My heart goes out to all of those affected by Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma and the Columbia River Gorge Wildfire. Although I do not live in Texas, Florida or Oregon, my heart is in all of these places. Hurricane Harvey impacted Houston, Texas and surrounding areas. The heart of my year in space is there. Space Center Houston hosted the Space Exploration Educators Conference, which is where this whole journey began. I was fortunate enough to return to Houston at the end of July for an amazing Professional Development with my fellow SEEC Crew mates. The wildfires are still raging along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. A piece of my heart is there because it's where I got engaged. My fiance and I kayaked on the Columbia River the day we got engaged. We throughly enjoyed out waterfall hikes and beautiful drives along the Gorge . Hurricane Irma will be making landfall in Florida within the next few days. I have visited Florida several times and always enjoy the beach. Remember I live in land-locked Indiana. I hope to visit Kennedy Space Center one day and see a launch. I have been able to read a variety of articles and watch videos from different media sources. Since I family and friends who live in Texas and Florida, I have also been able to see their personal experiences via social media. As an adult, it's difficult to process these events. As a child, I would venture to guess it's a whole different ballgame. Lack of understanding of the science behind these events probably contributes to their confusion, uncertainty and concern. I was trying to wrap my head around how I could be helpful so far away. I wanted to help teachers and students. I was also curious what connections could be made to space education. Therefore, I created a unit to answer the driving questions: What is the lasting impact of natural disasters on people and the environment they live in? Download the unit below or on my Teachers Pay Teachers store for free.
Note: I used 5th and 6th Grade Indiana Academic Standards for Science and Media Literacy, but it can be used in other subjects and grade levels. It is not an exhaustive list of everything about natural disasters, but hopefully provides resources that you can use in your classroom to spark awesome student learning. NASA continues to amaze me as I further explore all that it has to offer. It may be stuck in people's minds as a space agency, but what many may not realize is what they do is so relevant to Earth and can be helpful in our daily lives.
NASA Spinoff is a yearly publication that highlights how NASA research is used in commercial products. You can get a copy or print off pdfs from 1976- present. NASA SPoRT (Short-term Prediction Results and Transition Center) is a "is a NASA project to transition unique observations and research capabilities to the operational weather community to improve short-term forecasts on a regional scale." The International Space Station's mantra is off the earth, for the earth . The research done through CASIS, who runs the U.S. ISS National Laboratory, is Science in space to benefit life on Earth. Images from astronauts aboard station allow us to see and understand Earth in ways we never could before. If nothing else, it helps me realize how connected we are and how we, as Earthlings, can learn from and help each other in this journey we call life. Gus was killed in the Apollo 1 fire with his crewmates Roger Chaffee and Ed White. Learning from this terrible tragedy is a major reason why we were able to land on the moon. Peace, love and space exploration, CAPCOM Conrad signing off.
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AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
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