Interview with EarthKAM participants

>> And we have here with us a couple of folks that have been involved
in the EarthKam project just recently.
This is Frank Sanchez, and Luis Tamayo.
They are teacher and student, respectively, at Milstead Middle School here in town.
And they just got finished going through a program with EarthKam, right?
>> Correct.
>> Yes, ma'am.
>> Well, Luis, how old are you?
>> 12.
>> 12. Okay, and so 12 years old and you have been able to help control something
on International Space Station, huh?
>> Uh huh.
>> That's really cool, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Well, what did you like about that?
>> Well, I liked -- like, it's that all controlled by students instead
of being more, like, less students.
We can control more, and it feels, like, having the power.
>> So how does it work?
>> Well, basically we go on line and reserve a mission time.
And it goes through an application process, and when the mission is going on we're allowed
to send in a target sheet which coordinates different areas we would like to see
from the International Space Station.
And obviously, we were in with about 150 other schools, and they were all over the world.
So that was fascinating, obviously.
One of the drives.
And we were excited about that.
>> So how did it work for you, Luis, did you get together with your class mates and talk
about what you wanted to take a picture of?
>> Yeah. Well, we were kind of like in a group, deciding what we wanted to take pictures of.
Then we finally decided to take.
>> How did you decide, what did you talk about?
>> Well, we were -- like -- we were talking more, like, a[Inaudible] topic,
oh, this is cool, this is not cool.
This is cool, this is not cool.
>> Well, I think we actually have some of your photos here that we can show,
that y'all were involved in picking out.
This first one I think is Chile?
>> Yes.
>> Tell us about this.
>> Well, I really like that picture.
We all decided to pick that picture.
It's showing the coast of Chile.
I really think it's an interesting picture.
>> Was there anything in particular that you were thinking
about when you chose to take one of Chile?
>> For the land forms.
We connected to social studies and land form and geographical features,
along with the science component.
So that's really what drove our lesson.
And Chile was obviously the coastline.
And it's beautiful water, obviously the ocean.
And you can see the differences in the type of features that are there.
So I thought it was an interesting choice.
Obviously, we had other images to choose from, but that one really stood out for us.
>> Yeah. I think we've actually got one other one that y'all took.
This one is Alaska?
>> Yes. Exactly.
>> Tell us about this one.
>> Well, Alaska, it's kind of special because it's an -- in Canada, but it's part of the US.
So it's -- some people get -- got it confused with other places.
But I was like, it's Alaska, it's Alaska.
And I really wanted to get special picture.
>> Yeah? So this is one -- that was one of your favorites?
>> Right. It was one of my also, because of the barrenness, and you know,
the dichotomy between ocean, you know, with that land form, is it ice,
is it ocean, those kinds of things.
And then the colors really pop, too.
>> Yes, if nothing else it's a beautiful photograph.
>> It's a beautiful photograph.
>> But I guess the idea is that kids actually learn something from doing this.
So can you help us, what do you as a teacher see as the benefit of it?
>> Definitely.
Well, I was part of the middle school aerospace scholars for two years, last year as well.
And this is really how we got started with EarthKam.
Interest Sally Ride, her vision was of course to involve the students,
especially here in America, to really take part in what's going on in --
at the International Space Station and just in space in general.
So I figured what would be a better way to --
what other than connecting it directly to the International Space Station,
how as a teacher can we drive that, and drive our lessons.
So technology, one, and then of course the science behind it.
And that's really what got is involved.
I've also done some webcasts with Stem,
and they've talked a lot and used a lot of the images.
So I figured how we could connect that without having to wait for a Stem webcast all the time.
How we can --
>> Real quick for people who don't know, what's Stem
>> Stem is the science, technology,
and educational through mathematics and science, okay?
And they have a webcast, they do various programs
through NASA, of course, and they do webcast.
And the one they use a lot of your images was view from the top.
And it basically talked about geological features.
They were able to narrow down our school, and they found working
with International Space Station images some of the before and after photos too.
So it was a very specific webcast as opposed to the general one we took part in EarthKam.
>> You think you'll keep using this program in your classroom or --
>> Yes, we just missed the window for the past mission, but the one coming
up right before summer should -- we take part in that.
And this class will actually help us with that.
And that will carry over to some of the Stem webcasts that we will be doing,
kind of similar to what we did last time and we'll be able to converse about the images
and how they drive our lesson for this up coming year.