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the kids because they will be using something no one has ever used before...it's exciting because it's a new tool kids can use."
    According to the Academic Administrator of CalSpace, Mike Wiskerchen, the philosophy behind KidSat is to fill in the gaps of the scientific method for school -aged kids.
    Presently, kids can participate in the last two steps of the scientific method, analyzing information and coming up with a solution for a problem, but before the inception of KidSat, they could not hope to first identify a problem, study it, or attempt hands-on experimentation. KidSat will allow for the natural discovery of global problems through shuttle photography. Students can then study all of the photographs sent back by the shuttle, giving them the chance to form a hypothesis using the facts produced and their own intuition. With this method, an answer can be reached in a less disjointed fashion.
    In a recent interview with Ride as to the possible far-reaching implications of the KidSat mission, she said the project will not only help earth science classes. History classes studying the Lewis and Clark expedition can take a picture of the historic trail to see if there was a reason for that specific route. Math is needed to calculate when the shuttle will be flying over a designated area kids want photographed.
    KidSat is an interdisciplinary project, aimed at getting kids excited about learning in general because, according to Ride, "students are more receptive to learning if they've got some sort of hands-on project with real world application."