SASKATOON – Out of this world is how some Canadian elementary school students might describe their next science project.
The subject: 100,000 space-savvy canola seeds.
The mission: To find out if a seed which has flown 11 million kilometres through space at speeds of more than 27,000 km-h grows differently from one which has not.
The project, known as Canolab, was launched this week by Canada’s agriculture minister Ralph Goodale and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk to give 120,000 Grade 4-6 students from classrooms across the country a chance to experiment with canola seeds that accompanied Thirsk aboard last summer’s Columbia space shuttle mission.
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“It will be pretty cool,” said 10-year old Mike Courcy, a Grade 5 student at Ottawa’s Ste. Ann Elementary School where the announcement was made.
“Maybe the seeds will feel different, or glow, or maybe even become a weird plant,” added classmate Valerie Chartier, 10.
The idea is to find out if environmental factors associated with 17 days of spaceflight alters the microstructure of seeds and to give students a glimpse of the increasing use of technology in agriculture.
“This will be the spark that ignites the curiosity of young minds about the world of science and agricultural technology,” Thirsk said.
It will also demonstrate to students the importance of agriculture in Canada, said Goodale, and give budding young scientists a chance to learn more about one of Canada’s most important crops.
Canola was chosen to make the trip because its growth involves flowering and several pod development stages that will make it a good visual study specimen. Also, the small size of the seed meant Thirsk could take a large amount on the mission.
Canolab kits containing spaceflight and earthbound seeds, instructions and data collection sheets will be distributed by the Canadian Space Agency to 4,000 selected elementary school classrooms in early December.
Between January and June, students will grow an equal number of the two canola samples, paying attention to any unusual growth of the seeds that were subjected to microgravity and other effects that come with rocketing through space.
Students will keep data on the seeds’ germination rates, growth rates and production and then prepare reports describing the results. The reports will be sent to the Canadian Space Agency and compiled into a national summary report, which students will get a copy of in the fall of 1997.
Teachers can apply for the project by contacting the space agency by Nov. 22 at 1-800-511-3500 or by visiting the Canolab website at http://montrealmedia.qc.ca/canolab.
