Harlem High students work with NASA

Harlem High School has partnered with NASA and The Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens in the Growing Beyond Earth Project to conduct experiments that expand food options and increase plant diversity for spaceflight.

The project was designed to support NASA research on growing plants in space. 

The project emailed all FFA advisors asking for their help in doing this research via email including teacher Lisa Hamilton of the Harlem High School Agricultural Education Department and the FFA advisor at the school. 

Two of her classes have participated in the trial. It is challenging, she said because Harlem schools are using the hybrid learning model and students only attend class in-person two days a week. 

"I'm really having to put a lot of faith in them to do this project," Hamilton said.

The goals of the project are to improve STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - instruction in schools by providing authentic research experiments that have real world implications through curricular activities that meet STEM education needs, comprehensive teacher training, summer-long internships and the development of replicable training modules; increase and sustain youth and public engagement in STEM related fields; better serve groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields; and support current and future NASA research by identifying and testing new plant varieties for future growth in space.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, 243 school classrooms across the U.S. and Puerto Rico participated in the program. Since the program began, 143 varieties of edible plants have been tested by students. So far two plants, dragoon lettuce and extra dwarf bok choy have been chosen to be grown on the International Space Station. 

The data the students collect helps scientists at Kennedy Space Center determine which edible plants meet their criteria of vitamins not already found in the astronaut's diets, growing well under low energy light and with limited resources and space, strong flavor and can grow in a variety of environments. 

There are two parts to the project. Both parts include planting and growing for 98 days. Harlem is growing peppers for their trial. The first part of the project the school was sent all the supplies for the project including a pot, a soil median disk, the seeds, and a large q-tip for manual pollination. 

Trial one came with many challenges, said Hamilton. The students had the plants at home to study their growth patterns and collect the data needed by the scientists. 

"I've had everything from over watering, and they (the plants) are just dying, to my cat knocked it over and I replanted it, to another kid that left his in a cork bag zipped closed in his locker. Three of them germinated and they grew. He started all over again, but I have the other one in the greenhouse. These peppers are tough and pretty hardy," she said. "If they can pass the in-home growing test, they are going to work up in space. 

The project incorporates the scientific method into the project and assists in what Hamilton teaches in her classroom in a fun, engaging way she said.

"My students are learning to fill out spreadsheets and do research and take technical data and enter it into the spreadsheets. So, I am incorporating all of that in class," said Hamilton. "Every week they are supposed to be taking and entering data. Each week we enter all that data according to what NASA is wanting to see."

At the beginning of the project the students and had an opportunity to be on a google meet with all the schools participating in the project and the NASA scientists. 

"My kids got to actually sit there and witness this and be a part of this which was really interesting," she said. The meeting lasted over two hours.

The second part of the project includes a growing box with artificial light and the vegetable. This part only consists of six plants of red Russian kale with blue light and supplemental white, red and green light, that will change the size and color of the plant but not the texture.

Harlem student's hypothesis for part two is, "We propose that exposure to blue light will inhibit growth and cause discoloration and increase thickness of the leaves."

The students participating in the project have the opportunity to talk with the scientists and ask them questions. The project also exposes the students to scientists who learned English as their second language further preparing the students for college and future life experiences, Hamilton said. They are also able to tweet updates about the project throughout the project.

Hamilton said some of the students that are in the C and D grade range are getting excited about the project and she is seeing more participation from them.

"Those are the kids that I am having a hard time capturing, especially now when we aren't even in school half of the time. I am having a hard time getting them to show up for class online and staying with me online. Every one (student) that I can keep, I'm more than happy," she said.

Hamilton has been looking for creative ways to educate her students, she said. 

"I'm hoping that one it's going to be something that they are going to remember for the rest of their lives. Hopefully, it will trigger something, get them excited about learning, get them excited about a new avenue, a new way to go with their careers, education, whatever," she said.