For years, Sacred Heart Elementary School students in north St. Louis County have done hands-on science experiments on decomposition. 

Each fall, students from each grade bury objects in the ground. In the spring, they dig them up to see whether they have deteriorated. 

This September, their experiments will take a whole new dimension. They are putting one set aboard a NASA space shuttle to compare the rate of decomposition in outer space to that on earth. 

Maggie Brueggen is 10 years old. Her fourth grade class decided to test decomposition of raw hamburger in space.

She said, “I don’t think the hamburger will decompose as much in space as here on earth.”

Other objects from Sacred Heart slated for outer space include seeds, toothpaste, white bread, hair samples, soil, Meramec River water and brine shrimp. The hair samples will be clipped from the heads of Sacred Heart kids. 

Sacred Heart is among eight St. Louis area schools taking part in Project Aria. The program is a collaboration between Washington University and the St. Louis Area Cooperating School Districts. 

Other schools with experiments on the shuttle are: 

Marissa High School, Marissa, Ill.; Center for Creative Learning in the Rockwood District; Glenn Ridge Elementary School in the Clayton District; Ladue Junior High School, Hazelwood West High School; Mary Institute/Country Day School, and Bristol Elementary School in Webster Groves. 

Sue Giesicke is the assistant principal at Sacred Heart and the science coordinator for the St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese. She attended a Project Aria workshop and thought the space project would make a good fit for her school’s ongoing science experiments.

Each fall, students in each grade bury different things in the ground. Then, in the spring, they dig them up to check on decomposition. 

Ten-year-old Mike Flachs said he likes these experiments. “Instead of just thinking about what might happen, we really do an experiment to see what will happen,” he said. 

He said he remembered his second grade class buried an empty milk carton. “When we dug it up, it had deteriorated,” he said. 

Flachs, who will be a fifth grader this fall, said, “Certain objects decompose and others don’t. Paper is likely to decompose faster than metal.” 

He said another part of the experiment that was interesting was the mapping of the place on the school grounds where their experiment was buried. He said, “Last spring, we were confused at first where our experiment was buried. But, we found the map and dug in the right spot.” 

Twelve-year-old Matthew Schultz will be a seventh grader, He said the science classes at Sacred Heart have gotten him interested in a career in science. “I like weather and meteorology,” he said. 

Schultz said his parents got him an unusual Christmas present last year. It was the National Audubon Society’s “Field Guide to North American Weather.” 

He said, “This summer, I was looking at various high schools and St. Louis High has a Meteorology Club. They have connections with the National Weather Service and TV Channels 4 and 5.”

Maggie Brueggen said the science experiments have helped her get interested in all science. “Science and math are my best subjects,” she said. 

Getting more youngsters interested in science is one of the main purposes of Project Aria. Keith Bennett is the director of Engineering Computing at Washington University and in charge of Project Aria. 

He said the project is designed to include elementary and secondary students. “We encourage them to go into a science, engineering or technology field by exposing them to exciting work prior to making their career choices,” he said.

Another part of the project is giving university students experience in designing the experiments into payloads which will fit into a specific area of the shuttle.