On April 8, 2024, a solar eclipse was visible across the U.S., with parts of Texas lucky enough to experience a total eclipse of the sun by the moon. Houston landed just outside of the path of totality, giving students the opportunity to witness the moon’s 94% obfuscation of the sun using special kits provided by Space Center Houston and delivered by a real NASA astronaut.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Science
Chávez HS students blast off toward national rocketry competition
The casual observer might never guess that the students who gather after school in Dr. Maqsuda Afroz’s science classroom at César E. Chávez High School are anything but ordinary high schoolers. They gossip and smack-talk and speculate about the future, most of them seniors with one foot out the door. Few would guess that these “average high schoolers” are in fact literal rocket scientists.
The Chávez Rocketry Club, headed by Afroz, spends two afternoons a week (and sometimes lunch periods or whatever scraps of free time they can get) designing and engineering model rockets for an international competition, The American Rocketry Challenge.
Continue readingHISD elementary school offers hands-on animal and environmental experiences year-round
Hartsfield Elementary School looks like an average campus from the outside. Inside the school’s front doors, even a keen observer might not immediately notice one of the elements that makes Hartsfield unique, even though it – or they – are just a few feet away, lining the hallways to the left and right: snakes, lizards, a tarantula, even an alligator, all call Hartsfield, HISD’s only Animal and Environmental Science magnet elementary school, home.
Continue readingAshford ES teacher wins Alliantgroup’s HISD Elementary Science Teacher grand prize
Ashford Elementary School fifth-grade Science Teacher Kirk Coppes has received the 2020 HISD Elementary Science Teacher Grand Prize Award from Alliantgroup.
Six finalists from across the district were nominated by HISD for the award based on their innovative teaching methods and ability to ignite the interest of students in the subject of science. The grand prize award announcement was made live on CW39’s “Morning Dose” on April 28.
Coppes, a veteran teacher in his 12th year in HISD and fourth year at Ashford ES, credited the support he receives both at work and home for the achievement.
Continue readingHISD educators use 3D printers to produce face shields for health care workers, first responders
Houston Independent School District STEM educators are joining the effort to help first responders and health care professionals by producing face shields to be used in the fight against COVID-19.
Using HISD’s 3D printers, a team of six district educators are producing at least 100 face shields per week in response to the shortage of personal protective equipment.
The collaborative effort, which began on April 8 and is known as H-Force, is led by Houston Community College (HCC) and includes HISD, San Jacinto College, the University of Houston at Sugar Land, the Fort Bend County Judge’s Office, TX/RX Labs, and Alief ISD.
Continue readingJones Futures simulated learning clinic helps students explore careers in health care
Pens and medical charts in hand, students from HISD’s Jones Futures Academy listened intently as Alex diligently answered their medical intake questions, each of them nodding as they quickly jotted down notes to determine the best treatment plan for the new patient.
Alex is not a human patient; he is an interactive mannequin and a valuable teaching tool inside the school’s state-of-the-art simulated learning center, which provides students real-life training in different medical scenarios.
Continue readingHISD students selected to share radiation-proof clothing design with NASA
Two teams of HISD students have been invited to NASA’s Langley Research Center in August to share their student-designed, wearable, radiation-proof clothing with NASA engineers and scientists as part of the 2019 NASA Wearable Equipment for Adverting Radiation (WEAR) challenge.
The WEAR challenge tasks middle and high school students to design garments to help mitigate radiation exposure during deep space missions. The teams, made up of students and teachers from Milby High School and Deady Middle School, submitted design proposals for wearable anti-radiation garments via video for review by NASA personnel.
Continue readingStudents discover the sky’s the limit on DiscoverU field trip
High school students from across HISD attended a day-long field trip to Space Center Houston recently.
The trip, sponsored by Houston-based nonprofit organization DiscoverU, was the culmination of an outreach effort led by HISD’s College and Career Readiness Department that resulted in 57 eleventh-graders being admitted into NASA’s High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) program. All students who were accepted were invited to register for the free field trip, and 51 attended.
Activities included a tour of Building 9 and Rocket Park, an astronaut talk in Space Center Theater, and a chance to explore Space Center Houston.
“Being able to a meet an astronaut was inspiring,” said Energy junior Cynthia Gomez. “They set a high goal and accomplished it.”
Students from the following high schools went on the trip: Bellaire, Carnegie, Eastwood Academy, Energy Institute, Heights, HSPVA, Madison, Mickey Leland College Prep, North Houston Early College, Northside, Sharpstown, Texas Connections Academy, Washington, and Westside. A few tenth-graders from Madison and Washington also attended.
DiscoverU’s aim was to expose students to Space Center Houston and provide an in-person introduction to the program, with the goal of encouraging and empowering HISD students to complete the five-month online course and get a chance to spend a week at Johnson Space Center next summer.
It was also an opportunity for students to meet others in the program who share their interest in aerospace engineering.
“The trip was amazing,” said Washington sophomore Jesus Reynaga. “It really gave me insight into what I want to do when I grow up.”
Lantrip ES winner of Earth Month 2017 contest
HISD’s Energy & Sustainability Department has announced Lantrip Elementary School as the winner of the Earth Month 2017 contest.
The annual Earth Month contest encourages schools to participate throughout the month of April in a variety of environmentally friendly activities in exchange for participation points. The group with the largest amount of participation points wins the grand prize – an outdoor classroom.
The contest aims to raise awareness about the environmental impact of HISD campuses and promote sustainable behaviors and actions that can reduce carbon footprints.
Rooftop garden inspires learning and excitement at Atherton ES
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000DXqe9W0FJXo” g_name=”20170420-Atherton” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]
Students and staff at Atherton Elementary are excited about the newest addition to their campus – a rooftop garden. And they have big plans for it.
“We can learn how plants grow and change over time,” said fifth-grader Nathaniel Alvarenga.
“It’s helping our ecosystems,” added his classmate Isacc Solis. “Birds and bees come, and the bees pollinate the plants.”
Atherton received a new building as part of the 2007 bond program, but plans for the rooftop garden were put on hold as other items took priority. Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones supported the garden, which is receiving its finishing touches this month. The project also got a boost from IDG Architects’ Ben McMillan, who donated funds last October. Continue reading