Space Week Challenge winners:  "Science Station and IMAX Theatre are cool!"
	Perry Elementary School TAG students, grades 4-6

Fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Perry Elementary School's talented and gifted program recently took the field trip as part of the prize for winning the Space Week Science Challenge, sponsored in part by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium.

The contest, held each year during Space Week, Oct. 4-10, is open to all K-12 Iowa classrooms.  Contestants listen to special editions of the "Earth and Sky" radio program broadcast by WHO Radio (1040 AM) during Space Week.  They then take a quiz based on the content of the radio programs and supporting activities.

Along with the field trip, the winners received a Meade ETX telescope with field tripod for their classroom.  Teachers and students at Perry Elementary School won an inservice training session from the Extension--Science, Engineering and Technology team as well as curriculum materials.

"The students were all thrilled with the Science Station and IMAX," said Stephanie Francis, their teacher.  "Anytime you can show students that learning can and should take place outside of school walls, positive things happen!"

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	Meade ETX Astro telescope

This year's program topics on "Earth and Sky" included asteroid extinction, meteorites, Jupiter and the Moon.  Francis's students listened to the broadcast every morning, and then every afternoon they did an additional activity provided by the program.

"One of the best things that this opportunity provided was the time for students who are interested in the same subject matter to get together and discuss their thoughts with one another," Francis said.

The day after the radio programs ends, a Space Week quiz is posted on the ISGC Web site.  There are three different versions of the quiz:  for grades K-3, 4-8 and 9-12.  Questions are taken from material in the broadcasts and supporting activities.

Francis's fifth and sixth grade teams tied for first place, and the sixth grade team's bonus answer broke the tie.  From the 35 students in the talented and gifted program, she had chosen 20 with a need to be challenged in science.  Since the winning group was small, all of the 35 students were invited to go on the field trip.  So many parents volunteered to chaperone that Francis had to turn some away.

"Many of the students said they wanted to get their families to go back and they couldn't wait until next year to try to win the trip again," she said.  "Overall, it was a very worthwhile event."

Fifth-grader Matthew Donahue summed up, "I think the experience was really fun because everything was hands-on and we could learn while having fun."

Any K-12 classroom of students attending a charter, public, private, religious or home school in Iowa is eligible to compete in the Space Week Science Challenge, which is also sponsored by WHO Radio and the "Earth and Sky" radio program.