KIDS IN SPACE - A YEAR 5/6 ADVENTURE! Student and Video Reflections

Here are a sample of some Year 5/6 recounts about their amazing excursion to the Victorian Space Science Education Centre.

On the 18th of June, our grade went on an excursion to VSSEC. It was a long bus drive! The bus started at 8:30 am and ended at 9:15. Overall, we stayed at VSSEC until 2:30pm. It was a fun trip, and we got to learn a lot of new things about space, as well as bonding a bit more with classmates, here is how it went.

Have you ever tried rubbing a balloon against your head? Well, if you have, you know what happens, your hair sticks up while staying stuck to the balloon. The reason this happens is because of static electricity. Static electricity happens when positive and negative charges rub together. We tested this with a ‘Magic’ wand, it worked with two negative charges to push a piece of plastic into the air.

After a little break, we went back to work. We had to make dancing robots! When we all sat down, we received a zip lock bag and inside there was:

1 CD

A small strip of double sided tape

A role of masking tape

A Battery2 Alligator clips

A few paper clips

And a motor

While we made the robots, our instructor told us what to do. When we finished our robots, we got to decorate them and then we danced with them! My robot danced like it had a broken leg because the legs were made out of paper clips so they weren’t very stable.   

The Space Lab was a room on the top floor area. Before we went there, we had to watch a short video about what we would be doing there. Two people from the Space Lab and two from Mission Control had headphones to communicate with them, surely nothing would go wrong, right? While we had to research things, we communicated with each other via texts, excluding through the headphones for the people who had them.

Mission Control was a place with a lot of computers, however only six of them were being used. I was the person with the headphones, and me and my partner were researching plants. , there was an emergency evacuation (It was a part of the experience). However, the person I was screaming at to evacuate gave the headphones to somebody else. And one person, during this evacuation, ran back to put their pencil back so they died (they didn’t really die, it was just fake).

When the day ended, we were all sad because we had an AMAZING experience and we all hoped that we would be able to go back someday.

By Audrey and Millie

On the 18th of June, we went to the VSSEC and it was one of the best excursions of the whole year. We got to experience being on Mars and helping the astronauts through their experience going to Mars. Now, lean back and relax as we take you through our amazing day on Mars. 

Our first experience on Mars was in the space lab. When we were in the lab, we did the red cabbage experiment. What you had to do was, with hot water you would have to drain the cabbage water then suck up the water and put them in test tubes. After you put them in the tubes, you got to experiment by adding random substances like baking soda, lemonade, mouthwash and lots more.

Now we were in Mission Control and we got to see everything the people in the space lab did. But we also have to get all the information that the labs collect. It is all really fun to get all the information and answer all the questions to stop the evacuation. Until something happens and everyone has to evacuate under 30 seconds otherwise you “die”.

After all that, we sat down on the carpet and they taught us about static electricity and positive and negative magnets.  And how negative and negative magnets will not attract to each other. And positive plus positive don’t attract each other. But negative and positive will attract each other. After we did that, we got to use these wands to float pieces of paper.

Finally, we got to build our own robots that could dance. In the bag we got a battery, wires, spinning machine, cd and feathers to decorate your robot. It was hard to make it stand but after a couple of tries we got it up and it was working. And we got to have our dance party.

Wow!  So after everything we got to do, I am sure a bit tired but it was an amazing experience and I can definitely recommend VSSEC to every school in Melbourne.          Seb Distefano & Tom Davey

On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to visit the Victorian Space Science Education Centre or VSSEC for short. The activities were really interesting and we were all so excited to go there. When we walked in, we were split into our classes: 5/6A were astronauts first and 5/6B were learning about electricity first.

We followed our instructors into a room with a lot of space suits and put them on. It felt like we really were astronauts. Then we were split into 2 groups again: Mission Control and astronauts. We went into a cinema room and watched a video that said we were astronauts going to Mars and told us a bit about Mars. After that, we went to the Space Lab and did some experiments. I was doing an experiment about plants and how they can grow in water. I put 3 drops of the testing solution in the nutrients and told Mission Control the results over the headset. We had to evacuate though because Mission Control had detected a radioactive meteor shower and almost everyone made it out alive.  

Next, the group I was in was Mission Control and I got assigned to water supply. The astronauts doing the experiments sent us their results on the computers and we wrote them down while managing all the systems in the Space Lab. Every time something went wrong, we had to answer a question about Mars on the computer. Eventually though, there was a problem that we couldn't fix and we told them to evacuate but they had their headphones off and not everyone made it out in time.

After we had finished going to Mars and helping out in Mission Control, we became scientists back on earth, with 5/6B now being the astronauts and Mission Control. We learnt about static electricity and how differently charged things attract and repel. After rubbing the balloons on our heads, they attracted tin foil, paper, plastic but repelled other balloons and rice. It was really interesting that there were some things that stuck to the balloons and we could pick them up using the balloons but there were also some things that would bounce right off or kind of float above the balloon.

Finally, we started to learn about how electricity works and how we can make electrical circuits out of wires, a battery and a light. We were given those things and were told to turn the light on. After about a minute of adjusting the wires, the light turned on and Will and I were so happy that we had been able to make it turn on. After we had all turned the lights on, we made a more complicated circuit involving a motor. We were given a CD, some metal paper clips, a battery, some double sided tape, some regular tape and some wires. We taped the battery and the motor to the CD and (after straightening them out) attached the paper clips as legs. We decorated the robots with lots of different things and plugged in the motor. All the little robots danced around on the floor and we were all so proud of ourselves.

Sadly though, we had to leave after that but we loved the day so much and we would definitely go back to do it all again. 

Dylan Bulluss

On the 18th of June 2024,  the grade 5’s and 6’s went to the VSSEC ( Victorian Space Science Education Centre )  for their ‘Kids in Space’ project.

When we all arrived, we were all super excited and ready for the big experience!

SPACE LAB

When we got there, we had to dress up in special suits for the space lab experience, and once we did we split into two groups, Earth and Mars.

We went our separate ways. I was in the Mars group first and I followed the instructors into a theatre where we pretended to go off into space to Mars.  

Once we got to Mars, we were shown to a space lab where we got to do some experiments and once we started our experiments, we were having so much fun pouring all the liquids and powders together and answering questions from the mission control back on Earth. Sometime later, there was an announcement through the speakers saying that we had to evacuate the lab immediately because of a meteor shower (not real). Out of all the experiments there were:  Mars rocks, filtering Mars water, testing if plants can grow on Mars, cabbage water, and Mars sand compared to Earth sand.  But sadly ,not everyone made it out alive (not literally).

MISSION CONTROL

After recess, we swapped with the people in mission control before lunch, so now I was in mission control, and they were in the space lab. I loved mission control even more than the space lab, because we got to ask questions to the space lab people and answer questions whenever we had to do a system check. (A system check is where something goes wrong with the computer and to get it back in order, you have to answer a question and guess correctly).

After some time, we found out that there was something wrong with the water and we had to figure out what was wrong. It turns out that there was an unknown virus in the water that the astronauts were drinking (not literally) so we all had a mission to get all the astronauts out of there. All of them got out except for one person.

STATIC ELECTRICITY

After we had our lunch, we went to the static electricity station, which is where they taught us all about static electricity. First, we had to make a booklet about static electricity by folding a sheet of paper with things about static electricity. Next, we got a balloon that we had to rub on our hair to see what happened ( the balloon stuck to our hair ) and then we got a piece of felt with: rice grains, confetti, polystyrene balls, and foil. Then we rubbed the balloon on our hair, then saw if the things stuck on the balloon.

DANCING ROBOTS 

The next activity we did was to make a dancing robot with: alligator clips, a battery, a DVD,  a tiny propeller, and some paper. My partner and I were going well at first, but then we started having some difficulty with making the legs of the robot. But as there was more trial and error, we eventually got it to stand up and dance. After some decorations, it was ready to join the dance floor with the other robots!

All of us in grade 5/6 really enjoyed this amazing experience, and we hope to do it again!

Natalia & Sofia

VSSEC Excursion   By May and Stephanie (5/6) 

Yesterday, the year 5/6 s went to the VSSEC (Victorian Space Science Education Centre). We drove to Strathmore Secondary College which is where the VSSEC is. We drove to VSSEC, which took about 45 mins by bus in peak traffic. When we got there, the whole class was buzzing with excitement. We dropped our bags in some cubby holes. Then 5/6A put on their space suits. When you put on the suit, it felt like you were a real astronaut.

The first thing 5/6B did was learn about static electricity which was really interesting. (Steph’s opinion) I really enjoyed the experiment where you rubbed a balloon on your head and your hair stuck up (end of opinion). 

After playing with the static electricity wands, we headed outside to the beautiful glistening sunshine to have a small snack. As we came back inside, we were ready to make robots! (May’s Perspective) Sienna and I were trying to make our lightbulb light up. We used a lightbulb, 2 alligator clips and a battery. We connected them in the correct spots but it didn’t turn on. The instructor came to help us. She attempted multiple times before finding out that the battery was dead. She rushed off to get a new kit which was the one we used after. Then we were supposed to replace the lightbulb with a motor. Unfortunately the new kit didn't have a motor so we used the one from the old kit. Great! (End of perspective).

Then we did robotics. We used tape, CDs, a battery, alligator clips, paper clips and a motor. (Steph's perspective) Natalia and I made our robot dance.. It was dancing all over the place. It was so fun! Then we decorated them and named our robot DanceBot. (End of perspective).

We got numbered off. You were either Mars or Earth. Both of us were Mars first which meant we went into a theatre where we watched a take off video because we were going to Mars! Then we got to go into a real space lab. Isn't that amazing? Steph’s partner was Eva and May’s partner was Sienna.. 

We both did the Mars soil experiment. We were testing if you could grow plants on Mars. One 0f the things we had to do was putting water into the soil so we could dip a strip of litmus paper in the wet Mars soil to test the Ph levels. We used silicone balls to check the moisture levels. It was all so fun. After we had a break and went to mission control., we had to communicate with the people in the Mars lab and answer questions. Every now and then, a pair would have a system check and answer a Mars related question. At the end, everyone got a question and something went wrong like a meteor hit the base or a virus got to the water. There was a 10 second countdown leading into an evacuation.. It was so fun!

We loved our excursion and we would definitely recommend it!

 VSSEC

On Tuesday,  the year 5/6s went on an excursion to the Victorian Space Science Education Centre.

The first activity we did was learning about static electricity. It was very interesting and we learnt a heap of things. We got to use wands that made pieces of foil float in the air. We also conducted experiments by rubbing balloons on our hair and then putting it on things like rice and seeing if it attracted or repelled.

After the experiment, the people gave us a plastic bag with alligator clips, a motor, a light bulb, a battery and  paper clips. First, we started by getting the alligator clips and clipping them to the wires connected to the battery. Then we grabbed the light bulb and clipped the alligator clips to the metal sticking out and then the light turned on. After that, we were tasked with making robots. We got a motor, a disc and heaps of  paper clips. We taped the motors to the disc and put paper clips as legs. When we turned the moter on, the robot started spinning around just like dancing. 

Mission Control was really great because we were typing to the astronauts upstairs about the experiments they were doing. We had a sheet of paper with questions on it that we had to ask the astronauts. We then recorded it on that sheet of paper. Every so often there was a system check and we got asked a question about mars. If we got it right we carried on but if we got it wrong the astronauts had to evacuate. Unfortunately every astronaut had to evacuate from every group.

If we  were an astronaut, we went upstairs to the science lab and conducted experiments that would be useful if we were on Mars. We then sent the answers back to Mission Control and they filled it out on their sheet. The highlight for me was evacuating and quickly having to run out of the room.

Wow what an amazing day. We all learned so much and had so much fun and  we would recommend the VSSEC to every school in Victoria.

Harry Pearce & Tom Manley