Looking for a fun way to excite your students and introduce space science? Look no further! Growing up I was a total space nerd! I loved spending time outside with my Dad looking through the tiny telescope Santa Claus brought me and trying to find Venus and Sirius. I remember many nights spent over the years outside in August watching the Perseids meteor shower rain down above us. That was the stuff dreams were made of! So imagine my surprise my first year of teaching when I discovered my students DIDN'T LIKE SPACE!!! What was a teacher to do?! I couldn't let them miss out on the AWE and EXCITEMENT of space!!! I decided to take a cue from one of my favorite 80's movies and create a Space Camp right there in my classroom!
Day One (usually started this on a Friday): As my students walked in, I sounded a siren and told them we needed to get under our desks. I taught them a little bit of background on the Cold War. I had them imagine what people around the world must have been thinking and feeling when the USSR sent Sputnik up into space. We listened to actual sounds from Sputnik while still seated under our desks. Launch of Sputnik 1 - October 4, 1957 - YouTube What must people have thought? Were they excited? Were they scared? What would this mean for Americans? for the World? Was Sputnik really a satellite? Was it an attempt at espionage??? What must they all have been thinking...
Day Two: As students entered the room, I had satellite photos of the Earth and moon in from space. I played the song from Corpse Bride on repeat- Moon Dance - YouTube We talked about the Great Space Race. I showed them pictures of the animals sent into space. We talked about the different manned missions planned in the USA and the USSR. Students were shocked to find out that the USSR beat the USA in sending a man into space first! They even sent a second man up before America did! We then talked a little bit about John Glen. We imagined what it would be like to be the FIRST human to do something. We journaled how that might feel. I was amazed at the connections my students made. Several students compared the fear and excitement these men felt to the fear and excitement that felt as they planned to be the first in their families to graduate high school and attend college.
Day Three: As students entered I played the theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey Opening in 1080 HD - YouTube I had a large poster photograph of the moon on the board with a light shining on it and all of the other lights out. We watched footage on YouTube of JFK at Rice University’s speech about going to the moon President Kennedy's Speech at Rice University - YouTube- then we talked about Apollo missions- we watched the Lunar landing Cronkite Anchors First Moonwalk - YouTube and I had them journal about how that must’ve felt. We talked about the planning involved in a space mission. We discussed the Engineering Design Cycle and how many times they must have gone back to their plans to reassess and make adjustments to get everything just right.
Days Four & Five: I welcomed my Astronauts to the training center as they walked in. Star Trek Voyager theme song was playing in the background. On the board I had a PowerPoint about Mars. I told them their generation's mission was to get us to Mars and BEYOND. I told them they would be working in groups to design a mars module using the engineering design cycle we had learned about and the materials (mostly recyclable junk from my house and classroom) I had brought in. Students worked on this for two days.
Day Six (usually ended on a Friday): Students presented their Mars Module as a "Breaking NEWS" story about landing on Mars. While groups presented all of the Astronauts snacked on dehydrated space food I had bought from NASA and Orange Tang.
Finished the week out with a stargazing party Friday night!
The week was EPIC! All of my students really enjoyed it! We had so much fun learning about the history of manned space travel and it set the PERFECT stage for our space units. Space Camp was followed with a unit about the Moon- its phases, misconceptions, how it affects tides, etc. We also learned about the Planets. We spent time learning about stars- the star life cycle, how to use the H-R Diagram to classify stars, about the Sun. We learned about own own galaxy and other types of galaxies. I taught Space Camp every year I taught Science to middle school. I even put on a simpler version for elementary school a couple of times. My middle school students went from disliking space to LOVING it! In fact several of my students ended up with the opportunity to send an experiment up on the International Space Station!
So whether it's your students who aren't really keen on space, or maybe it is YOU- I promise you, if you bring the FUN- they'll never forget it! Bringing it to life helps them retain it forever.
You want to know what I love about space??? As Lea Thompson's character from Space Camp would say, " In Space, ANYTHING is Possible."
Some AWESOME Space Resources:
Moon:
Stars/Galaxies:
Other Space:
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