San Diego High School

Overview: With the first passenger launches of the space tourism industry in 2021, a growing debate is beginning to emerge. Concerns about the ethics of space exploration, considering the environmental risks involved and the criticality of unsolved problems on Earth, are the impetus for this project.

Project Initiation: The PBL Institute was critical for teachers to come together and plan in detail how this project would be initiated and continued throughout the year. We launched the project with a visit to the California Science Center in LA, heard from a NASA Solar System Ambassador, and worked with engineering students from UCSD during the solution design portion of the project. Starting with a clear purpose for the students was essential to the project's success.

Project Exploration and Development: After our project launch, we spent a few weeks on the social science side of the project. Teachers conducted philosophical chairs discussions in class to explore ethical issues followed by a research paper in American Literature to gather evidence and make a claim in response to the essential question. These portions of the project were very important to set students up for success with the background knowledge needed prior to moving into the industry-focused engineering portion of the project. Working with the UCSD AIAA engineering students, our 11th graders were able to get feedback and support at multiple stages of the design thinking process while working on their project solutions in Principles of Engineering. This element of the project greatly benefited the students.

Project Revision and Exhibition: At this point, we are yet to enter this phase of our project, but our plan is that once students finish their technical drawings, they will get mentor feedback once more. Then, they will have time to make final edits and prepare their presentations/project pitch. We will be creating a panel of adults to witness and share feedback on the groups' pitches.

Teachers and Subjects: Patrick Leka - American Literature, Andrea Padilla - US History, Geetha Venkata - Principles of Engineering