Since 1957 (Sputnik), space agencies and private companies around the world have launched thousands of artificial satellites into orbits around Earth. We will build a wire model providing students with the basic understanding of the differences between Polar and Geosynchronous orbits and differentiating which satellites (e.g. spy, communication, environmental, weather, etc.) would be launched into each kind of orbit. Our second model consists of a tennis ball container filled with salt water, a floating golf ball, and food coloring to illustrate for students such concepts as density, solubility, color, estuaries, optics, chemistry, and other critical applications for STEM Education. Together these models will ignite curiosity and build confidence in science learners as they begin to touch and manipulate abstractions.
