,” Zaffke said.
“I’m a real person, I was there, I’m a connection to this thing,” he added. “And they can kind of make it a real thing in their minds. So hopefully it can spark some curiosity, some ambition.”
Zaffke presented to five groups of students, including students from physical science, technology classes and industrial arts — about 350 to 400 students all together. He said during some of the periods, he heard a lot of students say, “This is so cool,” so he hoped they took in everything he was presenting.
Zaffke said the experience was incredible, and he hopes the students will strive to reach their goals, because if one of their teachers can work on a project for NASA, he hopes they can see that anything is attainable.