An Approach to Promoting STEM Occupations via Near-Space Ballooning

In this paper, we describe an approach to promote STEM occupations to grades 6-12 students utilizing the state-of-the-art engineering design practices and technologies that we applied to developing a 2017 solar eclipse ballooning system. A collaborative effort for partnerships with regional school districts (SDs) is described. The core components of the state-of-the art technologies are 1) the ability to simultaneously live-stream videos via a single wireless link operating at the 5.8 GHz ISM band and 2) a robust balloon-tracking system that employs both line-of-sight and Iridium-based Internet payload position reporting. We present two stages of learning for grades 6-12 students, effectively integrating teacher workshops and student summer camps, while also benefitting college students who will be trained as technical support personnel. Finally, an analytical method using Cohen’s kappa is discussed to quantitatively interpret qualitative questionnaires