Students to Work with David Saint-Jacques on International Space Station Experiment

Announcing the Living Space experiment. Credit: Canadian Space Agency.

When astronaut David Saint-Jacques flies to the International Space Station he’ll be doing an additional experiment, this one with students.

According to the Canadian Space Agency the Living Space experiment “will explore how environmental conditions influence mental and physical health, and identify the best conditions for healthy and effective living.”

Specifically the “the Living Space project will let students analyse and compare temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels in their classrooms with data from other classrooms in Canada as well as with astronaut Saint-Jacques’ data from the ISS. The students will be able to study how environmental conditions vary in different places and explore how these factors can affect mental and physical health. The students will also have the opportunity to learn basic coding skills by setting up devices and programming sensors to collect data.”

The experiment is organized with the help of Let’s Talk Science.

Bonnie Schmidt, the founder and President of Let’s Talk Science said of the new experiment “Living Space gives educators the opportunity to integrate science and coding in a unique and engaging way in their classrooms. During the project, students will learn important skills such as analytical thinking and digital skills like coding. They will collect and analyze data, and compare it with information from other Canadian classrooms and with data from the International Space Station. In 2013, over 300 classrooms took part in the Let’s Talk Science activity RaDi-N2 & You with Chris Hadfield while he was in space, and we are proud to continue building on this foundation of science learning in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency.”

A new website for the experiment is now online for educators to register their classrooms.

Announcing the new initiative

David Saint-Jacques said “I want to engage young Canadians in my mission. I was inspired by the Apollo moon missions, and that gave way to an insatiable curiosity about technology, our planet and the universe that fuelled my education and career path. I hope that through this mission and activities like Living Space, the Canadian Space Agency and I can inspire young Canadians in the same way. I can’t wait to see the results of their research projects.”

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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