On February 28 and March 1, 2019, the 3rd annual Elementary Level SeaPerch Competition was held at the West Mesa Aquatics Center in Albuquerque, NM.  Seven APS elementary schools and two after school groups made up the 39 teams competing in the event.  220 Elementary school students competed with the help of 20 students mentors from Valley High School's Air Force JROTC and Valley's Engineering the Future program.  In a very practical and hands-on way, these 240 APS students experienced the joy of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), while learning about working as part of a team and developing leadership skills.​

What is SeaPerch ?

SeaPerch is an innovative underwater robotics program which equips teachers and students with all needed resources to build an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Starting with a box of loose parts and pieces, the students construct, assemble and test all mechanical and electronic ROV components and systems.  Skills learned include reading instructions, identifying components, using tools, electronic soldering, teamwork, leadership and sportsmanship.
 
The SeaPerch program is a great way to get students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. SeaPerch easily aligns to the national science standards and lends itself well to interdisciplinary projects and Project Based Learning.
 
Beginning in the summer of 2013, APS employees and volunteers have incorporated technologies relating to Robotics, High Altitude Balloon Research, Amateur Radio, Rocketry & Computing into an integrated initiative spanning all grades, K-12.

How does SeaPerch benefit Elementary Students ?

The Elementary SeaPerch Competition is based on the SeaPerch Challenge, a national program aimed specifically at high school and advanced middle school students. 
 
The Elementary SeaPerch Competition is tailored specifically to maximize learning and growth opportunities for younger students, while providing leadership opportunities for older middle and high school students. The obstacle course which the students “fly” their ROVs has been specifically modified to be compatible with the fine motor skills development of an elementary school student.
 
Lesson plans have been developed for use during the construction, testing and competition phases of the project which specifically align with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Next Gen Science Standards (NGSS).
 
How were teachers supported in the run-up to the event ?

On December 14, 2018 a Professional Development (PD) was held at Valley High School.  Twelve teachers from nine elementary schools attended.  Valley High School students and elementary teachers with previous SeaPerch experience facilitated the “hands-on” portion of the PD.  Additionally, a presentation was given which covered essential SeaPerch educational elements, and examples of alignment of the project with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the new English Language Arts Curriculum Benchmark Advance.
 
How can someone help with SeaPerch or other STEM projects in the future ?
 
​There are many opportunities to volunteer your time and talent to help get kids hooked on STEM.  At this competition alone, there were approximately 25 adult judges and volunteers from the High Desert Amateur Radio Club, Sandia National Labs, Vanguard Technologies, Brame Technologies and other local businesses.

If you are a teacher, administrator or community volunteer looking for more information on the SeaPerch competition, please contact Alma Ripley at Ripley_A@aps.edu  

The STEM Trajectory Initiative is pleased to announce the 2017 STI Summer STEM Course, hosted by Valley High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The course will kick off a 3-year effort to design, build, launch and operate a CubeSAT; a small satellite that will eventually orbit the earth; providing student groups and amateur radio operators around the globe an opportunity to communicate through the satellite via amateur radio, receive telemetry from the satellite and analyze data associated with position, orientation, velocity, temperature and other critical parameters.  The final CubeSAT will also be able to send back pictures and video from student-built environmental experiments. 

The 2017 STI Summer STEM Course will focus on building a "Proof of Concept" CubeSAT; a device very similar to an actual CubeSAT, with all the same functionality, but built with readily available components, in order to implement and test the basic design concepts required for the final product.  Testing of the Proof of Concept CubeSAT will begin during the course, and will continue utilizing  High Altitude Balloon and lab testing through the end of 2018.  The students will receive an equal amount of conventional instruction and lab time; with the lab time devoted to hands-on Project Based Learning.  The education will be specifically focused on all of the essential technologies required to design, build and test various CubeSAT subsystems.  

Starting in 2018, the work shifts gears to focus on building the prototype CubeSAT, which will look and feel just like the production version.  The prototype CubeSAT program will begin the necessary environmental and operational testing to make sure that the design is good enough to withstand the rigors of launch and operation in space.  2019 will be the year that the "production" configuration satellite will be built, tested, qualified and prepared for launch to the International Space Station, where it will be eventually deployed into Low Earth Orbit.

The 2017 STI Summer STEM Course will be held for 3 intense weeks, 5 days per week, 10 hours per day.  The students that are accepted and that complete the course will receive dual college / high school credit, and will have learned enough electronics and radio theory to be able to take and pass the examination for an FCC Technician Class License in the Amateur Radio Service, a license which is required to test and operate the satellite.  The course starts June 12, 2017 and runs through June 30, 2017.  As a bonus, the students will be participating in the annual 2017 American Radio Relay League's annual Field Day, where they will set up and operate HF, VHF and UHF amateur radio stations, including a satellite ground station, allowing students to communicate through exiting CubeSATs already in orbit.

For further information, please contact:
Alma Ripley at ripley_a@aps.edu
​Chuck Newman at newman_c@aps.edu

On Feb 20, 2015, Carlos Rey Elementary School hosted their 2015 STEM Day, a day packed with learning opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related disciplines. Ten schools from Albuquerque Public Schools participated, along with a school from Colorado and  The highlight of the event was a dual high altitude (near space) balloon launch and recovery as a joint effort between New Mexico Space Studies and various schools in Albuquerque, including West Mesa High and Valley High School.  There were exhibits including a mobile satellite ground station, a working amateur radio demonstration, robotics, rocketry, and professionals from industry sharing their passion and excitement about their STEM related career choices.  Check out this video slide-show below for a quick tour of the event.

Hundreds of elementary, middle and high school students celebrated science, technology, engineering and math during the North Valley event.


November 18, 2014 -- Originally Posted on APS.edu

Two high altitude balloons with student-developed experiments aboard were launched from the Valley High School football field at 9:20 a.m. on Nov. 14. One of the balloons rose to 75,000 feet before bursting, its payload parachuting to Earth. 

The second balloon rose to a height 103,000 feet before it burst, a record for a New Mexico student effortt. Both balloons were recovered near Santa Rosa, N.M., providing great scientific data, information and images for related STEM activities.

The balloon launch was among many activities students participated in during North Valley STEM Day. Nearly a dozen schools took part in activities centering on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math including student-created rocket launches, flight simulations, atmospheric pressure experiments and underwater remote controlled vehicle observations.

Participating schools included Valley, West Mesa and Sandia high schools; Taft, Garfield and John Adams middle schools; and Cochiti, Griegos and Los Ranchos elementary schools. Participating organizations included the Valley and West Mesa JROTC programs, the Valley science department and MESA students. Alma Ripley, the assistant principal at Carlos Ray Elementary, helped to coordinate the student work and communication for this event as part of the APS STEM Trajectory Initiative.

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society brought a solar telescope and display, the New Mexico Fractal Foundation provided a fractal demonstration, and the High Desert ARC brought an amateur (Ham) radio station for the students to talk to 11 different countries, some as far as Russia and China.

A West Side STEM Day event is being planned for December 12. Rocket night for the event will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at West Mesa. For more information, contact Ms. Ripley at 505-410-2107 or ripley_a@aps.edu  

This is an update to the balloon launch for tomorrow, August 9.  The launch location is south of Belen, still at 0900.  The students will leave West Mesa HS at 0630 for the launch site.  The launch is at 0900  and the balloon tracking is at Hotel Albuquerque, in the Southeast corner of the building.   We won’t be taking any STEM displays down until late Saturday and won’t be showing or discussing the displays until Sunday.  The students will be presenting at 0800 and you will be able to see the displays from 0800-noon.  It is now 6 PM (hour 11), Conor Neal, Jeromy Trujillo and Lilly Brooks are fitting the electronic components into the housing.  They have been working on this project since Monday.  Everyone is extremely impressed with their commitment and ability to see a difficult project like this to its conclusion.  Chuck Newman

The countdown struck zero at precisely 9:03 AM on April 4, 2014, as three Title I Albuquerque Public Schools, working together with the New Mexico Space Studies (NMSS) group, successfully launched a High Altitude Balloon (HAB) to an altitude of over 82,000 feet, into an area high above us called “Near Space”.  The HAB mission featured true scientific payloads built by Carlos Rey Elementary School, West Mesa High School and Valley High School students.  In addition to the balloon and the payload return parachute, the scientific experiments included still and video cameras, computer-controlled air data sensors, radiation detectors, communication equipment, microbe samples, and a RADAR reflector.

Immediately following the launch, high school students and local amateur radio operators tracked the flight using radio-location services, and recovered the balloon two hours after it landed high in the Pecos Mountains.  The balloon soared at speeds of up to 150 mph to an altitude of 82 thousand feet, ultimately bursting exactly as planned, and parachuting the students’ experimental payloads back to earth for recovery and analysis by fellow school students. 

The HAB launch and STEM Community Event also provided an opportunity for the students from the three partner schools to show off their many other STEM projects to parents and guests, including student-designed high-power rockets, “Sea Perch” underwater robots, and computer equipment used for student “Cyber Patriot” competitions.  The High Desert Amateur Radio Club set up an operating amateur (ham) radio station, allowing interested kids to talk to others around the world, including talking with “radio hams” in Russia.

 
The students are eagerly looking forward to their next science experiment with high-altitude balloons and remotely-operated underwater robots.

The participating schools are creating a trajectory where the magic of science, technology, engineering, and math will be taught using hands-on learning, starting in elementary school and continuing until high school graduation.  The goal of the STEM initiative is to produce more high school graduates better prepared to go into technical fields. The merging of High Altitude Balloon Near-Space Exploration and Amateur Radio with public education represents a new opportunity to place increasing emphasis on, and to give our students greater success with, the curriculum for the future -- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.