Students visit Kansas Cosmosphere
Fourteen students and two sponsors, Brian Simmonds and Jana Wedel, spent Friday at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. The group was made up of juniors and eighth graders who had earned the field trip as an academic award.
The day began with a tour of the Kansas Space Museum where students experienced the space program through photos and exhibits.
"Straight Up, Helicopters in Action" was viewed on the large 3D screen in the IMAX Theater.
"Night Sky Live," the planetarium show, explained the constellations over a period of a year.
The final event of the day was the "Robotics Challenge." Students were divided into teams to build a robot. Teams received four standards: 1) the robot had to move forward and backward; 2) it had to move left and right; 3) it had to grab or scoop an object; and 4) it had to lift the object and drop it into a bucket.
The time frame of 25 minutes was allowed and the team was given a box of supplies that contained similar, but somewhat different parts, including fast and slow motors.
Of the four teams, three teams completed all four standards and one team completed three.
The day was a successful outing for the students. They were able to expand their knowledge of our space program and practice valuable problem-solving skills during the robotics challenge.
Students attending the daylong visit were Michael Unruh, Sandra McLeod, Marie Unruh, Lydia Wolf, Andrew Topham, Jason Unruh, Joseph Brunner, Derrick Simmonds, Jacob Wolf, Brett Bass, Chris Milstead, Josh Ardery, Laura Hoffman, and Ruth McLeod.
