Over the past 20 years, 2.6 million U.S. students (K-12) have designed, launched, operated, or used data from experiments performed on the International Space Station (ISS). This 20th anniversary provides the perfect opportunity for a detailed review of the many education programs that connect students with the ISS. The education team at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) collected data from 17 programs that have enabled student experiments on the ISS for a comprehensive study that examines the numbers of students engaged, the depth of the experience, and the hours of engagement.
Examples of some of the student experiments conducted on the ISS include:
- Programming and controlling flying robots to complete a set of tasks (Zero Robotics)
- Selecting targets for Earth photography and analyzing the imagery (EarthKAM)
- Operating experiments in chemistry and physics to monitor heat flow (Quest Lab)
- Planting seeds exposed to the space environment (Tomatosphere)
- Conducting biomedical and genetics research (Genes in Space)
- Designing, launching, and analyzing data from biology and chemistry experiments (Student Spaceflight Experiment Program)
View the full report on the 20-year history of student experiments onboard the ISS.
