I have learned a tremendous amount throughout this past week with the Voyager Design Challenge, as I know the JPL scientists have been learning from the Voyager Spacecrafts themselves. The digital tools and skills are a work in progress, as the development of the Voyagers were. Despite the lack of familiarity or experience with the digital requirements students have been asked to complete, they have problem solved and persevered to create their own time capsule and piece of a golden record. Helpful ResourcesThis is a great one-stop for all Voyager information from NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) , home of the Voyager missions. A great PBS documentary available to purchase or watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime or iTunes. I am thankful to have received a copy of this on DVD at Space Center Houston's Space Exploration Educator's Conference (SEEC) in February. I'm working on creating discussion questions that you could use in your classroom. key things to a successful voyage1. Co-teaching It’s true what they say about two heads being better than one!Being able to brainstorm, problem solve and learn along the way made this the best experience it could be for the kiddos - and us, teachers. I’m not saying that we didn’t experience challenges, but we were able to tackle them. Collaboration is key. It also helps having another teacher to be able to answer student questions and work with them one-on-one. 2. Set the stage Kiddos are curious when things change. This curiosity gets them to ask questions and be engaged in the project as soon as they walk in. They get excited about artifacts, books, posters and attire. The posters were printed and set up so students could see them as they walked in and grabbed their logbooks. On Friday, Paul brought in his equipment and helped set this up. Jaime and I cheered when we were able to hear the UN Secretary General speaking. The kiddos walked in and immediately walked over. Some knew that it was a record player. Others had no idea. They thought it was cool that we had the Golden Records playing. They even started dancing to a Bach Concerto! It definitely made my day :) 3. Structure We planned the project to use the SLED structure that students are already familiar with to guide them through the process. This simple structure allows students to dig deeper, search for information and promotes design thinking. Students also have to evaluate and defend their ideas. The Innovator’s Compass and LAUNCH Cycle were also a part of the structure. As student’s completed tasks, they were moving through the LAUNCH Cycle phases. The last phase is to LAUNCH to an Audience, which students do through their creation of a website. The Innovator’s Compass was a helpful tool for students during the Navigate Ideas phase. We started each day with a video clip related to the mission. We made an example of the final product for students to refer to, as needed. 4. Flexibility Since students are in the midst of standardized testing, classes were shorter than normal. This is one of the things we had to be flexible about because the kiddos needed time to create. The unit had overall objectives that students were working towards by the end of the project. After realizing that the students needed more help with completing the specific design tasks, we created how-to video demonstrations to provide a reference. We decided to extend the unit by a couple days so that students had more work time to finish the requirements. The kiddos have been excited to learn about the Voyager missions and more specifically, the Golden Record. My next post will be more specific on each day of the unit, as students are still working on it now! I hope you’re intrigued and find the resources and reflection helpful. I’ve had a blast co-teaching and seeing the kiddos’ enthusiasm. Oh, the power of space exploration education! Peace, love and space exploration
-CAPCOM Conrad
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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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