Starbase-Atlantis Raises Science Bar for NAS Pensacola Fifth-Graders

By Ed Barker, Naval Education and Training Public Affairs

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- Fifth-graders participating in the Starbase-Atlantis education program at Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) are adding chemistry to their studies this school year as the first Starbase class started Aug. 30.

Starbase-Atlantis, a Navy community outreach program managed by the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), operates 15 academies at naval installations around the United States. Part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Starbase youth program, Starbase-Atlantis offers local fifth-grade students an opportunity to participate in a variety of learning experiences designed to increase knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.

"We've standardized the curriculum for all 60 of the Starbase programs under all of the services," said Barbara Koscak, DoD Starbase program and requirements coordinator. "We have strengthened the curriculum with stronger STEM lesson plans, including chemistry. The new program is a dynamic hands-on, minds-on, STEM program with additional emphasis on math, including advanced engineering activities."

One of Starbase-Atlantis' strongest supporters is Rachel Watts, Jim Allen Elementary principal. Watts accompanied her fifth-grade daughter's class to the Pensacola academy for a first-hand look at what the Navy's Starbase-Atlantis program had to offer.

"Starbase really blends in with what we teach at Jim Allen," said Watts. "The way the Starbase staff and our teaching team work together to help our children is incredible. Science is a part of children's natural curiosity, and they need to have a good STEM background in order to prepare for the future and success in today's society."

Fifth-graders from Karen Uriz's class at C.A. Weiss Elementary recently completed their first day at Starbase-Atlantis onboard NASP. Day-one subjects included an introduction to chemistry and engineering for unmanned aerial vehicles.

"Starbase is absolutely wonderful for the kids," said Uriz. "The staff's ability to demonstrate and explain the experiments is much greater than mine, since I don't have a science background. Plus they have all of the really good equipment that we don't have available in our classrooms."

The Starbase-Atlantis curriculum includes physics, chemistry, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Course topics include Newton's laws of motion, fluid mechanics and aerodynamics, model rocketry and much more. Students 'fly' aircraft on a computer flight simulator and build and launch a model rocket as the final project for the course. Tours of Navy training facilities, the National Aviation Museum and the Blue Angels flight line allow the students to see the science, technology, engineering and math they are learning in the classroom applied directly in the real world.

Students' knowledge of STEM subjects is assessed in a pre-test before starting the Starbase classes and again at the end of the five-week program, and the new curriculum will be evaluated at the end of the school year.

There are more than 60 Starbase programs throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, funded by the Department of Defense through Congressional appropriation since 1989. Starbase-Atlantis was established in 1994 at NASP and has since found a home on nearly every major naval base in the U.S. For more information on Starbase-Atlantis, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil/comunity/starbase/sa.html.