Allen Academy students team up with NASA interns for eclipse research
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – A group of Allen Academy students are teaming up with NASA interns, traveling to totality to conduct research during the eclipse. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity.
Right now, the students are working hard to get their tools research-ready. From sixth graders making bracelets with UV reactive beads to high schoolers converting a recording device to run off solar power, learning and preparing for the eclipse takes many forms.
The students are contributing to a NASA citizen science project researching how animals respond to the eclipse. That research will also continue at their Bryan campus, where their measurements will be sent to NASA for use in their database.
No matter where science teacher Stephanie Hanover’s students will be, they’re learning by embracing their unique skill set.
“We’ve got the simplest projects to the biggest project, but then that collective data is going to give us the big picture, and that’s where the kind of magic is going to happen,” Hanover said.
One of her students said he’s been able to use his passion for coding to help gather data for both research sites.
“This is the biggest coding-based project, well, python-based coding project that I’ve actually ever undertaken and I’m really proud of it. I learned a lot about the logistics of how it works, how to collect data,” Owen Douglass, an eighth-grader, said.
Hanover’s classroom was buzzing Thursday as students not only fine-tuned their instruments but invented ones of their own.
“We’ve got everything from Owen, who is our technical genius and computer whizkid, to just creativity,” she said.
Owen coded a program to track sound wavelengths as students work to capture animal behavior while minimizing outside noise, like cars. He can’t wait to see his program in action and take in the eclipse.
“One of the things I love is just seeing where all the pieces interlock, and that exact same thing could be said about science. It’s such like a mind-blowing, it’s just a euphoria,” he said.
