Quarantine, while new to many of us, is not new to astronauts. In fact, upon returning from the moon, the Apollo 11 Crew had to stay in an Airstream Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) for three weeks. This was due to the concern of unknown pathogens that could have been picked up on the moon. The Apollo 12 and 14 crews were also quarantined. After this, it was determined that lunar "germs" were not a threat. Our quarantine experience differs from astronauts in a few ways. Many of us are sharing a space with others that is larger that the MQF or even the Orion capsule that will be transporting four crew members to Mars. Unlike astronauts in a capsule or living and working on the International Space Station, we are able to go outside. For the majority, we can experience fresh air, the sound of birds chirping (or dogs barking) and the warmth of sunshine of our face. Sorry Canadians, I know it's more of a cold and snowy experience. We also don't generally have to rehydrate our food and have easier access to fresh fruit. A huge difference between your crew and astronauts is that you got to pick your crew members. Although, I've heard from some that they want to go back to drafting their quarantine crew. Regardless of whether we chose our crew or not, all of us have to collaborate. Our mission requires us to be able to work together. In this time of social distancing and working or learning from home, we also have experienced isolation. Take it from the AstronautsScott Kelly, retired NASA astronaut, who spent a year in space has some firsthand advice on dealing with isolation. He is the author of both children's and adult books that I would recommend and will discuss in more detail later in this post. Chris Hadfield, CSA astronaut and former ISS Commander has a video guide. I would highly recommend his book, An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination and Being Prepared for Anything. He also wrote an awesome picture book called The Darkest Dark. So, How Can I use this in my Class?It all started with a movie...that line is starting to sound very familiar coming from me. I saw the PBS Documentary titled A Year in Space and was extremely interested. After watching, I passed it along to colleagues who shared it with their classes and told me how much they enjoyed it. A version of this is available to stream in episodes on Netflix, but I prefer the PBS documentary. It is a great way to show what life in space is like and helps answers questions about living and working in space that our curious kiddos have. Then, I found out Scott Kelly had written Endurance: My Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, a book about his experiences. It is an informative and enjoyable read. In addition to wanting to learn more, I also wanted to share more with students. I'm sure you can imagine my excitement when I found out there was a Young Readers Edition! Here's a brief article recap of his talk. When I started diving into Scott's book, Endurance: My Year in Space and How I Got There (Young Readers Edition) I knew it was going to become my next big project. The lessons, life experiences, overcoming obstacles and of course space exploration is a great fit for many ages. Whether you're looking for reading, writing, science, social studies or life lessons in general, this book will be a great addition to your curriculum. Click the button to download the FREE Unit Overview. It includes chapter by chapter resources (video clips, articles, etc) to help support student understanding of some of the topics in the book. I am working on finishing up the activities and lessons mentioned in the Unit Overview. They will be available on my TPT store, CAPCOM Conrad's Creations. Last week, I enjoyed the presentation: Zoom through (digital) space with Scott Kelly, Mike Massimino and John Rocco co-hosted by Penguin Random House and The Intrepid Museum. In case you missed it, you can watch the recorded discussion below. I just ordered Spaceman (Adapted for Young Readers) The True Story of a Young Boy's Journey to Becoming an Astronaut by: Mike Massimino. I'm looking forward to the October release of John's book, How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Great Adventure. Think about your quarantine experience. What is ONE word that you would use to describe it? I'm sure endurance - the term that Scott Kelly chose to represent his experience - is somewhat relatable. Peace, love and space exploration,
CAPCOM Conrad
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Fifty years ago this week, the third mission to land on the moon was in full force. The mission, ultimately deemed a "successful failure" became an unforgettable journey of survival for the crew. This anniversary celebrates not only an amazing engineering feat, but incredible collaboration, problem solving and innovation. As a kid, I was enthralled with the movie. In fact, it was the spark to my interest in space exploration, thanks to my dad, an awesome engineer! Lessons from this mission are still relevant today. At times its seems like we're continuing to fit a square peg in a round hole! We can learn from Apollo 13 with its similarities to what we are experiencing in the world today. It is an unprecedented and unexpected reality for many. Collaboration is occurring across many nations and among different companies and fields. Everyone is a part of making life on Earth a successful mission. Problem solving is our only option and daily we are seeing innovations. Shout out to all of the teachers have transformed their physical classrooms to a virtual learning environments with limited resources and time!! WatchApollo 13: Home Safe - Documentary from NASA (30 mins) "Apollo 13: Innovation in a Time of Crisis" is part of Space Center Houston's Thought Leader series. This is an awesome opportunity to hear from Bill Moon, CSM Electrical Power System, SSR; Bill Reeves, Lunar Module Electrical Power System, SSR; and Bill Stoval Flight Dynamics Officer about their experiences working in Apollo Mission Control Center during this unforgettable mission!! Episode 8: We Interrupt This Program From the Earth to the Moon (1998 HBO Miniseries - 60 mins) - Available to stream on Hulu, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Youtube TV, Google Play store Apollo 13 (1995 Feature Film - 2hr 20 mins) - If you don't have the VHS or DVD, it's available to stream for free on Starz, rent or purchase from Amazon Prime, itunes and more. Mission Control : The Unsung Heroes of Apollo (2017 documentary - 1hr 40 mins) - Available to stream on Netflix ListenThis 18-minute segment titled, Shoot For the Moon: A Conversation with Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell aired on NPR April 13th The full title of the second season of the BBC podcast is 13 Minutes to the Moon: The Apollo 13 Story. This season has six episodes thus far. Episodes range from 30 - 45 minutes. The previous season (Season 1) chronicles the Apollo 11 mission. ExploreThis multimedia project consists entirely of original historical mission material so you can relive the mission as it occurred in 1970. Space Center Houston has an awesome exhibit that you can explore from the comfort of your home. This New York Times interactive includes transcripts and pictures that recap the mission each day. EngageBoth activities simulate the communication between astronauts and Mission Control.
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Here's an Apollo 13 Wakelet with all of the links in one place too! Peace, love and space exploration,
- CAPCOM Conrad It all started with a movie trailer. It was about high schoolers entering an underwater robotics competition. A few weeks later I couldn't remember the title, but I knew that I wanted to watch it. Luckily, my husband did. So, I went to the library and rented the movie Spare Parts. It was a great movie, released in 2015 and one worth sharing with your students to get them excited and inspired. Check out the trailer below. Maybe it's just me, but I love reading the words inspired by a true story. When those words come across the screen, I immediately want to find and read the book! However, this story actually started with an article in Wired magazine in 2005. 11 years later, Joshua Davis - the writer of the WIRED article - also wrote the book, titled Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot and the Battle for the American Dream. I read the book in a couple days and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning more details about the lives of the kids portrayed in the film. I think it would be a great book for middle school or high schoolers. It could be part of a book study, whole group, read aloud or after school. While it's not an astronaut story, I would definitely share it with my former students who, when reading Hidden Figures, were curious about what it was like for them. My Hispanic students were interested in the story and in learning about segregation, but they couldn't fully relate to the African American characters. .As I've been diving into the story, I actually discovered that before it became Spare Parts, it was a documentary called Underwater Dreams. This award winner was named as one of Best Family Movies of 2014 by Common Sense Media! Maybe the coolest part is that 50% of proceeds go to Carl Hayden Robotics team and TheDream.US . You may be asking yourself, I thought this was a blog about space exploration, so what does an underwater robotics competition have to do with that? Well, NASA is one of sponsors for the MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education) competition. The competition is also all about ROVs (remotely operated vehicles). Think Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity, and I'm just talking about the characteristics, I'm talking about Mars. Robotics also involves STEAM principles and definitely is a hands-on application of science process standards and mathematics practices. It also requires teamwork and problem solving skills. In the 1950's it seemed impossible that a man could land on the moon. Likewise, In 2004, it seemed impossible that four kids who lived in the desert would excel in a national underwater robotics competition. What's awesome about MATE is every year's competition involves a back story. So, the competition is tied to a story, talk about an awesome language arts connection. Writing and reading become a lot easier when it's about something that you're interested in! I wanted to share this awesome story to hopefully inspire some of you to check it out and share it with your students. If your school already has a robotics team, here's a real-world connection. If not, maybe it's something worth looking into and learning more about.
Be on the lookout for more book suggestions and resources as that is what I plan to focus on in the blog this summer. Peace, Love and Space Exploration, - CAPCOM Conrad Probably not, but with the crazy weather Indiana has been having, you can sled on Earth in April! Last summer I attended the Science Learning through Engineering Design (SLED) Summer Institute. SLED is a Purdue University program funded by an NSF Math Science Partnership and is a true collaboration among several schools and departments. It was a great hands-on experience and I took a lot from it; including how to set-up and use a notebook, vocabulary and the overall SLED structure. SLED is targeted for 3rd-6th grade students, but I definitely think it can be used in other grade levels. SLED has curriculum available for many different science and engineering standards. The curriculum available is great, but what I find the most value in, is the structure and questioning. The structure is simple, yet powerful. The best part is how meaningful and interactive it is for the students. I've been able to see this firsthand. The collaboration and conversations students have with each other is awesome!! SLED allows each student to be individually involved in their learning while also working with their peers. Students have to make choices and defend their decisions. The structure and terminology remains consistent regardless of content or standards being covered. I have been able to co-plan 2 units with my awesome coworker Jaime using the SLED structure and incorporate space exploration! The first unit was Lunar Landers about a month ago and the second unit is next week. It's all about the Voyager Spacecraft and the Golden Record! Stay tuned for updates on that. We're really excited about it!! Lunar LanderThe Lunar Lander lesson we modified was a NASA PBS Design Squad Challenge called Touchdown. It is one of six space-themed engineering design challenges in the On the Moon Activity Guide. Our modifications included putting the activity in the SLED structure, utilizing the LAUNCH Cycle (Design Thinking Framework) and Innovator's Compass. Exploring Beyond (2:36) - NASA Johnson This is a great video to get kiddos hooked. I saw it for the first time at a Space Center U Teacher Professional Development at Space Center Houston last summer. SLED STructure1) Design brief - Create a short story that gives meaning, purpose and connection to the activity. Students read a couple paragraphs to determine background information. 2) Identification - Using the design brief, students identify the following & record it.
4) Team Design - All teammates share individual designs and provide ONLY positive feedback. Best way to do this is to have a time limit (1 min) and review expectations for this process.
6) Test - Each team tests their design. *Determine how design will be tested BEFORE testing. 7) Communication - Share results
8) Improve and redesign Check out the Kiddos in ActionAssessment OptionsThis whole design challenge process is a performance assessment. A) Formative Assessment happens throughout this process with the logbook. - Observing student designs and asking them to explain the different features and why they chose them. - Listening in on team design brainstorms. It's a great way to evaluate team dynamic, group member's collaboration and students' abilities to persuade, defend and support their ideas. B) Summative Assessment - Checkpoints - Team Design Data - Did the design meet the requirements, constraints and solve the problem? - Science content -> How is the student able to explain? - Overall Evaluation Rubric - Redesign -> How did they makes changes to improve their design? Instead of using a notebook, we used the SLED structure to create a logbook for students to fill in. Each day we had mission checkpoints. After testing, students also answered journal entry questions to reflect on the process. Students recorded a FlipGrid video to describe their lunar landing from the astronaut's perspective. **I will be adding our logbook to my TPT store. Tech Tool: FlipgridThis awesome tech tool was also introduced to me at Space Center Houston last summer. It is FREE for educators! At first I wasn't sure how I would use it with my kiddos, but it's a great tool for your toolbox. It gives students another way to respond. You create a grid, give students the code and they can record their own video response to questions or prompts that you ask. Like many new tools, especially technology, I would highly recommend reviewing expectations, appropriate responses and commenting, etc. I tell my students that technology is a privilege and they need to use it correctly as an educational tool. *Note:It does requires a device with a camera to use. Settings/Options - Moderator - Allows you to view student videos BEFORE they are added to the grid. - Design - Allows students to add stickers - Reply capabilities - View, rate, comment and/or record a reply post - Rubric and evaluate them. - The free version allows a maximum of 90 second record time. Students love talking with peers, sharing their individual thoughts and ideas, responding to others and making videos, so why not allow them to harness this excitement educationally? I hope that you're able to use some, if not all, of this in your classroom! I've been very happily busy co-designing and teaching projects that I'm excited about. Therefore, I am behind on updating my TPT store with resources. It's a summer project, if not before.
Peace, love and space exploration, -CAPCOM Conrad A new toyIt's been quite a space dream these past few weeks. It all started when I received an e-mail from Liam Kennedy. For those of you who don't recognize that name, he's the inventor of the ISS - Above. He invented it because he wanted to share his passion for space with his grandkids :) I have never met him, but I was very excited to receive his e-mail informing me that my school had been selected to receive a free ISSAbove as part of the ISS-Above is 100 Schools. This project was made possible by funding from CASIS (Center for the Advancement of Science in Space). Well, this earthling and her students are thankful to advance space science at our school. Now, if I lost you at ISS-Above, let me go back. It's a Raspberry Pi that you can't eat. Raspberry Pi is missing an e, but it jam packed with awesomeness. The difference between the ISS-Above and other raspberry pi's, is it's capability. The ISS Above has been programmed to share data about the ISS relative to your location. There are several information screens that go through a slideshow of sorts. You can see a picture of the astronauts on board. You can see the path of the ISS on a world map, it's velocity and countdown to when the ISS will be above you. This little device will light up to tell you how far away the ISS is from your location. Depending on the color and the frequency, you can determine when the ISS will be heading your way. The best part is being able to see a LIVE stream from the cameras on the outside of the ISS. Yes, you can see the Earth from Space LIVE (when it's in daylight). Teachers, it doesn't get much better than this!! The ISS-Above requires an ethernet cable, connection to a monitor or tv and you're good to go! I would highly recommend writing a grant to get one of your own!! Curriculum materials are available to download and the possibilities are endless. I have already been able to experience kiddos' high interest in our new addition and look forward to continue to share this. Teacher LiaisonAfter knowing that an ISS-Above was coming, I was on cloud nine. It got better when I found out that I had been selected as a Teacher Liaison for Flight 15-18. As part of this, I will be able to attend the 34th Annual Space Symposium in Colorado, Springs and continue to share my passion for space-education. I look forward to this new opportunity and the ability to connect with more educators from around the country. There is more than just corn in IndianaI've always been a proud Purdue grad especially because I share that title with many astronauts. The VOSS Model (that I discussed in my previous post) is one of the many space education resources Purdue has. I wasn't sure that there were many other connections, but I was pleasantly surprised when I received a call from Greg McCauley. He is the CEO of the Link Observatory Space Science Institute in Martinsville, Indiana. I hadn't heard of it until a couple weeks ago. I was able to meet with Greg and was very interested to find out that he had worked at JSC for the Apollo 15 - 17 missions!! He definitely shares my passion for space and STEM Education. Through their DiscoverSpace STEM Programs, you can connect your students to NASA Resources. NASA has so many great resources and as educators, we are all aware of the lack of time we have to navigate all of them. You don't have to be in Indiana to access this resource, it's an entirely digital platform and the possibilities are endless! You'll definitely want to look into getting this at your school! These Boots are Made for WalkingYesterday, astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle were on a spacewalk- or more technically known as an Extravehicular activity (EVA) - repairing part of the robotic CanadaArm2. Another teacher called me to make sure I knew that the spacewalk is on and was unaware that one of the ISS-Above screens had told me that it was happening. As NASA TV aired it live, I was able to explain how astronauts train in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and explain features of the spacesuit thanks to sessions and tours at SEEC, PD from the Indianapolis Children's Museum, and this past summer's Survival Training in the NBL. I absolutely loved seeing kids excited and curious about what was going on. The next scheduled spacewalk is Monday morning January 29th. It's definitely something you should check out with your students. Back to the ClassroomYesterday night, I had my first course as part of the NASA Endeavor Program. After reading more about it and hearing what a great experience it was firsthand from a fellow SEEC Crew member, I decided to sign up. I, like all of you, am a lifelong learner and love school. In the back of my mind, I considered going back to school, but I didn't want to take classes just to say that I did. I wanted to choose something that I was passionate about. So, when I found out that there were classes that used NASA resources to enhance STEM education, I was in. I'll keep you updated as I learn more. Last, but Definitely not least...In T-7 days, I will be returning to Space Center Houston for the 24th Annual Space Exploration Educator's Conference!!!!! To say that I haven't been counting down would be a lie. It's hard to believe that almost a year ago, I began my year in space adventure. When I first saw the 747 and Shuttle outside the Center, I was blown away. When I walked in and saw a lunar capsule hanging from the ceiling, I knew that I was in the right place. Little did I know what a profound impact the stellar conference, the awesome people and the amazing program would have on me as an educator and as a person. I'm thrilled to return this year as a presenter, a veteran, with a new last name, a different job and of course, a whole lot to share. I'm excited to be reunited with the Crew and connect with new space enthusiasts. In case you didn't quite get my enthusiasm, it's gone viral!
It's been great being able to share my space resources with the 6th Grade teachers as they embark on the Earth and Space Science Unit and there's plenty more where that came from. Peace, love and space exploration, CAPCOM Conrad Ever wonder why Russians use the term cosmonaut to refer to an astronaut? Well, part of the answer is in Greek. The Greek word nautes means sailor. The Greek word astron means star. The word kosmos means universe. So, cosmonaut means universe sailor and astronaut means star sailor. Now, you know! I included this in the glossary of the Mission Logbooks I made as for my space-themed class. I put together a variety of activities to teach 3-5th Grade students at Purdue’s Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) Super Fall Program. I’m sure this comes as no surprise when I say that my class was all about space. I also created a new word to describe my students, méllonaut. Méllo means future in Greek. So, my students were future sailors training for a future in space. After all, they are the Mars Generation! The rest of the day's activities were a combination from a variety of sources; NASA, Indianapolis Children's Museum Beyond Spaceship Earth PD and SEEC sessions. I separated the activities into phases: Preparation, Training for Space, Take Off, In Space and Returning to Earth. A great book to pair with the activities was Becoming a Spacewalker : My Journey to the Stars by: Astronaut and Boilermaker Jerry L. Ross . > Preparation First, each méllonaut created a mission patch to represent themselves and they put these in buttons that they could wear all day! > Training for Space Before making the journey through our solar system, you need to be aware of what it is. Our solar system is so large that it's difficult to really grasp the concept of size. For students to get a better idea, we used some hands-on activities. Using JPL's Solar System Bead Activity, méllonauts constructed a scaled model of the solar system. It's a great and unique way for kids to visualize how far away the planets are and how large our solar system is. Tips for using in your classroom: pre-cut the string, make sure you have a variety of bead colors. Based on the scale listed, each kid gets 5m of string. I would recommend decreasing the scale or having students attach the beads without using knots. Since we were at Purdue, families could take advantage of the awesome Voss model - an outdoor scaled model of the solar system - dedicated to Janice L. Voss, a Purdue alum and astronaut. they were able to record their observations in their mission logbook that I created. If you can't visit it in person, you can take a virtual tour! > Take Off Communication is a vital part of being successful on space missions and life in general. Students created structures out of legos. The structure was their choice, but they had to name, draw and label their structure. Then, they had to write a how-to-build my structure. This may have been the most difficult task of the day. I would recommend limited the amount of legos that can be used on the amount of time for building and writing. > In Space Being able to notice similarities and differences and make observations and predictions allows us to be ready for obstacles that may arise as well as prevent problems from occurring. Students did a mini-experiment by rehydrating bananas to experience the difference between eating on Earth and eating in space. Students recorded their before and after observations. We also watched some video clips of Former ISS Commander Chris Hadfield preparing a meal in space. The favorite activity of the day was the EVA! Méllonauts walked down the hallway with their regular shoes and built a tower out of ten blocks. Then, they completed the same activities with moon shoes! Both activities were timed to be able to compare and contrast. >Landing The final activity of the day was to build a lunar lander. Using the structure from SLED (Science Learning Through Engineering Design), students identified key components of their task and were able to test their structure and suggest modifications for future improvements. I'm constantly trying to share space information with others and was happy to be able to wear this shirt proudly on my honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii! I was so honored to be asked to share my Year in Space Experience with my alma mater. You can check it out! My Superintendent interviewed me about My Year in Space on our district podcast, Inside the Rock! I was episode 13 on December and my Genius Hour Session that week was titled, Houston, We Have a Problem. So, you bet I didn't miss that Apollo 13 connection! You can listen here! I've been MIA planning a wedding and getting married. Although my last name is changing, my call sign and enthusiasm for space in not! Stay tuned for a unit on an awesome new book, Lost in Outer Space - The Incredible Journey of Apollo 13 by: Todd Olson and an update on Genius Hour at my school!!
Peace, love and space exploration, -CAPCOM Conrad 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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