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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AuthorApollo 13 fan. Educator. Lifelong Learner. Third generation Boilermaker. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Collaborator. Click Subscribe to stay updated!Archives
July 2022
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