Grade 7 Students Join Citizen Science Project
How do Crescent School classrooms compare to the International Space Station?
Crescent’s Grade 7 students are discovering answers to that question by serving as citizen scientists with the Living Space Project, an initiative run by Let’s Talk Science and the Canadian Space Agency.
The students are gathering environmental data (temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide levels) from their classrooms and an outdoor area on campus, then comparing it with data collected aboard the International Space Station. Their findings will help the Living Space Project determine how indoor environmental conditions affect human health and the best conditions for healthy living, which can be applied to the International Space Station and future space travel programs.
“Through the Living Space Project, I learned about environmental science and coding,” says Grade 7 student Heston Lee. “It was fun to learn Javascript coding to make our micro:bits track temperature, light and sound. We then compared our results with the ISS and it was interesting to see the difference between the space station and the Earth."
To analyse the data, the students are using micro:bits programmable pocket-sized computers that are designed to build basic coding skills. The students have coded external sensors on the micro:bits to take environmental readings. (The photo shows student Ariston Wang coding his micro:bit computer.)
“This project is honing the boys’ science knowledge and their curiosity about Canada's space initiatives, while also building their computer science skills and understanding of computational thinking,” says their teacher, Greg Ryerson.
Learn more about Middle School at Crescent
[Image shows a Crescent School student working with a micro:bit and a laptop.]
Learn more about Middle School at Crescent
[Image shows a Crescent School student working with a micro:bit and a laptop.]
