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Where no college has gone before

Students at Newcastle College are taking a trip into space while remaining firmly on Tyneside. To help teach part of a GCSE Access to Learning course, the college has got hold of plants from Mission Control at NASA.

Mark Bell, who teaches science at the college, has put months of effort into acquiring basil seeds which have been into space. NASA is interested in using plants for the long duration missions to Mars as a source of oxygen for the crew. So last August, 10 million basil seeds were sent on the Space Shuttle Endeavour and another 10 million were kept on the ground to monitor the differences.

Fascinated by the project, Mark contacted NASA direct to see if he could have some seeds to conduct a similar experiment, but he was refused due to the US’s Homeland Security restrictions. He then contacted the National Space Centre in Leicester where they were so interested in his idea that they contacted NASA themselves and were able to get hold of the seeds.

Since then, Mark and his students have been designing chambers for growing plants in zero gravity, and are now cultivating the seeds in the staffroom. They are keeping a photographic record of the experiment for the National Space Centre.

Mark said: “Many of these learners didn’t excel at school and it’s been great to see their confidence and motivation levels increase through this alternative method of teaching what is still, essentially, GCSE Science.”

“I was thrilled when we got the seeds. It has been a fantastic experience for both me and the students. They have had such fun and success designing the chambers and are really excited about the association with NASA. We can’t wait to send our photo record back to The National Space Centre and look forward to seeing how the plant progress over the coming months.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .