No matter how you say it, it’s still cool to get tomato seeds from space! Never would I thought that tomatoes had any connection to space until I signed up for Tomatosphere. I was really excited when my Tomatosphere seeds arrived a few days ago. I am constantly amazed at how space education connects to just about everything. I am more and more aware of it throughout my year in space as I’m looking at things through a space lens. Not to mention, it’s such a high interest area for students. It’s a great way to get them excited and engaged. I have never done this program before, but have heard great things from people who have. It’s a free program that teachers can sign up for. When your seeds arrive, you will a control group of seeds that have remained on Earth as well as an experimental group of seeds that have traveled to space and been on the ISS. Tomatosphere has curriculum resources; questions and investigations to get your kids thinking. I wanted to see how this project could connect to other curricular areas outside of the science realm. So, I’m sure this is no surprise, I created a Tomatosphere Unit. My goal was to connect this to as many subjects as possible and provide resources I found that would help this. After all, when students are able to make connections, it’s more meaningful! The Overall Driving Questions: I also tried to think about driving questions that could create a purpose for specific subject area contributions.
The Unit Overview includes suggestions for activities in your classroom based on content area. Things can be modified to fit K-12 students just like the Tomatosphere program is designed to do. It is by no means a complete list of every possible activity or resource, but hopefully it is a starting point that you find helpful for you and your students. Click below to download or find it on my TeachersPayTeachers store.
Thank you to Tomatosphere for the program, First the Seed Foundation for your US partnership, SpaceX for transporting the seeds, the astronauts who unpacked and repacked the seeds and all organizations and people involved with this process. What an awesome opportunity for teachers and students!
Now I wonder... what impact will this program have? Peace, love and space exploration, CAPCOM Conrad signing off
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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. |
AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
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