Feb. 18, 2022 – Students across the district were on an out-of-this world mission this week as they put their design and engineering skills to work to build a space mailbox.
About a dozen student teams from various grade levels competed in the district-wide Space Mailbox competition, which required them to design a concept and then bring it to life.
They were able to show off their work on Wednesday at MOSH where the different mailboxes were assessed based on their design and construction. The goal was to give students a chance to apply real-world STEM skills in a creative and fun way.
“This was a design and engineering project teaching them to use their creativity to build something under certain specifications,” said Dr. Yvonne Spinner, Director of Science for the district. “Here in Jacksonville, we’re a part of the space coast and there are so many different organizations and careers that they might decide to enter if they only experienced space a little sooner. So this is our opportunity to make sure they have those experiences that they might not normally have access to.”
The winning elementary school team was from Chaffee Trail Elementary. Their team built an astronaut-shaped mailbox. James Weldon Johnson had the winning secondary school team.
The Space Mailbox competition was sponsored through a collaboration with MOSH, STEM2Hub, and Blue Origin/Club for the Future, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Blue Origin in 2019.
The winning teams’ designs will be constructed and housed at MOSH and used to collect postcards from children that will be flown into outer space.
