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Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1761
sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov
Rebecca Strecker Stennis Space Center, Bay St. Louis, Miss. 228-688-3249
rebecca.a.strecker@nasa.gov
April 10, 2012 RELEASE : 12-106
NASA Announces Student Winners in Space Game Design Challenge
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Three school student teams in the fifth through eighth grades have been selected as the
winners of NASA's second annual Spaced Out Sports challenge. The students designed science-based games that will
be played by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The games illustrate and apply
Newton's laws of motion by showing the differences between Earth's gravity and the microgravity environment of the
space station. The challenge is part of a broader agency education effort to engage students in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities.
To design their game, students use up to five
items from a two-page list of objects aboard the ISS. The list includes such items as socks, exercise putty,
bungees, cotton swabs, tape, rubber bands, zipper-top bags, chocolate-covered candies and drink bags.
Students at Pierremont Elementary MOSAICS Academy in Manchester, Mo., earned the top prize with their game
"Starfield." In this activity, astronauts will travel through a course to gather "power stars" and throw them
through a "black hole target."
Second-place honors went to students at East Brook Middle School in Paramus, N.J., for their "Outstanding
Obstacles" game. It calls on astronauts to race through obstacles including "hair band shooting" and "ring toss."
The third-place winners are students at Tyngsborough Middle School in Tyngsborough, Mass., for their "Learning
Takes You Around the World" game, in which astronauts will propel through rings, collecting slips of paper.
"Congratulations to the 2012 Spaced Out Sports winners," said Leland Melvin, associate administrator for education
at NASA Headquarters in Washington and two-time shuttle astronaut. "By combining solid STEM skills with
imagination and teamwork, these students have demonstrated that they have what it takes to be our next generation
of engineers and designers."
The Spaced Out Sports challenge is a NASA Teaching from Space activity and
was first offered in 2010. Using an accompanying curriculum, teachers lead students through a study of Newton's
laws, highlighted by hands-on activities and video podcasts featuring NASA scientists and engineers explaining how
the laws are used in the space program.
"The three top games were selected but everyone really is a winner
in this challenge," said Katie Wallace, director of NASA's Stennis Space Center Office of Education near Bay St.
Louis, Miss., where the challenge and accompanying curriculum were developed. "Every student involved wins by
learning more about science and establishing an educational foundation that will serve them well throughout their
careers and life."
For information about Teaching from Space, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education/tfs
For information
about NASA's Science and Sports curriculum and related resources, visit:
https://education.ssc.nasa.gov/spacedoutsports
For information about NASA education programs, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education
For information about
Stennis, visit: www.nasa.gov/stennis
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