Tomball High School Astronomy and Earth Science teacher Jessica Schilder was recently accepted into the Space for Teachers Embedded Teacher Program. Through this program, she will travel to France and participate in a zero-gravity research flight experiment.
About the program
Since she was 10 years old, Schilder has been interested in space and even wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up. She has been teaching for the last 10 years, starting after she left the Navy and became a mother of her 3 children.
Schilder will travel from Tomball to Bordeaux, France, on Nov. 17, and the zero-gravity experiment is scheduled to begin on Nov. 20. Schilder said the experiment she and her colleagues will conduct will examine the effects of zero gravity on conduction and the basic rising of heat.
Schilder and other teachers in the program will be on board an Airbus A310 specially equipped for parabolic flight. During the flight, a series of parabolas will be completed, simulating 6 minutes of weightlessness to create the ideal testing grounds for their experiment.
In preparation for the program, Schilder and her cohort of 12 teachers were invited to the Center for Space Research in Austin. There, they laid the groundwork for their proposed project on microgravity alongside other industry experts.
“The thing I love about this experiment is that I've talked to elementary school children, and I've talked to older people, and whenever you ask the question, ‘Why do hot things rise?’ and then say, ‘Let's take gravity away: What will happen?’ ” Schilder said. “Whenever you ask them that, you can see the wheels turning and that's my favorite part.”
Supporting student growth
Schilder is also a participant in numerous other science programs designed to support student growth, such as Project Lead The Way and a student club known as Astro Engineering. The club participates in mini-competitions and team exercises on space-focused projects. She said that as she prepares for her zero-gravity flight, her students have been among her biggest supporters and motivators.
“What I hope to gain is the connection with my students, because they're seeing how it really is and they're getting to participate in something that's real,” Schilder said.
