In the orientation phase, students select a topic of study that interests them, choosing a specific, guided question to explore, and familiarize themselves with the instruments they'll need to collect their data.

On this leg of the Voyage of Discovery, the students organized into three teams of four, each focusing on a specific field of study. In turn, each team of students worked closely with an individual senior crew advisor.

Throughout Day Two and into Day Three, the students spent their time learning about each possible topic and using all of our intruments. Although the students' individual projects would be tightly focused, each student would also learn how to perform every experiment, including several which are not currently part of anyone's research projects.

Since learning to use our scientific gear is a central part of the orientation phase, some of the photos below illustrate our student crew members working with instruments beyond the scope of their own projects.

You can scroll down or use these links to jump directly to a topic.

Research Team 1: Celestial Tracking

Students: Cassie, Kevin, Ntando, & Peter
Senior Crew Advisor: Grant Prime
Guiding Question: Why do we need to know the height of the sun?

Throughout the course of Day Three, Cassie, Kevin, Ntando, and Peter will track the altitude and direction of the sun, using celestial navigation techniques to determine true noon and, in turn, true north.

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Students: Courtney, Ellie, Lilly, & Tahjha
Senior Crew Advisor: Cheryl Backman
Guiding Question: How does the number of pulleys affect the length of rope you need to pull to lift a load two feet?

While the Half Moon is underway to Athens Channel on Day Three, two separate teams will study separate but related aspects of the same mechancial advantage experiment.

Both teams will construct a block-and-tackle simple machine with the assistance of their senior advisor. The team will then use the rig to lift a fixed weight a fixed distance using several different pulley configurations.

Courtney, Ellie, Lilly, and Tahjha comprise the Distance team. They will study the conservation of work by observing the length of the line they must pull through their simple machine's various configurations to lift the weight a set distance.

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Research Team 3: Mechanical Advantage (Force)

Students: Colton, Jacob, Jerryangelo, & Mylah
Senior Crew Advisor: Dan Brudos
Guiding Question: How can we use less force to lift the jug?

While the Half Moon is underway to Athens Channel on Day Three, two separate teams will study separate but related aspects of the same mechancial advantage experiment.

Both teams will construct a block-and-tackle simple machine with the assistance of their senior advisor. The team will then use the rig to lift a fixed weight a fixed distance using several different pulley configurations.

Colton, Jacob, Jerryangelo, and Mylah form the Force team. They will measure the amount of effort needed to lift a weight a set distance using their simple machine in various configurations.