EFBESD Programs

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is designed to empower the student in fifth-grade through high school as a scientist and within the real-world context of science. Student teams from every school in Buckeye Elementary School District (BESD) have the opportunity to design a real experiment, propose for a real flight opportunity, experience a formal proposal review process, and go through a NASA flight safety review. They even have their own science conference at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum where they are immersed in their own community of researchers.

Designed as a keystone science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education program launched as a United States national initiative in June 2010, SSEP engages entire communities. In BESD, students in kindergarten through eighth grade will have the opportunity to design the mission patch that will also be flown to the International Space Station in recognition of the Apollo Mission and our BESD micro-gravity research team’s experiment. Dr. Jeff Goldstein, creator of SSEP and NCESSE Center Director, said, “SSEP is about introducing real science to our children, and if you give them a chance to be scientists, stand back and be amazed.”

The Student Space Flight Experiments Program is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the United States and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education Internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks, LLC which are working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a national laboratory.

Grant Two: zSpace Lab

A zSpace lab will be available to all teachers in all schools. zSpace is a virtual reality desktop with 3D glasses and a stylus that allows students to interact with a virtual object or environment. Using the stylus, students can move objects and take them apart. The 3D glasses allow students to peer around an object to view it from all sides. zSpace allows students to apply concepts they are learning in the classroom and develop a deeper understanding of complex or abstract ideas.

P.A.S.S. Awards Program

We are pleased to again sponsor our district 2022 Passionate about Student Success (P.A.S.S.) awards ceremony. These awards are given to staff, students, and community members who make outstanding contributions to education in the Buckeye district.