R ESULTS OF M ICROGRAVITY ’ S E FFECT ON B RANCHINECTA A NOSTRACA Co - Principal Investigators: Delaney Hewitt, Natalie Moyer, Mackenzie Ortlieb, Grace Brennan Teacher Facilitator: Diane Page, Science, St. Monica Catholic School

O UR E XPERIMENT For our experiment, we studied microgravity’s effects on Branchinecta Anostraca Materials Procedure Conclusion Our Timeline Preparing our experiment Presenting in Washington D.C. last summer Traveling to Virginia Redoing our experiment Watching our experiment actually go to space

O UR RESULTS Our results were inconclusive There were some errors in the designing of our experiment The main error was our shrimp eggs Only one supplier of the eggs The one supplier no longer carries our eggs because they had issues hatching the eggs The supplier had no information clarifying how the shrimps were packaged We later found the shrimp eggs were packaged with sand We ed our supplier to find out why they stopped carrying the shrimp eggs

T HE WE RECEIVED

O UR ERRORS We didn’t have the correct hatching environment for the shrimp No sunlight Yeast (food) solution caused molding We tried doing our experiment on Earth with “perfect conditions” to see if these conditions were the issue. We tried: Using bigger constraints Putting the shrimp in the right amount of sunlight Not using the yeast food solution Not shaking the shrimp The shrimp still didn’t hatch

W HAT WOULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY ? We would have gotten a more reliable supplier We would check the packaging information before we did our experiment We would make sure the shrimp we chose could grow in the conditions the FME tube allowed If these shrimp couldn’t have hatched in these conditions, we would’ve chosen a better suited shrimp for our experiment

C ONCLUSION In conclusion, we may not have gotten the results we wanted at first, but we look at this experience as trial and error. This experiment has taught us so much about the process of science and how things can’t and don’t always go the way you plan. We would like to say thank you for this experience and letting us get the opportunity to present our experiment and grow as scientists. Catholic Schools of Greater Kalamazoo The SSEP community program coordinators Mrs. Becky Reits, principal of St. Monica school Mrs. Katie Gilbert, Advancement director for CSGK Mrs. Susie Vanderbeek and Mrs. Diane Paige The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space The National Center for the Advancement of Science in Space