Lisa Werner

Embedded Teacher Wild Ride Begins

Expecting a response on my proposal was not on my radar for a few months yet (if at all). I was gearing up for the Space Exploration Educators conference in Houston in the beginning of February. I was working through all of the cool space & music lesson plans I had made for my proposals for the Embedded Teacher program. I was getting ready to end the 1st semester of this school year. It was January 12, a month after I had submitted my second proposal, when I got a surprising email in my inbox.

I almost screamed out loud when I read the first line!!! And I’m pretty sure I told everyone I knew before I even finished reading the email!!!

And that was how the next phase of my journey began!

From January 30 on, we have met every Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 pm via Zoom to discuss the aspects of the flight. I am in these calls with 3 other teachers who will be flying – amazing women from Iowa, Georgia, and Texas. After I came back from SEEC, I also would have a weekly meeting at my school with Mary MacDonald (the fantastic principal at St. Bruno) and Tammy Price (whose title is administrative assistant, but she does so much more than that!). The rest of this blog is going to serve as a summary of those experiences to document my journey, and once I’m all caught up, I’ll begin having entries to update this adventure in real-time.

So, as I mentioned, my first official meeting was on January 30. I learned that I might be flying in the spring, or if I needed more time to get my package together, it might be the fall. I was a little bummed about the idea of waiting until fall after getting all of my current students so fired up about space (which is our theme for the year in my class). Then I was introduced to a Trello board that has been set up for all of the teachers who are flying, so that we can see what needs to be done and communicate easily back and forth throughout the process. Overall, the first meeting was a bit intimidating and overwhelming as I saw all that had to be done before I could be set to fly experiments.

The following week was SEEC, so we were all in Houston together. We met up for breakfast to speak in person. I am so glad we did! It was really nice to hear how overwhelmed and nervous the other teachers were as well. I felt better knowing that the science teachers weren’t sure that they were good enough or smart enough to pull this off. If they were all feeling the same as I was, I must be doing ok! Dr. Crosby was great at calming us down – he said that the whole process is a success if it creates a meaningful experience for our students. That was the whole point of this adventure, and as long as we used that as our guide, we wouldn’t be letting anyone down.

February 7 (the day after I came back from SEEC), I started meetings with Mary and Tammy at school. I first need to say how amazingly supportive my principal and colleagues are, even without this Embedded Teacher experience. I am so lucky to teach at a school where I can teach band in an out-of-the-box way to get my students enthusiastic about making music and connecting to subject matters they love outside of music. I think back on the teachers who made the biggest impression on me and motivated me to work hard, and they weren’t always my music teachers. My chemistry, physics, French, and English teachers in high school were the teachers I look back on from those years because they found a way to connect their subject matter to what interested me. They showed me that what I enjoyed learning about also had applications with their concepts and ideas. Throughout this entire adventure, I have been reminded of how much they taught me about music without being music teachers. And now, I am returning the favor by teaching my students about space while being a band teacher.

So, back to my meeting with Tammy and Mary – we started calling our meetings “Project Sparkle Unicorn,” as I was the unicorn in the room by being the music teacher amongst all of these awesome STEM teachers. When I told my friend about this, she said “no, you are the SPARKLY unicorn,” and I’ve just started to embrace that to bolster my courage in this whole process. In my meeting with Mary and Tammy, we discussed my school integration plans (as I want this to be a whole school experience, rather than something only my band students will benefit from), and we developed some timelines for these plans, along with media plans.

On February 9, Dr. Crosby gave us our timelines for the requirements of all paperwork and submissions for our proposals. It still looks very scary and intimidating, but a little bit more doable. I remember thinking that I better stay on top of these dates, and how nice it was to have them so I could stay focused on one step at a time. I also had a funny epiphany in this meeting. The wonderful teacher from Georgia was talking about some cool sound experiments using a tuning fork. I had ruled out a tuning fork in my experiments, as I knew it wouldn’t be heard on a flight with engine noise and the other noises from other experiments. As she was describing this idea, I realized that I was definitely biased by my musical training – see, for me a tuning fork produces sound for us to hear. In the science world, a tuning fork produces VIBRATION. You don’t need to hear a tuning fork to know that it is creating noise. Weird revelation for me, for sure! Anyway, then I got this crazy fun idea of trying to squeeze out a water bubble (in a glove box, because those are the rules for flight) and vibrating it with a tuning fork. I was giddy beyond belief at this idea, as one of the most fun sound experiments to do in classrooms is to hit a tuning fork and then place the vibrating end into a cup of water – instant splash!

February 14th’s meeting at St. Bruno was mainly focused on creating press releases for our local newspapers. On this day, I also visited the 6/7 and 8th grade ELA classes to present my flight info. After this, we discussed how NASA names its missions, and then introduced a mission naming contest for the middle school students to participate in. To enter, the students needed to come up with a mission name and write a paragraph describing what their mission name’s connection to my flight would be. We discussed how NASA mission are often named after Greek and Roman gods, and since we are a Catholic school, we could pull from our beliefs to connect to my mission. We also talked about NASA’s love for acronyms, and how the mission name could be an acronym instead. It was fun answering the students’ many questions about the flight and how it will all work. I think I have a few volunteers if I am unable to make it for some unknown reason! I learned that when I am excited, I really don’t remember to slow down my speaking speed. Luckily the students all listen fast, but I have to get better at that!

I pitched my tuning fork/water bubble idea in our weekly Embedded Teacher zoom meeting on February 17, but Dr. Crosby told me that it won’t work. The airplane’s engines are changing too quickly that the water bubble would be too unstable. Oh, well…it was a fun idea, but I’ve still got plenty going on without adding that experiment.

On February 21, in our school meeting, we discussed the plans for the students designing a mission patch. Every NASA mission has a mission patch that is worn on the astronaut’s flight suit. I thought it would be fun for every student to design a mission patch, and then I will fly their designs with me when I go for my flight. Mary & Tammy have worked the school budget in a magical way to squeeze out some money to take the winning student’s design and have it made as an embroidered patch for every student and teacher in the school. I will also get one to wear on my flight suit. We also continued to discuss our media outreach plans, aiming for television stations this time.

My February 24 meeting with the Embedded Teacher group was particularly fun, as I was playing in a rehearsal for tech week of the production of “Anastasia” at the high school I teach jazz band at. One of the awesome directors loaned me her laptop to use for the zoom meeting, as it was much easier than trying to get any of my devices on the school wi-if. At this meeting, we discussed submitting our final experiment proposals for the Zero-g Corporation (the company responsible for the flight). We needed to have measurements of the dimensions and weight of every item we are bringing along, and attached Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for the items, as well. Mine were done, and waiting for any questions Dr. Crosby would have, as he fills out the formal Payload Integration Packages (PIP).

Dimensions of my pBone, and I had to measure it…and take pictures of it in its case with the dimensions and weight, as well.

On Sunday, February 27, Dr. Crosby added comments to my Google doc that housed my final proposal. It was a little overwhelming, as the amount of details needed are very involved. Dr. Crosby did an awesome job of explaining why Zero-G needed to know the exact amount of cupcake sprinkles I was going to use, and the other things I needed to elaborate on. I thought this was particularly awesome of him, since you should have seen how many comments I had to resolve on my document! It was very overwhelming, but his explanations taught me a lot about what the flight will be like and why all of the tiniest of details are important. Definitely a learning experience, for sure!

February 28 was a big day! Our mission naming contest ended, and some of my favorite names were: S.O.S.I.T.A. (An acronym for Sounds Of Space In The Air), Flight of Enob Mort, and Mission Band In….Space.

I had the middle school teachers help judge the contest, and the winner was SOSITA! In my meeting with Mary & Tammy, we discussed getting our mission patch contest going (which I’ll talk more about in the next blog…sorry for the teaser). I also went into the 8th grade science classroom, as those students are helping me design how I will attach a sound tube to my bell. Our awesome science teacher helped me use proper science terms (like criteria and constraints! I felt fancy!), and had supplies for the students to create with after I showed them what this harness needed to be able to do. After that, I also got to visit the 1st graders in our building, as they are doing a unit on sound. Our first grade teacher is so much fun – she invited me in to have a little noisy adventure with her students! I showed the students how sound can make cake sprinkles move due to vibration (totally spoiling my future flight experiment demos for them…hahaha), and I showed them how you can see and feel vibrations in instruments (like when you hit a cymbal). I also showed them bigger instruments are lower and smaller instruments are higher by using the Joia tubes I had won a grant to purchase last fall. They were so much fun, and I loved the look on their faces when they saw the sprinkles move! Totally priceless.

And that’s the rundown on January & February…it really was a whirlwind, and there’s still so much more to do!

March 29, 2022April 1, 2022

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Space Center Houston (without kids)

In February 2022, I had the opportunity to go to Space Center Houston for a conference (the conference will be a separate post!). This was my very first time since I became a mom that I traveled without my kids (and wow, was that weird)! I came in a bit early so that I could explore the museum and experience it fully, not knowing how much time I would have while at the conference to take in the sights. It was a very cool experience!

It was an early morning with some travel stress, but I finally made it to Space Center Houston!

When I arrived in Houston (Hobby Airport, as Houston has TWO airports), I took an Uber to my hotel and then walked across the street to Space Center Houston. I was giddy with anticipation! I had a friend and past trombone lesson student who has an internship with NASA in Houston, so as soon as I got into the museum, he called and asked if I wanted him to pop over on his lunch to show me a few interesting things. There was no way I was passing that up! He took me through the gallery and showed me some of his favorite exhibits and told me some fun stories that he had heard, and I loved having the inside scoop!

After he left, I made sure to book my tram tours, as I had read these fill up fast! You have to download the Space Center app and then book the (free) tram tours through that. There were two tours running the day I was there – one to go see the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (white tram) and the other to visit Mission Control (blue tram). I booked the Space Vehicle Mockup first, as it had the shorter wait time. While I waited for my tram time, I ate lunch at the cafeteria, enjoyed the other exhibits, and listened to a talk about experiments on the International Space Station.

When your time to load the tram has arrived, you get an alert through the Space Center Houston app. I managed to lose signal while I was in the gift shop, however, so I almost missed my loading time. Thankfully, I had been checking it religiously so I knew about when to head over there. The tram is very full – there aren’t any empty seats, so don’t be the person who sits in the middle of the bench expecting to have the whole thing to yourself! It didn’t take very long to load everyone up and get moving. As you take the tram to the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, the driver gives you a tour of what you are seeing, so you get to find out what all of the buildings you are driving past have inside. Also, because this area is a wildlife preserve, you will see a lot of deer!

In addition to deer, you will also drive past the Longhorns!

It did not take us long to get to the Space Vehicle Mockup, and it was fun to feel the anticipation of what I would see inside. This building was really interesting, as this is where the astronauts train in the different vehicles they will use to get to, or hang out in, space. There is a mockup of every possible vehicle that NASA uses. The neat thing was that we could see training going on while we were there. They were trying out a new space suit while we watched, and they were also working with Valkyrie, which are some cool space robots.

On the way back from this tram tour, we got to stop and visit the Saturn V rocket. I knew those rockets were big, but I was not prepared for how giant it was. Even seeing the outside of the building that houses it did not prepare me from its size.

It was definitely awe-inspiring, and I think this was my favorite stop on all of the tours. After this building, which also housed a nice display showing a timeline and history of all of the Apollo missions, we returned to the main building. Luckily for me, it was just in time to board the tram for my other tour (which I had booked the minute I was on the first tram tour (#protip)…and I also managed to lose connectivity during that tour as well, but it held my place in line, so don’t freak out if that happens to you!).

This tram tour also featured a guided trip through the grounds, and before I knew it, I was staring at the historic Mission Control building. We went into the Mission Control room that was used for the moon landing. It has recently been restored, down to the cigarette butts in the ashtrays! There is a very neat replay of the entire moon landing video, and you feel all of the excitement of what it must have been like on the very day they landed on the moon. It gave me chills!

Outside Mission Control! Don’t bring any big bags with you!

After the whole replay was over, there was plenty of time to take pictures, and then we boarded the tram for the main building again. Once back in the museum, I headed to the Independence Plaza to check out the airplane that carried the shuttle.

Just ‘plane’ amazing….(see what I did there?!?)

They also had a Falcon 9 from SpaceX on display, which was really neat to see, as well, after having watched those launches recently.

The Falcon 9 got its name from the NINE engines used to power it.

After all of that exploring, the museum was closing, and I was tired! I walked back to the hotel, called my family, and prepared for the conference the next day!

March 28, 2022March 29, 2022

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Embedded Teacher Proposal Process

After attending the Embedded Teacher workshop at Carthage College, we had a quick turnaround if we wanted to apply for a zero-gravity flight in November. We were told there would be one teacher to fly in November, and one flying in March. However, Dr. Crosby was working on getting more spots and more funding. I’m not used to things ending up that way, but Dr. Crosby is really skilled in that area! He actually ended up getting two teacher spots on the November flight.

I applied for the fall flight. I was extremely excited about my proposal, as I wanted to see if pitch was affected by gravity. More specifically, I wanted to see if the material making up the musical instruments would be affected by gravity in any way that would alter the tuning of the instruments.

My justification for this was this: as a musician, I know that my instrument goes sharp tuning-wise when the air temperature is warmer, and my instrument plays flat when it is cold. Humidity also has an affect on my instrument’s tuning. If these factors (which actually are causing my instrument to expand or contract in tiny amounts that cause a big difference in tuning) can alter the intonation of an instrument, why wouldn’t gravity possibly have an effect on the molecules making up my instrument? This could be measured using a tuner, an oscilloscope, or a spectrum analyzer. I was beyond excited about exploring this idea, as I felt this was probably something that might not have been studied yet. I really wanted my research to have an impact on the world of science because I badly wanted to prove music’s worth in an arena such as this.

I even included fancy pictures demonstrating my anticipated data…

On October 28, I found out that I would not be flying on the November flight. I was bummed, but I knew as thorough as I thought my proposal was, I could still tweak it for the December deadline for submission for the spring flight. I figured I probably didn’t fully explain my ideas in science language instead of my usual musician wording, so I vowed to take the feedback I would be given, and try again.

The spring deadline for proposal submission was going to be December 13, but with the flights of my fellow workshop participants scheduled for mid-November, I didn’t expect feedback until after their flights. I did get feedback on December 6. This is what I heard back from Dr. Crosby: “the main comment I would make would be to make sure you review some of the existing literature and provide some evidence or a basis for thinking that microgravity would shift the frequencies of your target instrument(s). It would also be helpful to have a specific target in mind – say, a set of tuning forks, an expected frequency shift for each, and an idea of what device is capable of measuring such small shifts.”

Dr. Crosby then put me in contact with Lynne Zielinski, one of the very intelligent women who presented at our workshop. On December 9, she was kind enough to talk with me over the phone and very gently told me that there was no way my first proposal would be approved for flight. Their belief was that there wouldn’t be any effect on pitch due to gravity because gravity does not factor into any equations related to sound waves. She said even if it did have an effect, it would be such a small amount that we would need really sensitive equipment to catch those small changes. Upon thinking on it further, even if there was a change, I think it would be difficult to prove whether it was a change in gravity causing the change in pitch, or the air pressure, humidity, or temperature changes that would be taking place in the parabolic flight environment. However, that didn’t stop me from being crushed. And now I had less 4 days to come up with a viable proposal. Worse yet, I was going out of town in 2 days AND trying to get ready for the first in-person Christmas concert my students were putting on in 2 years! Talk about stressful!

Luckily, when I talked to Lynne over the phone, she suggested I look into different experiments science teachers do to how students what sound waves look like. Since the components (styrofoam beads, water, etc.) are interacting with gravity while these experiments are done in a classroom, it would be interesting to see what sound waves might look like without gravity’s effects on those components. I spent a lot of time talking to my dad, who is the first person who taught me about sound waves by showing me the oscilloscope he worked with way back when I was first learning to play an instrument. I picked my mom’s brain, as she is the best person I know at thinking outside of the box. I also talked to Kellie, my science teacher friend. Also, when my family was going out of town, we were going with some friends who are very good brainstormers and science minds, too. I watched YouTube videos on how science teachers taught sound wave concepts to their students while quarantined and virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic. I googled simple science experiments pertaining to sound. I freaked out, and had to talk myself into continuing to search for ideas. I listened to my husband when he told me I COULD do this.

While in the car on December 11, on our way to see the Galena, IL Christmas Night of the Luminaria and Living Windows, I made a list of different experiments I could try the next day. It seems like overnight I became an expert at Physics-speak and started writing my proposals in the car. Since we had learned so much about the behavior of fluids in microgravity, I wanted to find a way to use that. I saw this very interesting Sound Carousel demonstration, and thought maybe I could make it work with fluid in the bottles sealed off by a rubber balloon. The concept of the Sound Carousel is that you can spin 2 soda bottles around by playing the exact frequency of the resonance of the bottles.

Well, I attempted to make that happen at home the next day (the day before the proposal was due), and I couldn’t make the original experiment work without a LOT of hassle. I then read some more on the physics behind this, and learned that the Sound carousel is actually called a Helmholtz Oscillator, and is based around the principles of an OPEN resonating container. Closing off the soda bottles with a balloon and filling them with water seemed like it would pretty much negate all of the principles involved in the Helmholtz’s research.

My other idea at using water to demonstrate sound was creating a “Hydro Xylo,” or basically a keyboard composed of bottles filled with various amounts of water to create a scale. This went back to my original proposal, because I wanted to see if the pitch differences between the bottles would stay the same. I also thought it would be neat to see how the different amounts of water acted in the same-sized bottles. I did include this experiment in my submitted proposal.

I thought the Harmonic Minor scale would be fun because of the bigger difference in water between bottles 6 & 7.

I also put in some experiments that would show vibration in a 3-dimensional manner. I had an experiment that would show the 3-dimensional sound wave in a sound tube. This tube would be filled with styrofoam beads, and when the resonance frequency of the tube would be played, a sound wave would be generated in the styrofoam beads, displaying the nodes and antinodes of the wave.

Another experiment I proposed was a basic sound experiment used to show kids of any age that sound is caused by vibration. Usually, a teacher will stretch plastic wrap over a bowl of cup so that it is taut. They will then pour glitter or cupcake sprinkles (or rice, or salt, or….) on the plastic wrap. When any sound is played at the plastic wrap (from a gong, cymbals, any band or orchestra instrument), the sprinkles/glitter/rice/salt dances. I decided I could do a variation on this with a container to keep the small particles in.

I also thought it would be fun to find out what drumming with zero gravity would be like, as the rebound and exact moment of striking the drum are so important, and rely very heavily on gravity. I decided this could be a cool way of using this data to analyze what reaction time would be like for astronauts. Since astronauts have to do certain combinations of manual tasks (pushing buttons, flipping switches) in a certain order and within a certain time frame, it might be nice to know how much of their reaction time depends on gravity. My proposal was to take a drum into microgravity and play it at various tempos with a metronome to see how easy it was to stay in time at various speeds.

So, after spending all day on December 12 experimenting and typing up ideas, I was ready to submit my proposal. It wasn’t as pretty or didn’t feel as completely hashed out as my first idea, but it was done. Now I could focus on the all-school concert on December 15. To me, that was the most important thing to be ready for. I didn’t feel very confident at all in my flight proposals, but at least I could focus on making sure my students and their audience members felt ready for a concert, and for Christmas itself. That concert was a great reminder on what is important to me and to my school community. The concert went wonderfully, and it was so nice to be able to shove the proposal experience to the back of my mind.

To be honest, after the whole concert and Christmas season, I was not thinking much of when I might hear about the fate of my proposal. The spring flights had been moved to May (from March), and happen to line up with the week before our all-school spring concert. I figured if I didn’t get to fly, that would be ok, since it was going to be really hard to be gone the week before our concert anyways. I gave it my best effort, learned a ton, and enjoyed the experience of thinking about advanced physics concepts again. Time to move on to y next adventure…or was I done with this one yet?!?

Galena is always so pretty, but this was such a beautiful event!

March 28, 2022March 26, 2022

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

American Sign Museum in Ohio

The final days of our trip to Tennessee were very enjoyable. Because we were staying in the mountains, it was a little rough to get to and from our cabin, particularly in the rental minivan we had. The 3rd day of our adventure it was supposed to rain ALL day. Since we weren’t sure we would make it back up the mountain to our cabin as the path was very steep and only made of gravel and sand, we decided to stay put. We had plenty of things we could do, as watching the storms from on top of a mountain is pretty fun. We also had an air hockey table and a hot tub in our cabin, so no need to feel bad for us at all!

This is the tiniest bit of pavement we had once we were more than 3/4 of the way up the mountain to our cabin….however, you can see the incline and the curves that would make this stretch treacherous in heavy rain!

My bro and I LOVED watching the storms from our back porch – nice and covered, full of rocking chairs, and a FANTASTIC view!

The next morning was time for us to start heading home. It’s roughly an 11 hour drive, so we started packing up right after we woke that morning. We did stop to take in the view one last time. It was hard to say goodbye to our cabin!

Luckily, starting out early helped get us through the traffic of Pigeon Forge relatively easily, as well. Both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have so many attractions that are open until at least 9 pm so not many people get up early the next day! Our drive was pretty uneventful, though we decided to take a brief leg stretch/road break in Cincinnati, Ohio for the American Sign Museum. My bro & his wife had been there before, and I had always wanted to go.

This museum is filled with beautiful neon signs that were used at some point in the last few decades. They are all lit up, and it is so much fun to just walk around and appreciate the artwork.

There was even an area where they repair old neon signs while you watch, and a video on how neon signs are made. We all found it fascinating, and the signs are just so beautiful.

The museum doesn’t take overly long to visit – I think we might have been there for an hour or so. It is a fantastic leg stretch, and a great way to break up a long drive in dreary weather!

March 27, 2022March 29, 2022

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Embedded Teacher Workshop

Do you know how when you do something that makes you venture way outside of your comfort zone and the growth you experience is indescribable? Well, this is a tale of one of those experiences! I am a co-leader of a 2nd grade Girl Scout Brownie troop with a great group of women. One of these women is Kellie Arenz, an amazing science teacher. She had a fantastic experience in May of 2021 flying a zero-gravity flight doing experiments to show her students.

Fast forward a few months – Kellie mentions to me that the people that gave her the opportunity to fly are hosting a workshop to help other teachers learn about microgravity and possibly get the same flight opportunity she had. She encourages me to apply for the workshop. I wasn’t so sure there was even a remote possibility I would be selected, but on August 29, I submitted my application, thinking that at least I tried. It is funny to think that I did not even mention my application to my husband….that tells you how likely I thought it was that I’d be accepted!

Imagine my surprise when on September 9 I get an email from Dr. Kevin Crosby, the creator of this program, telling me I have been invited to participate in the Embedded Teacher Program. The event will be held on a Friday/Saturday in October at Carthage College. I am to respond to let him know if I’m still interested and available to attend.

As I’m sure you have guessed by the fact that this is a blog post (do you think I would blog about an opportunity I didn’t take on???), I accepted entrance into the program. So now I had to tell my husband what I had gotten myself into…

As we got closer to the workshop, Dr. Crosby sent out a list of participants. As I looked at it, I noticed I was the only music teacher (not surprising, I guess). What was even more interesting was that there were participants from Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, California, Kentucky, and Hawaii coming. There were only 10 teachers accepted to the program!

On October 8, we all converged from our different states to the beautiful campus of Carthage College. While there, we had quite a few sessions to teach us about microgravity and how to teach this to our students. We first learned about how our students could very well end up with jobs in space doing a wide variety of things. Space tourism is not that far off, and if there is tourism, then there are jobs in all fields necessary to get (and stay) there. We introduced ourselves. I was immediately drawn to the Biology teacher from Illinois, as she said in her introduction that both she and her students weren’t entirely sure she was smart enough to be in the workshop. I teamed up with her pretty quickly, since she was clearly voicing the thoughts that were in my head!

The next part of our workshop was a series of demonstrations and experiments. This workshop exists in partnership with the National Space Society, so we had presentations by two incredible women from that organization (Lynne Zielinski – the Vice President of Education and Outreach and Frances Dellutri – the Director of Education), as well as Dr. Crosby. We learned about what exactly microgravity is. For example, I did not know that true 0 gravity only exists due to an object falling. In space, there is plenty of gravity to be found, as every space object has its own varying amounts of gravity. We dropped paper astronauts in soda bottles and filmed them in slow-motion in order to see the moment the astronaut floated in zero gravity. We created a drop tower experiment with legos in which our group had to design a machine that would move a pile of pennies when it achieved zero-g. We also got to play with a bottle of water that had a hole in it – what would happen to the water as the bottle fell?

Meet Zach, his harp, and his hopeful vertical ride! (Thankfully my group was successful!)

After this exciting morning, we got a chance to brainstorm possible questions we have about how things might behave in zero gravity. Luckily, I had asked my band students for ideas as well before I went to this workshop, so I had plenty of questions! We talked about what connections these questions would have for content we are already teaching in our classrooms, as this is designed to supplement our curriculum, not overtake it completely.

We learned about parabolic flights and what research is being done on the flights currently. We also got a tour of the Microgravity Team’s workspace at Carthage College. We heard from college undergraduates who are working on projects to help with problems and issues with current space missions through NASA. It was so exciting to hear of work being done in Wisconsin that affects space missions. I had never thought of Wisconsin as being a very space-focused state, but clearly, I am mistaken.

These undergrads are some seriously amazing physicists!

We ended the day by learning about different opportunities NASA has for teachers, and by this time my brain was humming with ideas and the experience. I felt like I was using a part of my brain that had been asleep since I left my Physics of Sound and Music class in college decades ago. I was so inspired and excited, as I absolutely love science and was beyond giddy to get to apply a science experience to my band classroom! I had to drive home quickly, as my 7-year old daughter had a soccer game. I did not end up making it in time to see her play, but I did get there in time to get rained on!

The next morning we returned to Carthage for more microgravity fun. We learned about NASA’s Artemis project, which has humans going back to the moon, and setting us up to get to Mars. Then we learned about waves, which was something I know a lot about, since it has EVERYTHING to do with music and sound!

We also got to learn a lot about how water reacts in zero gravity, which fascinates me. I could watch bubbles of water floating through space all day long in astronaut videos! We did experiments involving surface tension and water, which was very thought-provoking.

Look how full you can fill a cup with water!

And you can float paperclips on top of the water????

We then got to hear from my friend Kellie and another teacher who had flown about their experiences. This part was my favorite, as the teachers showed their whole process – how they involved their students in choosing experiments, how they planned for the parabolas, and then they showed videos from their actual flights. It was very inspiring. I went into this whole workshop feeling like it was highly unlikely that I would get to fly, and feeling pretty ok with that realization. After watching these two teachers’ presentations, I was beginning to feel like I should really find a way to develop a proposal strong enough to fly. But, did I enough to pull it off?

At the end of our day, we had the opportunity to present one idea we felt like we would propose for flight. It felt good to have a fully-formed idea, and I couldn’t wait to develop my proposal. Our proposals would be due in 9 days! Would mine be good enough? Only time (and my next blog post) will tell….

Also, if you are a teacher and interested in applying to become a part of this experience, you can visit this website for more information: https://spacegrant.carthage.edu/educators/embedded-teacher-program/?fbclid=IwAR3cAbXJ0t09SpEAPNjhoQE78nYEQiQdB8w61A-w0PrWC7s1WG6X0cg3xJE The application deadline is June 3 for next fall’s program!

How does anyone get any work done on this campus?!? It’s so beautiful!!

March 27, 2022March 27, 2022

Lisa Werner1 Comment

Pigeon Forge in December

For our second full day on our trip, we spent the day in Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge was just as busy as Gatlinburg, so we aimed for an early start. We started the day at the Moon Pie General Store, which was fun to see the different flavors (and sizes!) of moon pies. It is also a GIANT bookstore, so I wasn’t sure we were ever going to be able to pull Wormy and Squid out!

I’m no expert, but it appears someone is trying to escape…

After that, we all moved on to the Alcatraz East experience. It was a fascinating crime museum, and had a lot of neat interactive experiences inside. The girls learned some important life skills, like how to crack a safe and hack an internet account. Squid learned how to drive in a police chase, and Wormy learned how to walk the white line while wearing beer goggles. They both rocked at disarming explosives and escaping from a jail cell! I’m not sure what to think of that…We all also really enjoyed the laser maze experience.

Once we all finished committing, I mean solving, crimes, we headed outside to “The Island.” This area is a shopping and restaurant area that also has a giant fountain in the middle that is surrounded by rocking chairs. We had a blast looking at the giant Christmas tree and soaking in the ambience here.

Pigeon Forge’s version of the Bellagio water show!

By this time, we were STARVING, but we had a plan to avoid the crowds and long waits at the restaurants in town. We drove to the Busch’s Baked Beans Visitors Center in Dandridge, which was only a half hour drive or so (plus traffic). This is where they make the beans, and they have a cute museum and cafe onsite. We started at the cafe for lunch. When you arrive, they give you a small cup of the ‘Bean of the Day’ for you to try. For us, it was the Taco Fiesta beans, and they had lots of awesome flavor!

The cafe food was really good – I had pulled pork with sweet potato fries, and LOVED it. Wormy was excited because she got a big bowl full of (non-box made) mac & cheese along with some onion rings. Squid ate grilled cheese, and my hubby had a fish plate (that came with hush puppies). I think my bro got the same thing I did, but I don’t remember. However, my sis got chicken fingers and she said they were amazing. The most interesting thing about the cafe was the desserts – they had a pinto bean pecan pie. Of course we had to try it, and it was DELICIOUS. You couldn’t tell there were beans in it, and they shared the recipe with all the customers. The beans basically took the place of the corn syrup you would normally add, so I keep telling myself it is a healthy pecan pie!

After lunch, we went into the museum and learned about how the beans are made and canned. There were interactive spots for the girls (and us!) to play while learning, and there were a lot of photo opportunities. It was a great spot, and not crowded at all! It was a refreshing break from the craziness of Pigeon Forge, and we were all so glad we went.

We had wanted to go to the Titanic Museum, but they did not have any tickets available for the entire 4 days we were in town. I’m posting a picture of the museum here, though, because it looked so cool!

Doesn’t that look awesome?!? Like you’re boarding the great ship itself!

The other neat thing about Pigeon Forge at this time of year is that they have Christmas decorations everywhere! We got to see the 12 Days of Christmas in the median of the main highway running through town. I had heard Dollywood is full of amazing lights and shows, but we just couldn’t fit that in with the cost and the amount of people in town. It’s not like we can’t come back again some day….

March 26, 2022March 29, 2022

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Space Exploration Educators Conference 2022

I was contacted on December 16 by the Director of Aerospace Outreach Programs for the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium asking me if I would like to attend the Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC), all expenses paid. After contacting the principal of my school (who enthusiastically said “GO!!!!”) and talking with my family, I happily accepted this opportunity. Let me tell you, I am SO glad I did! It was an experience unlike any other I’ve had before!

The conference takes place at Space Center Houston, and is a 3-day event. During this time, you are treated to sessions that teach you about all of the current space missions, International Space Station experiments, and how to implement space lessons in your classroom. You also have the opportunity to tour areas of NASA that the public does not have access to. My favorite thing about this conference is that at every session you go to, you are actively DOING something. Each main session is 90 minutes long, and I have never seen an hour and a half go so quickly.

The very first day started with a Keynote session that was delivered by a panel of 4 astronauts. Before they even began, however, the astronauts on the ISS (International Space Station) had recorded a special greeting just for us, welcoming us to the conference! Talk about a first for me! I’m normally not a huge Keynote session fan, but we had one each day of this conference, and they were not to be missed! Every single one was inspiring, informative, and flew by!

On the first day, I signed up to take a tour of the “Rock Yard,” which is where NASA has created a simulation of the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. Even though it was raining, we were a bus full of enthusiastic teachers, ready to brave the elements to go ‘stand on the Moon,’ and ‘explore Mars.’

Yes, I am on the Moon – thanks for asking.

Is it raining? I can’t tell; I’m on Mars.

So after a bang-up first session pick, my next session was lunch, where I ate underneath a giant, lit moon. The food was delicious, and the conversations were amazing. After lunch, I had a session about Funding and Programming a Space Lab. This session was awesome, because I learned how to grow plants in Moon and Mars soil-simulants. Not that I can grow plants on Earth, but it was fun to experiment with anyways!

This is what your seat looks like when you walk into a session – lots ‘o swag, and materials for your activities.

After this session, I took a tour of Mission Control. I had taken a tour the day before, but my friends that I was hanging out with at the conference said the tours for the conference attendees are a little greater in depth and experience. They weren’t lying – we got to go in many areas the public isn’t allowed in, and our ability to take pictures and videos was not limited at all. It was really neat.

My next session was also a tour. This time I got to see the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, which is where the astronauts train for weightlessness and get used to wearing their spacesuits. They have a very large, and very deep pool with a mockup of the International Space Station submerged within. When we arrived, they were done training for the day, but they were still removing the submarine they use. We also got to buy shirts if we wanted at the only location in the world that you can buy NBL gear from! Of course I bought a T-shirt!

After all of that fun, we loaded into buses to take an excursion to downtown Houston for the Infinite Exhibit. This event was a virtual reality experience in which each attendee gets to feel what it would be like to be on the ISS. I was eligible for this because I joined a group called the Space Station Ambassadors, which is a free organization to join and focuses on the experiments going on the ISS. They also have put on virtual workshops on a number of topics, and I even attended one already since I’ve come back from SEEC. The Infinite Experience was amazing. It really felt like I was on the ISS, and I loved looking back down on our planet, manipulating objects on the space station (including a juice box I tried to hold onto for the duration of my time ‘aboard’), and just experiencing what it would be like to be an astronaut. When we got done with the experience and looked back into the room we had just walked around in, we couldn’t believe how small it looked, as it felt like we were in an endless room!

After the experience, the Space Station Ambassadors got aboard the bus and were treated to food at a local brewery. The food was good, and we even got more swag. As if the experience, food, and swag weren’t enough, they had raffle prizes as well, and I walked away with a cute book that was read on the ISS, and a matching doll that was a character in the book. I was super tired when I returned to my hotel room, but my head was spinning with all I had learned and experienced! I checked on my space plants and went to bed!

The next day started with another INSPIRATIONAL keynote speech on “Launching the Next Generation of Lunar Explorers” by Mike Kincaid (Associate Administrator of NASA STEM Engagement) and Howard Hu (Deputy Program Manager of NASA’s Orion Program). After that, I caught the beginning of a session on Pocketlab Rovers, but then those of us in the Embedded Teacher program rallied to cheer on our friend Kellie Arenz during her virtual presentation on our program. Not surprisingly, it was time for a meal after that session!

After lunch, I got to try my hand at being a ROCKET SCIENTIST. I went to a session called “Launch Your Classroom into the Stars!” You’ll never guess what my spot looked like when I got into the room….

We got to work building rockets, and then went to the parking lot to launch them. I was very determined, but unfortunately my Sparkly Unicorn Missile landed in a tree. If you ever find yourself on the backside of Space Center Houston, let me know if my rocket is still there….

Why do I look like an evil scientist when I put on safety goggles?

My next session didn’t end as tragically, thankfully (although my straw ‘diver’ disagrees). It was called “An Astronaut’s Perspective on Training in a Neutrally Buoyant Environment,” and it was fascinating. It featured a dive trainer who works with the astronauts to train them in the pool that I visited yesterday. We got to see the diver take an empty water bottle all the way down to the bottom of the pool and see it get flattened by the pressure. She also talked about some of the exercises they do and the many challenges to training in this environment.

You guessed it – even in this session there was an activity to do! Ignore the second straw in my bottle – I accidentally drowned my first diver….guess I won’t be hired as a trainer anytime soon.

After this session ended, it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready for the banquet. Since it was my first time, I did not participate in the theme that some tend to go all out for. This year the theme was to dress in fashions of the future. It was fun to see other conference attendees in light-up clothing and other fun variations on that idea. The banquet was fun, and took place in Space Center Houston. It was really cool to wander around the exhibits with a beverage in my hand, sitting next to moon rocks and real astronauts, hearing stories from NASA employees, and networking with teachers from around the world, all while listening to a live band.

Why yes, I did end up on stage (next to Mars)…once a musician, always a musician!

Hanging with Astronaut Mike Foreman, who was a trombonist when he was in school!

After the later night from the banquet, the next morning does not feature a keynote session. Instead, the Embedded Teacher crew met up for breakfast to discuss some details for our upcoming flight. Then it was off to our final day of sessions. My first session up was a session that was supposed to be done by a NASA flight controller (Jerry Woodfill, who passed away a few weeks before the conference) giving us a tour of the exhibits while telling stories of his experiences, but it got changed. We got to become Honorary Flight Controllers, taking the oath and everything! I also learned a cool technique for Go-No Go for my students to let me know if they need more time/more help/don’t understand. And, I got a blue marble with the continents printed on it and a bracelet that says “Failure Is Not An Option – I Have the Right Stuff.” There were a lot of amazing lessons packed into this session!

Taking the oath (while taking a picture of the oath)

My next session was called “Bring the Art of Space Into Your Classroom,” and was put on by two amazing women from the National Space Foundation. I knew them from my Embedded Teacher Program. In this session, we learned how to help students create zines (which are like mini books/magazines with artwork) to display their knowledge about a subject matter. In our session, we were divided into groups and created an entire zine in our session time. It was really cool and something I an imagine my students really getting into.

I was super excited about lunch today, as I had opted to eat with an astronaut. I got to have lunch with Col. Brian Duffy, and it was sooooo cool to hear all about his missions and the crew that he flew with. His stories were amazing, and I could have listened to him talk all day!

Just so you know, he was not a musician, but music was something that was very important to him while completing tasks in his mission, including helping him deal with a full day weather delay before return to Earth.

My last session before the close of the conference was “Exploring Sound with NASA Aeronautics and the X-59.” This session was really neat, as we got to create our own sound experiment and then work to implement it, collecting data, testing hypotheses, etc while in Space Center Houston. We learned how to use the free Arduino app to record many different kinds of scientific data. My group wanted to analyze the decibel readings of the different spots in the museum to see if any of the noisier locations could reach levels of damaging hearing. You will be happy to note, that a science museum such as Space Center Houston did not reach dangerous decibel levels, except right next to a toilet when flushing. Good to know, right?

The final event at the conference was a keynote session given by Audrey Powers, the President of New Shepard Mission & Flight Operations for Blue Origin. She talked about her space flight and where her company is going. It was VERY inspiring. At the end of her talk, they raffled off a trip to go see the next launch for Blue Origin. You will not be surprised to hear that I did not win that. However, I didn’t even feel badly not winning after having such an amazing time at this conference. I felt so inspired and so in awe of this experience that I got to have. I am so very grateful to the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium, as this experience wasn’t one I even had on my radar. A music teacher at a space conference? Really? And I got so much out of it that I can’t wait to take back to my students and my whole school. It was a very powerful experience that I really hope I can have again in the future!

March 26, 2022March 29, 2022

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Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains

This year, after Christmas, we took a driving trip with my brother and sister-in-law to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area in Tennessee. It was so nice to feel warm weather, as they were having well above average temperatures. We had sunny weather in the 60s and 70s! So much nicer than back home in WI, but also not something anyone going to this area can expect during December normally!

Sunset from our cabin on the first night

We rented a beautiful cabin in the mountains, and if you ever have the opportunity to do so, definitely check it out. We did not know it when we booked our trip, but apparently the locals call the week between Christmas and New Year’s “Hell Week,” because they have the most tourists of all year round during this time. We definitely could tell when we were in town, but it was so nice to start and end our days in the calm and peaceful cabin. We only spent December 26-30 at the cabin, but it felt like a nice long vacation, thanks to the peace and quiet!

For our first full day of our adventures, we drove to Gatlinburg. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are really close together, and they both have a lot of different experiences in the towns. There is definitely something for everyone in either town – from outdoor adventures, to museums about different things (Titanic, Alcatraz, etc), to whiskey and moonshine tasting, to mini-golf and go-karts. You name it, it exists in both towns! Because of this, it can be difficult to figure out what to do, as there are almost too many choices. It is not possible to do everything in either town in one visit!

This one smelled like an Almond Kringle!

In Gatlinburg, we checked out the Ole Smoky Distillery. My hubby did the tasting and tried many of the whiskey flavors. I enjoyed smelling them! (I tried them later after my hubby and bro decided which were the best ones to buy). After that, we split up – with my bro and sister-in-law walking around town, and us choosing to do the Gatlinburg Skybridge.

Doesn’t that look fun?!? And the view was amazing!

The Gatlingburg Skybridge had an intimidating looking line, but it went pretty fast, and it was totally worth it. The views from the ski lift ride up were amazing, and it just got better as you got to the bridge.

Pretty awesome view of all of Gatlinburg!

Once you get to the top and are on the Skybridge, there is a section that is made of glass panels, so you can see directly below you as you walk across. It was really neat, as long as you don’t mind heights, as it does sway a bit as you walk across! Hubby wasn’t so thrilled, but after we did it once, you have the choice to go back across the bridge, or you can take a hiking path back to where you started. Hubby decided we should cross the bridge again! I was surprised and impressed! The girls loved it!

By the time we got done with the Skybridge and reunited with my bro & sis, we were done with the crowds, so we moved on to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The girls and I love to do the Junior Ranger program at the National Parks, so we first stopped at the Sugarlands Visitors Center to get our booklets. Next, we drove to the trailhead for Laurel Falls. This trail is an out-and-back trail, totaling 2.4 miles (or as I sold it to Wormy and Squid – 1.2 miles to get to the waterfall…wink, wink).

The waterfall was beautiful, and we hung out there for probably at least 20 minutes to take in the views.

Plenty of water falling, despite it having apparently been dry in the area for awhile…

The views coming back from the waterfall were beautiful, too, as on the way back you have a view of the mountains around you. For some reason, on the way to the waterfall, you don’t see these views since they are happening behind you due to your focus on the trail!

Plenty of haziness in these Smoky Mountains

There obviously was an incline to the path to get to the waterfalls, but it wasn’t horrible. Definitely doable with a 12-year old and a 7-year old, even after spending most of the day walking through Gatlinburg (we parked in one spot and hoofed it the whole time while in town). According to the trail guide, you have an elevation change of 396 feet.

After we finished up at the trail, we drove around the park a bit more. Unfortunately, since it was winter, Clingmans Dome was closed. However, we did go check out the Appalachian Trail and stood on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. The views over there were beautiful, as well. I can only imagine how amazing it is at sunset and when the plants/trees aren’t dormant due to winter!

The view from the Appalachian Trail, along the TN/NC border

March 25, 2022March 29, 2022

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Today’s Olympic Kid Games

We were tired today! After a lovely tornado warning this morning at around 1:00 am, we were dragging. When we are like this, it would be easy to lounge around all day and rot our brains with TV. However, I have learned over the years that we all argue with each other and are just grumpy all day when we resort to the chill day. It is best to keep all the girls in this house moving (plus it makes it easier to fall asleep that night if we’ve done something). Good thing we had some Olympic events planned!

We watched single rowing this morning on TV, and the girls were impressed that the athletes all face the opposite direction from where they were going. We also watched the canoe slalom, which looked insane. Well, we don’t have any roaring rapids in our backyard (nor do we want any…), and we weren’t going to go actual rowing. Instead, we set up the snow sled in the hallway and I timed the girls using Squid’s Moana oar to drag themselves down the hall. Squid was the clear gold medalist, covering the hallway in 45 seconds. I came in second with a blistering time of 1:42 (hahaha), and poor Wormy ran into some trouble on her course. Must have been the typhoon….

Wormy had a rough go! Her country still cheered her on for her solid efforts.

We also watched cycling, but Wormy went outside to get her bike going and decided it was too hot. She came in and petitioned the Olympics committee to postpone the event until tomorrow, at the earliest. The Olympics committee acquiesced. Instead we played the Junior Ranger board game and counted that as our BMX bike event (as we are not about to go crazy biking anywhere…we’re not brave enough for that!).

So, for those following the results, here is the medal count:

Wizarding World of Danceookia – 2 golds

Molainia – 1 silver, 1 bronze

Momlandia – 1 silver, 1 bronze (after suffering an unexpected defeat in the Junior Ranger game)

July 29, 2021

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Summer Olympics Activities with Kids

I am using the excitement of the Olympics to help my girls get through the hot days of the summer! We watched the Opening Ceremony together, and the girls were wrapped up in the different countries and the stories. Wormy even took it upon herself to try to draw each country’s flag as the athletes walked in. She couldn’t quite keep up, but she did a great job drawing the ones she could!

Today I had the girls make their own country name and flag. We talked about how flags represent the people of the country – including the meanings of colors used and symbols displayed. Each girl made their own flag and then Wormy went out and got sticks for everyone so our flags were more ‘real.’

I asked the girls to come up with a name for their country, and then they had to pick out a wardrobe for their Opening Ceremony parade. They got dressed up and we paraded around the house representing our countries and waving our flags. Tomorrow, we will begin playing some games that will be (at least loosely) based on actual Olympic events!

Wormy’s flag for her country of Molainia

Squid’s flag for her country of the Wizarding World of Danceookia (WWD)

July 28, 2021

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