The Louisiana National Guard has teamed up with local schools to show students math and science can be fun.

By Denise Trowbridge, New Orleans Citylife, March 2005

Kathy Courseault’s fifth grade students are flying high above New Orleans in Cessna planes and controlling their own Mars rover vehicle from a high-tech computer control center.

At least, they get to pretend they are. The Cessna planes take off only in flight simulation programs; the Mars rover, controlled by a laptop computer, is constructed of Lego blocks and rolls over a miniature replica of the lunar surface.

Courseault’s class, from Gentilly Terrace Elementary school, is part of the Pelican Starbase Program, a five-week, hands-on course teaching Newton’s laws of motion, aviation physics, teamwork and computer skills to fifth grade students in Orleans, St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes.

Starbase, which stands for Science and Technology Academics Reinforced by Basic Aviation and Space Exploration, is hosted by the Louisiana National Guard and funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Its goal is to boost achievement in science and math, build self esteem and prevent drug use in at-risk and underprivileged children.

There are 45 Starbase programs in the United States; two are in Louisiana. The Pelican Starbase, headquartered at Jackson Barracks, began in 1999 and hosts more than 700 students each year. “The best part is seeing how excited the children are. They get to do things they’ve never done before,” says Aimee Burruss, Pelican Starbase’s deputy director. “Many have never touched the yoke of a flight simulator or seen anything like the Mars room before. They’ll never forget it.”

One day each week for five weeks, the students complete science and math projects and meet special guests such as pilots from the Louisiana Air National Guard 159th Fighter Wing.

In true military style, all students are referred to by their call sign, or nickname, which they choose on the first day of class. “It has to be positive and can’t be longer than two words,” says Program Coordinator Stacey Besselman. For instance, a student who aspired to be a veterinarian chose the call sign “Catwoman.”

The students refer to the Starbase staff by their call signs, too. Burruss is “Raven”; Besselman is “Sandpiper”; instructor Michelle Kling is “Osprey”; Director Cheryl Arbour is “Nightingale”; and Specialist Josette Paul, who is currently serving in Iraq, is “Blue Jay.”

Even the moms who volunteer to chaperone get a nickname. “It’s great,” Burruss says. “As soon as a mom gets a call sign, her child views her as cool for the first time ever.”

Call signs in place, the students separate into teams and complete projects such as Captain Eggbert’s Wild Ride and the Lunar Rock Mission.

Captain Eggbert is indeed in for a wild ride. Students use a small piece of sponge, cotton balls and several pipe cleaners to construct a seatbelt for an egg. The egg — named Captain Eggbert — is then placed in a model space ship attached to a string and flown directly into a brick wall. After each team crashes its craft, the class discusses how they can improve their restraint systems. “Only two out of every five eggs survive,” says Besselman. “When the egg is totally destroyed we observe a moment of silence for Captain Eggbert.”

The Lunar Rock Mission is conducted in the bright orange Mars room, which has been painted to resemble the red planet’s surface. At the five workstations, students use computer control panels to move blocks with a robotic arm, steer a miniature Mars rover across an extraterrestrial landscape and maneuver lunar vehicles using only the view provided by a Web camera. In this exercise, students get a feel for how NASA scientists operate the Spirit and Odyssey Mars rovers, Besselman says.

Children who want to fly a bit closer to earth head to the flight simulation lab, which is outfitted with dozens of computers and flight yokes resembling video game controls. They take off from a virtual Lakefront airport and use the compass and gauges to fly above a computer-generated New Orleans. “To teach them to use the altimeter, we encourage them to fly underneath the Crescent City Connection,” says Besselman. “It’s a challenge.”

The students also have a dual lesson in hydroponics and the effects of drug use. The children cultivate three young, healthy plants in perlite. Over the course of the program, one is left alone, one is given alcohol instead of water and the third is placed under a glass dome with a lit cigarette. “All three are healthy in the beginning, but by the end two are sick,” says Burruss. “It’s easy to say ‘see this plant? Just like you it’s young and healthy, but if you smoke and drink, you’ll mess that up.’ It shows them the benefits of living drug free and healthy.”

In between Mars missions and crash landings, the students build and launch model rockets, make an edible candle and get to blow up their teacher — figuratively, at least. “The teacher sits on an air mattress and the students lift her up by using straws to blow up the plastic bags beneath her,” says Besselman. “It’s a lesson in the basic characteristics of air.

“The children love it,” she adds. “It’s hands on and they are always moving around. It’s easy to keep them engaged.”

On the last day, the students have a graduation ceremony, complete with a guest speaker, and receive goodies such as a class photo, bumper sticker and certificate of completion.

And while the students think of Starbase as five weeks of fun and games, it is much more than that. Courseault says the program produces real results. “I go back to my classroom and apply everything the [Starbase] teachers do,” she says.

Courseault has brought her students to Starbase for four years in a row. “I always schedule my class for this time of year because the Iowa test is coming up in March,” she says. “The program helps the students focus and do well on the science and math parts of the test. Starbase is the jumpstart my students need to help them prepare for the test.”

One of Starbase’s primary objectives is to boost elementary school science and math scores because, according to the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study comparing math achievement of students in developed nations, U.S. youngsters are lagging behind their international peers. Forty-four percent of fourth graders in Singapore scored at advanced levels in math and science, compared to seven percent of U.S. fourth graders.

Starbase —in the short term — appears to be working. On the first day, students take a quiz to measure their science and math knowledge. They usually score a 45 to 50 percent on the quiz at the start of the program and a 95 percent at the end.

“We are looking at ways to track students to gauge any long term impact the program has on them,” adds Burruss. “It’s difficult because the students don’t all go to the same school when they reach sixth grade.”

Until then, Starbase has a simple plan. “Our goal is to foster an interest in science and get the students motivated in math,” Burruss says. “We want them to leave here and think math and science are cool.”