Students and astronauts discuss physics and design of toys and sports while living in space. GEMS student work paid off as they were treated to feed-back from Astronaut Sandra Magnus and Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger on how well some creative student inventions may work in space to have fun and get exercise onboard the International Space Station!

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Congratulations to our young innovators and inventors who representatived our school at the Connecticut Invention Convention!

Glastonbury-E. Hartford Magnet School fourth graders released their precious, young Brown Trout into the Blackledge River, Marlborough, CT. They carefully analyzed water chemistry, temperature and biological indicators of river health, Thanks to the Trout in the Classroom project volunteers, GEMS students received their Brown Trout eggs in November and students cared for the fish until their recent river release in April. The student project is part of a larger study of life cycles and river ecosystems.

Student inventors share their solutions to everyday problems here on earth and also for astronauts living in space!

Familes are very proud of their young inventors problem-solving and engineering skills!

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Join us for one hour of invention and innovation!

Students are working out the last details to be ready for showtime on

 Thursday , any time between 6 – 7 pm at the school!

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GEMS students, Fluffy the Science Dog, and teachers presented their NASA Microgravity and GAVRT Project to 1,800 enthusiastic visitors on Sunday, April1st! There was plenty of fun for everyone at the New England Air Museum!

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The students and teachers announce the arrival of the NASA Zero-G experimental  flight video with “Toys in Space” footage! The whole school gathers for a one-of-kind video!

Fluffy the Science Dog says, “Science is fun! Study science in school and you will do things that are cool!”

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Second grade scientists have started designing and engineering special plant growth chambers they hope someday may be used by astronauts to grow food in space. Astronaut Clay Anderson spoke to students via Skype on Wednesday morning. He gave them some big hints to help them with their inventions:

1. Do not give the plants too much water!
2. Water the plants less often!

Apparently when Astronaut Anderson lived aboard the International Space Station for six months he did what scientist told him to do but that meant giving them too much water and thus he had a moldy mess instead of fresh tomatoes!

Now NASA is counting on you! Kids, get thinking and building! No time to waste!

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Science is fun!  The first step in realizing a dream is to picture yourself there!

Students are busy doing follow-up experiments and activities after viewing the exciting NASA GEMS Flight Video with Fluffy the Science Dog and three of their teachers!

After watching the premier video of three GEMS teachers flying aboard the NASA Zero-G aircraft,kindergarten and first grade students drew pictures of themselves, cut out the drawings and pasted them to a photo of the inside of the NASA Zero-G aircraft. “This is so much fun,” said Jenna! “I am a Micro-G girl!”, smiled Emily! 

Older students experimented with toys such as parachutes, yo-yos, ball and cup games, slinkies and Fluffy the Science Dog launchers in the science lab under 1g conditions. They recorded the results and compared them to their observations of the toys brought up in the Zero-G aircraft under microgravity conditions. “Look at Flufy’s ears float up; she looks like a bunny! Look at Ms. Raffalo and Ms. Wilson’s hair floating! I guess it is hard to yo-yo in space…it just keeps on going!

Fifth grade scientists analyzed the data from the video tape and were surprised by the viscosity experiments. The bubbles motion ina  liquid and the cork and water experiments were voted the most amazing! Everyone had expected the cork to remain floating on top of the water in micorgravity.

How do we answer questions that take us off the earth? What happens to objects and liquids in microgravity? How do you describe the motion of moving toys? How do you keep experiments fair? How do you tell people what you learned in your experiments?

Students who keep asking questions, experimenting and studying science in school may grow up to fly aboard a NASA Zero-G aircraft!