Water, food coloring and gummy bears. It may sound like a school science project. But it’s actually the start of an experiment in zero-gravity flight.

It’s sponsored by NASA, conducted by teachers and designed by Miami-Dade students and other kids across the country.

On Monday, seventh-graders at Richmond Heights Middle School started working with the concept underlying the experiment — diffusion, or how fast particles move through a substance.

It’s all part of a local and national push toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM subjects.

“You’re actually going to be helping NASA scientists,” Remy Dou told the seventh-graders Monday.

A former South Florida teacher, Dou was recently selected to participate in the NASA Teaching from Space program.

The program started after the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Funded through NASA’s education office, it’s meant to promote science.

In February, Dou will be among about 30 teachers who will fly in teams over the Gulf of Mexico. During the flight, the effect of gravity will drop to near zero — called microgravity.

“The idea is for the students to come up with what we’re going to do,” said Dou, who was born in Cuba and lived in Venezuela before he came to Florida at age 7.

The key scientific question: Will the rate of diffusion be different in a zero-gravity environment than it is on Earth?

“We know sort of the answer, but not a lot has been done. We picked this topic for that reason. There is still more to understand,” Dou said.

Over the next few months, the Miami-Dade students and others from around the country will design the experiment. A key part of the project is an online community, where students can upload ideas, Skype with teachers and chat with others, like a NASA engineer.

To work with students, Dou teamed up with his college biology buddy, Sherwin Jose, who now teaches at Richmond Heights and its zoology magnet.

“I’m hoping they’ll be able to take away that science is more than the classroom and that they can make contributions to science at any age,” Jose said.

On Monday, the seventh-graders timed how fast dye moved in water of different temperatures. They also measured the weight of gummy bears after the candy had soaked in water.

“They’re going to weigh more because they’re engorged with water. When you go in the spaceship, it’s going to be the same thing,” said Justin Gibson, 12, who says he wants to be a veterinarian for marine animals.

The activity also led to some debate over another key question: Is science easy or hard?

“To me, science is hard,” said Charl’deisha Hearns, 12, who keeps a poetry journal and wants to be a dancer. “Some of the meanings of the words are hard.”

Her classmate Joslin Weaver, 12, saw it differently: “Science is so easy. I love science. I’m interested in learning about animals. I’m interested in how this world works.”

When she grows up, she wants to be a pediatrician, or a cosmetologist.