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
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The Golden Record has a collection of songs, sounds, greetings and images of Earth. So, each student chose a song, sound, greeting and picture to represent them. They put all of this information on a website that they created. Next year, we’re thinking it would be a good fit at the beginning of the year. It allows you to learn more about your students, so it would be an awesome getting to know you activity. It is also a great way to embed digital skills with content, especially since our 6th grade students are going 1:1 with Chromebooks next year. Students used Google Suite products (Google Classroom, Google Slides, Google Drive, Google Docs and Google Sites) to share their information. If your school doesn’t use Google products, there are other ways, but Google is the most user friendly. We used the Science Learning through Engineering Design (SLED) structure, mentioned in previous blog posts. The great thing about the SLED structure is that it has both an individual component and team component, so students get to share their voice, but also need to learn how to collaborate with others for a successful product. It’s not just a science project. It also involves language arts, social studies, technology and engineering standards. It is a very student-driven project. We were guides and facilitators. We would begin each day with a recap of what we’d done the previous day and what student tasks needed to be completed. Mission ObjectivesHere are the objectives that students were working on achieving by the end of the project. Content and language objectives are part of the SIOP Model, which is to help educators meet the needs of English Language Learners. I've also found that it's a great way to begin a lesson and allows for consistency. I have different students read the objectives. When planning a lesson, it helps me pinpoint what exactly I want the kiddos to do. I think it also helps the kiddos be in the know. For big projects, I write a set of objectives that I want the students to meet by the end of the project. I don't write separate ones each day. Content Objectives: (What are we going to learn about?)
Day 1> Design brief - Paragraph summary of background information related to the challenge. After students read the design brief, they are able to identify the following elements listed below. > Identification - Problem, Goal, Client, End-user, Criteria, Constraints > Individual Design Chart - 3 potential options for each category (song, sound, picture and greeting) and reason for each option. If you run out of class time for students to work on this, it would be a good homework assignment. It's all about them and their opinions, so it's not something that they need explanation or much support. Day 2> Finish Individual Chart, if needed > Team Brainstorm - The focus was on sharing ALL of their options for ONLY one of the four categories (image, song, sound OR greeting) from their Individual Chart. We told students to choose a category that they were having a hard time narrowing down to one option and would benefit from feedback. Each student had uninterrupted time to share their options from their chosen category. This was followed by warm and cool feedback statements from group members. > Create Google Site -> Each lab group created one Google Site. Each group member got one page on the group site. Students had to create a descriptive title. Add ALL group members as collaborators. Add one page/student in the group. Day 3> Work Time - Individual Design Tasks Students worked through a checklist and had specific components for each category (picture, song, sound and greeting). Students were able to view Screencastify video demonstrations to help them with these tasks, if needed. Day 4> Work Time - Individual Design Tasks continued Day 5The Documentary is available to purchase on the PBS website or you can watch it on Netflix, Amazon or iTunes. We did not have time to watch the documentary, but it is a great resource. It is ~97 minutes long. **Depending on the age of your students, be aware that there are images of the human body and reproductive system at minute 9 and minute . It would be good to watch before the unit, during the unit (15 mins/day) or afterwards as a wrap-up activity. > Reflection - Journal Entry Questions > Web Design Reveal - Students had their website pages up on their Chromebook screens. Students rotated to another group member's seat and reviewed their website page. They were able to listen to the song chosen. Students shared warm and cool feedback on post-its. Warm and cool feedback is something we'd working on before. Warm feedback is a statement that starts with I like how... and provides positive observations of the work . Cool feedback is a statement that starts with I wonder if... and provide ideas for improvement. The best part of the project was reading student reflection after the project. Students answered questions in a Google Form. Some questions were rating scales, but we got the most information from were the open ended questions. I was so impressed with the thought and consideration that they put into their answers: - Before this design challenge I... - After this design challenge I... - How would you describe this project/what you learned/were able to do? Here are some student statements to answer the last question. "This project was definitely one of my favorites this year. I loved how you got to mix your personal life with a awesome space project. I learned how to use google sites, and I learned space and many other things can tie to you in many ways." The logbook, video demonstration links and The Farthest- Voyager in Space Documentary questions will be added to my TPT store.
Peace, love and space exploration, - CAPCOM Conrad Since I was little, I have loved Apollo 13. It's no secret...I wrote my first blog post about it and it's the first thing I listed about me as an author. I'm not sure how many times I've seen the movie, but I still enjoy it every time. I was fascinated with how Mission Control worked and all that the astronauts endured. When I found this book, it seemed to come full circle. I could now share my passion with my students using a book as a guide. As a teacher, I'm not sure if there's anything better. I devoured the book and took notes as I read to eventually turn into a unit. Let me just say that the book is only 90 pages, so it didn't take long and I knew it would be great for my students. It was an unintentional summer project, but one that I've enjoyed. The Unit Overview is available to download on TeachersPayTeachers for FREE by clicking below. www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apollo-13-Unit-Overview-3249667 Keep a look out for additional unit resources; comprehension checks, assessments and rubrics. I found this awesome book at Half Price books for $8. It was originally $30! The best part is that it has facsimile documents from archives for several missions. It may just be the coolest book I've ever owned!! I would consider my new books a successful addition to my library and a failure to the library that let them go. To each his/her own.
Peace, Love and Space Exploration, CAPCOM Conrad No, I have not been selected to be a 2017 astronaut candidate. Let me clarify, this is not very surprising, since I didn't apply, but I didn't want to confuse anyone with my announcement on the same date. Let me take a second however, to send a huge Congratulations to all of the #NewAstronauts ! Big kudos to Loral O'Hara, fellow Purdue grad!! JSC is awesome! I support you and can't wait to see what you accomplish on this amazing adventure and of course share what you learn with my kiddos! I am also still awaiting my purchase of Lego's newest debut, the Saturn V rocket. It's making history as the tallest and highest number of elements set! Any. Day. Now. Last, but not least, I want to give a huge shout out to my earthly exploring brother and all of those who embarked on the TransAmerican route of their Journey of Hope. It's a cross-country cycling trip raising awareness and funds to support The Ability Experience . Read on to find out my BIG news. Above is the spaceship I designed for the Star Fleet exhibit created by artist Kiel Johnson at Space Center Houston in February. I chose a backpack with pencil rocket boosters to represent a Teacher's Year in Space. Now, on to My Big Debut... I am officially on TeacherspayTeachers. My store is called CAPCOM Conrad's Creations. I doubt the name is a shock to any of you. The Hidden Figures Young Readers Edition Unit Overview is available for a FREE download by clicking on the link below. **This is an updated version from my previous post.
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Capcom-Conrads-Creations Check my store for the following documents available to purchase. All are referred to and described in more detail in the Unit Overview. Comprehension 1) Comprehension questions - separated by chapter and heading for the ENTIRE book Assessments 2) Summative Assessments Study Guide - Open Book and Reader's Response 3) Open Book Comprehension Assessment 4) Reader's Response Assessment 5) Performance Assessment Directions 6) Performance Assessment Rubric 7) Performance Assessment Gallery Walk 8) Book Cover Design and Rubric Supporting Activities 9) Runnin' by: Pharrell Williams - Song Lyric Analysis 10) Activity to accompany the Spaceflight video on Brainpop 11) Activity to accompany the History of Computers video on Brainpop I would LOVE to hear from you! Comment and/or question on my blog or my TPT store. 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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