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relationship distance/position of planets with chalk

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relationship distance/position of planets with chalk

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Super Stars (Constellations): Crash Course Kids #31.1

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Write your own story & make a constellation

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Write your own story & make a constellation

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Follow along with this PBS Kids project video. 

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Follow along with this PBS Kids project video. 

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You will poke holes in cardboard to make your own constellation and then test it by putting it in front of a flashlight.

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Create Flashlight Constellations | Crafts for Kids | PBS KIDS for Parents

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Whether viewing them in the night sky, at a planetarium or as projections onto your bedroom ceiling, looking up at the stars can be relaxing. Not just beautiful, stars and groups of stars have long kept their place in history and mythology.

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-Flashlight with a round opening for light
***the constellation cutouts in the PDF attached here are sized for a 1 ¾” flashlight opening and a 2” flashlight opening – you can print the page larger or smaller to fit your flashlight

-cardboard from cereal box
-scissors
-glue

-Something to pierce the paper such as a push pin, thumb tack, or nail

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Karen Nyberg Shows How You Wash Hair in Space

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Space Compilation: Crash Course Kids (25 minutes)

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Space Compilation: Crash Course Kids (25 minutes)

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Seasonal Patterns of Sunrise and Sunset | PBS LearningMedia

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Find lessons on Seasonal Patterns of Sunrise and Sunset for all grades. Free interactive resources and activities for the classroom and home.

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From solar eclipse mania to Hollywood intergalactic blockbusters, space exploration is back in the mainstream and makes a perfect STEM connection! While slightly biased as aerospace engineers, we find that the night sky and the drama of space exploration has universal appeal for all children. Through running an afterschool Space Club program, I find that students really connect to the excitement of a rocket launch or the possibilities of a colony in space. I explore this deeper in a blog post about how teaching space can inspire youth.

Ready to launch your students into some space STEM activities? Explore our top 10 space-themed STEM activities categorized into the 3 stages of STEM to fit any learning level.

""The inspirational value of the space program is probably of far greater importance to education than any input of dollars...A whole generation is growing up which has been attracted to the hard disciplines of science and engineering by the romance of space." "

- Arthur C. Clarke, First on the Moon, 1970

Space exploration is all about teamwork. Each NASA rocket launch takes years of work and hunderds of scientists and engineers working as a team. This ensures that a safe and reliable rocket is built to hurl humans into space! Once on the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts must work together to survive the hazards of space (just watch any space movie). But do you know how astronauts move from their rocket to the ISS? A pilot carefully navigates the space vehicle to a docking port. Check out this video of SpaceX docking to the ISS.

To simulate this maneveaour, our students complete the Space Docking Challenge. As shown below, 8 students work together to move a PVC ring with a ball balanced on top (the astronauts) to lock with a larger ring (the ISS) placed on the ground. This activity is easily adaptable by increasing the lenth of string, size of ball, or distance to the larger ring. We've done this activity with ages ranging from preschool to adults! Find the instructions for the space docking kit here. This challenge is a big hit during our STEM Family Nights, and the instructions of this activity are also included in our STEM Night planning guide.

Here are the basics instructions ( find full instructions with activity guide here):

1. Drill 8 evenly spaced holes into a 3 inch PVC adapter (some stores will even drill the holes for you).

2. Attach a 5 foot polypropylene cord or similar rope to each hole. Burn ends to prevent fraying.

3. Use a 4 inch PVC adapter for the ISS resting on the floor.

4. Find a playground ball: the larger and heavier, the easier the challenge.

During stage 2, students apply math and science concepts to solve an engineering problem using technology. The engineering design process is central to these challenges, which are often completed over several class periods to cover planning, building, testing, and reflecting.

4 Rocketry STEM Challenges

Students always love a classic rocket design challenge to bring Newton's Laws to life! No matter the age, students can explore how every action has an equal and opposite reaction and how to apply these principals to solve a challenge. Here are four popular rocketry activities that are pictured below: (*Amazon Affiliate Links below)

1. Bottle Rockets: For a more advanced air rocket, students can launch plastic bottles filled with water to over a 100 feet! We incorporated the classic egg drop challenge where students had to design a recovery system to slowly bring back their rocket to keep the egg payload safe. We used the Pitsco rocket launcher and the Estes altimeter for tracking altitude.

2. Model Rockets: Take rocketry to the next level by building and launching a model rocket kit! From a 10 minute assembly to hours of cutting and painting, kits for various skill levels and time constraints are available. Or apply the design process to a 3D printed rocket that can travel 100s of feet into the sky. Note: Safety is important! Read about safey regulations and use common sense such as never launching during a thunderstorm or within close proximity to an airport.

3 Space Engineering STEM Challenges

While rocketry is a classic space engineerig challenge, there are so many more topics to explore. Here are some favorite STEM space challenges:

Space Lander Challenge: We recently featured this activity as one of our best STEM challenges ever because of the combination of science principles, a fun storyline, simple materials, and use of the design process. In the space lander challenge, Student teams build a lander to keep two marshmallow "aliens" inside a cup as it is dropped from various heights. Using straws, index cards, and mini marshmallows, students apply concepts of shock-absorption, drag forces, and stability, to create and test their designs. Now updated with a digital and printed STEM journal - perfect for distance learning - Click here!

Robotics competitions are the most popular of stage 3 STEM projects that bring together research, science concepts, math, and engineering design to solve open-ended problems. Students often present results to technical experts for feedback and evalution. They likely compete against other teams for a thrilling and inspirational experience. Below are two space-themed competitions:

1. Team America Rocketry Challenge: Compete with teams across the world on a rocket-twist to the egg-drop activity at the Team America Rocketry Challenge. A handbook is provided to guide students through physics principles and rocketry basics, but be prepared for intensive hands-on building. You may considering starting with basic model kits before progressing to this challenge.

2. Mars Colony Competition: In Space Club, we developed our own multidisciplinary competition. Students apply scientific concepts, math skills, critical thinking, research, and engineering design to plan a long term habitat on Mars. Students consider both engineering and mental health aspects, and answer questions like: How will colonists get food? What is the Martian environment like? Will our colony have a government? How do we prevent boredom? In the end, students present research and protoype to local professionals. Implement this project in your program with our detailed guide.﻿

For a bonus space activity, check out our Space Math Activity Bundle. Students apply algebra to the threat of an incoming asteroid or design a safe shelter using geometry.

How do you incorporate space into your STEM classroom?

Also, checkout our post on Moon STEM Activities! Click here or on the image below.

Vivify is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links.

Tagged: space education, back to school, stem activities, STEM Challenge, space stem, Astronaut Teambuilding, Space Engineering, rocketry, balloon rocket, straw rocket, bottle rocket, model rockets, Lunar Crater Challenge, Space Lander Challenge, Team America Rocketry Challenge, mars colony competition

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Top 10 STEM Space Activities - Vivify STEM

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From solar eclipse mania to Hollywood intergalactic blockbusters, space exploration is back in the mainstream and makes a perfect STEM connection! While slightly biased as aerospace engineers, we find that the night sky and the drama of space exploration has universal appeal for all children.

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Sun, Moon, Stars, & Planets

4th Grade, 5th Grade

This astronomy unit helps students develop a new perspective on the world they're standing on. They will be given evidence that the Earth beneath our feet is actually moving through space, both spinning on its axis, and traveling in a great orbit around the Sun. They will see how these movements account for the patterns we see in our sky (the paths of our Sun across the sky, the changing seasons, and the changing constellations). Accompanying us on this journey are the Moon and planets, which the students will observe have their own patterns of movement in the sky. Throughout this investigation students will engage in actual and simulated observations of the sky, and they will engage in the process of inquiry: beginning with observations, debating a range of possible causes, and reasoning to possible conclusions. Less

Optional: Start this unit with an anchor phenomenon. Read more

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Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

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This astronomy unit helps students develop a new perspective on the world they're standing on. They will be given evidence that the Earth beneath our feet is actually moving through space, both spinning on its axis, and traveling in a great orbit around the Sun.

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Bernard and Barbro Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomena

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Parents And Educators | NASA Space Place - NASA Science for Kids

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Resources for educators to teach students about NASA space and Earth science

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Classroom Activities, categorized by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

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Resources . DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL | PBS KIDS

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Engineering activities, animations, engineer profiles, and episodes organized by themes like electricity and simple machines.

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Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l). Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.

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Educator Guide: Whip Up a Moon-Like Crater | NASA/JPL Edu

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Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l). Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.

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In this Mystery, students use a model to investigate why the stars are visible at night but disappear when the sun comes out during the day.

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Voting for this episode is now closed. Would you like to vote on the most recent poll?

I pulled three questions from my jar. Which question do you want to explore next week?

How are candles made?

-Kaila, 3rd Grade

What was the first costume?

-Jamie, 1st Grade

Why are so many people scared of bugs?

- Hunter, 5th Grade

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Voting for this episode is now closed. Would you like to vote on the most recent poll? I pulled three questions from my jar. Which question do you want to explore next week? How are candles made? -Kaila, 3rd Grade What was the first costume?

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NASA Challenges Students to Design 3-D Space Containers

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NASA Challenges students to design a 3D Space Container