After spending an amazing week at NASA's Johnson Space Center for the PSTI program and learning about all of the wonderful technological resources available to teachers, I made a goal to help my classroom in the fall with the purchase of an iPad.
I have seen SO many effective ways to make education more interesting and motivational through the use of an iPad, and I know that studies have shown the technology can be life-changing for students with autism.
I have involved myself in a program called The Puzzling Piece, through which my friends and family can purchase jewelry from their website to support autism. After I sell 60 necklaces, The Puzzling Piece will provide my classroom with an iPad.
If you are interested in supporting this cause, click here.
Remember to put my FIRST and LAST name in the box where it asks for Challenger's Name.
Thank you so much in advance for the support of autism awareness, technology, and my classroom. Please let me know if you purchase a piece so that I can keep you updated on our goal, as well as thank you personally for your support.
Our professional development after lunch was on a topic called Mission Geography. We received a disk full of activities for all grades about how to use NASA (such as space imaging) to teach geography.
I was very thankful for this resource because geography is definitely not one of my strong points. I thought the activities were very interesting as well!
Activity: Pocket Solar System
This activity allows students to learn about the size of the solar system and the length between the planets. To make this project, you only need a sheet of receipt paper and a writing utensil. It involves folding and labeling, and really shows you how close together the first few planets are and how far away Pluto is.
Activity: Night Space Imaging Puzzle
For our first activity, we had to cut out pieces of a picture of the United Sates from space at night to make a puzzle. The picture was only black and white, so we had to piece together the puzzle based on areas of high light (big cities), areas of jagged, large dark areas (oceans) and shapes of the states.
It involved a lot of higher-order thinking and taught us about geography and population.
Activity: Mars and Earth Process Match
Our second activity involved using our knowledge gained on Tuesday about land processes (impacts, mountains, etc) and we had to compare the processes between Earth and Mars.
This activity taught us about what processes are similar on the different planets and therefore how they both form.
Activity: ISS EarthKAM Bingo
For ISS EarthKam Bingo, each group received a bingo board which had pictures of Earth from a space craft, aircraft, or the ground. The students must match the process and where the camera is to be able to cover that square. For example, if the caller calls out 'Stadium, air' the students must find the picture of a stadium taken from an airplane. This activity involves critical thinking to determine what each picture is of and where the picture is taken from. This bingo builds spatial relationships and vocabulary.
FYI: NASA has two programs, the EarthKAM and the MoonKAM which you can use to view pictures of the Earth from the ISS and view pictures of the Moon, respectively. This is a great way to view anywhere on Earth from space, and will be great for students who have lived in or have been to other places and would like to compare. Students and teachers can also request specific pictures to be taken from space here. (Ps. KAM stands for Knowledge Aquired Middle School)
Some final topics we discussed during this presentation were:
What is a planet? Based on the controversy between the reclassification of Pluto, NASA has gone to greater lengths to educate on what a planet actually is. See that video here.
Dark Sky Network - Visit http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/ to see the Night Sky website. This site is highly recommended. It has all the information you need to know about astronomy, all in one place. This includes clubs that have events near your school (there is an 'International Observe the Moon Night' coming up near me in September), as well as lesson plans, activities, and representatives that will visit your school.
View the ISS from Earth - this was not discussed during this development, but one of our coordinators did mention it yesterday and I just remembered to add this in. You can actually see the ISS (International Space Station) from Earth at night, a few times a month! You can go online to this site to find out the exact date and time the ISS is available from your city, as well as for how long. I was excited to find that the ISS will be visible for 3 minutes tonight from Johnson Space Center at 9:18pm! (By the way... I never thought I would be at the point in my life that I would be excited about something like this).
The second topic we discussed with Mr. Casaburri was about robots: what they are, how they are used, rules incorporated with them, and how to build them.
Activity - Robot Arm Challenge:
In this challenge, we were given materials (jumbo craft sticks with holes and metal brads) and asked to make a robot arm. We were told that the best arms would have a shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
My creativity wasn't really shining through today,
but other people had some great ideas!
Mr. Casaburri suggested continuing the lesson and making it more complicated by giving the students plastic forks, spoons, cups, etc to use and give them additional challenges such as 'How much material (e.g. plastic beads) can you pick up with your robot arm?
Activity - Robotic Finger:
This was a very simple activity thatwas only made out of a piece of paper (or cardstock) with a template, and a piece of string.
We rolled up the template (following the instructions printed on the page), taped the roll into a tube, cut out triangles (from the template), and added a piece of string that ran through the middle of the finger.
By pulling the string, we were able to bend the finger at the joints (the triangles that we cut out).
We could put multiple fingers together to make a hand!
Activity - I Want to Hold Your Hand:
This is a more complicated activity better for the older students. We did not complete this activity personally due to time constraints, but we were able to see how it was made and view the hand up close to see how it works.
Making this hand involves cardboard, straws, string, and tape.
These hands and fingers are based on a robot, or robonaut (robot astronaut) named R2 (yes, this is real) who is working at the International Space Center now.
I did not know about R2 until I began researching for my PSTI week, and I found it so interesting. I feel like some of this information has been hidden from me, even though I know I just didn't show an interest in it before!
This is R2:
To find out more information about R2, click here.
All of our Thursday professional development work was done with Mr. Angelo Casaburri, a NASA Aerospace Educational Specialist. Mr. Casaburri knows 'a little bit about everything' and was happy to share his knowledge with us. He was also extremely comedic, and kept us engaged and interested throughout the day.
For the first hour, we focused on a lesson called Rockets Educator Guide, in which we built foam rockets. This guide is extremely useful, with many activities to teach about rockets, history about rockets, and wonderful graphics. It is also important to note that all of NASA Curriculum Material is public domain, which means the link above was made for YOU to use in your classroom, for free.
Activity - Foam Rocket:
The activity that we started with from this guide was the creation of a foam rocket, made from polyurethane foam (found at any home improvement stores in the plumbing section... very cheap. I have used this same foam as a cheap base for wreaths!)
The rocket we created is based off of the finger rocket found in toy stores and museum gift shops all over the world:
The foam rocket was extremely easy to make. Basically, each student receives a rocket body of 12" of polyurethane foam, a template for the fins, a rubber band, and duct tape. The student cuts out the fins, slides them into slots in the foam (which they must cut), and support it with tape. They also must duct tape the rubber band to the end using duct tape.
To incorporate mathematics into the project, students use their rockets to measure the angle at which they launch the rocket compared to the distance the rocket flies. The data is collected in a data sheet (which is included in the packet).
Activity - Pop! Rocket Launcher
We didn't complete this activity together, but Mr. Casaburri did have an example which he showed us in the classroom. In this rocket launcher, you connect a path of pvc pipe which has an empty 2-liter soda bottle on one end and the rocket on the other. When you stomp on the empty soda bottle, enough air pressure runs through the pvc pipe (1/2") to shoot off the rocket.
This final activity the speaker talked about (though we did not complete) was called 3... 2... 1... PUFF! In this activity, students create small rockets out of paper, pencils, and PVC pipe.
I really enjoyed these activities because they are guaranteed to teach students in an authentic way and keep them interested in science and math. In my senior internship, the boys in the class were absolutely obsessed with making and flying paper airplanes, and I have seen this will all ages. What elementary school boy DOESN'T like making paper airplanes?! By introducing rockets and allowing students to make and fly something while they are learning, the material will be enjoyed more and the students will remember the material later on.
To sign up for NASA e-mails to receive weekly updates on new educational materials, resources, and events, visit their website at: http://www.nasa.gov -> For Educators -> (Right hand side of page) Express Email -> Enter Email -> Submit
Here I will simply list and describe some technological websites and applications to test out for the classroom:
Livebinders - A great organizing site which allows you to put information in a limitless virtual 'binder' organized by tabs and topics.
Studyjams - A website similar to BrainPop (but free!) which provides math and science activities and information. This site is actually run by Scholastic, so it is a reliable resource.
Symbaloo - An internet 'desktop' which organizes popular sites or bookmarks on to a visual 'desktop' where students can easily access educational materials. Would be great for primary levels because it corresponds pictures and symbols with the words so that the students can find programs easily.
Classdojo - This was one of my favorite programs shown over the course of the evening. You run this program on your computer. Each student's name and an avatar is shown on the screen. Using your smartphone (or iPad) you can circulate the classroom and award students points (or take away points) based on different actions (being disrespectful, having homework, helping others). This is pretty much an interactive point system (Behavior Management Software). It also tracks your statistics and at the end of the day gives you data based on how the class did and why the majority of them lost or gained points. If you want to keep the points private, you can do so by just having the sound ('ding' for plus a point and 'awwww' for minus a point) playing on the speakers but hide the screen from the students.
Airsketch - a very useful app for the iPad that allows you to use your device as a remote so that you can walk around the classroom and still control the computer. This way, you aren't locked in to the front of the classroom.
Wednesday, Thursday 27th, 2012 9:00am - 12:00pm Space Center Houston
We received a great opportunity on Wednesday to spend the first half of our day at Space Center Houston, the interactive and 'touristy' part of Johnson Space Center. The building was amazing, and reminded me a lot of a science center. There was a lot of educational materials for everyone to explore, as well as models of space suits, the International Space Center, the solar system, and a space shuttle.
The play place also looked pretty amazing:
While at Space Center Houston, we spent one hour working with the students from Space Camp, one hour in a professional development, and one hour exploring the center (and spending time in the gift shop).
I won't spend too much time discussing the hour spent with the students, because we simply completed our Mission Patch and Space Glove lessons which I mentioned in the last post. During this time, we did learn that as a teacher, it is very important to be flexible with your plans and ready for everything. While we prepared our lesson for twenty 8, 9, and 10 year-olds, we ended up with about 7 four, five, or six year-olds. Luckily, this was an easier lesson to adapt, but it is important to remember that anything can go wrong.
For our professional development, we met with Elaine Lapka from NASA's Educator Resource Center (ERC). This center is run solely to provide educators all over the country with information and resources about the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects. As a teacher, remember that there are free resources, such as this one, available to use in the classroom! Get out of the textbook! Use other means of providing information so that your students stay engaged.
Ms. Lapka spent much of the time going over NASA's ERC Website (http://www.nasa.gov/education/ercn). NASA's education website really is a great one to play around with, because they provide so many lesson plans for many subject areas that are easily accessible, align with standards, and are FREE!
One of the resources from the website that I found really interesting was something called NASA TV. NASA TV streams on the web for free and gives coverage of all major NASA events. In August, we have a landing on mars planned... what a great thing to watch with your class!!
One other thing Ms. Lapka mentioned was NEON - the NASA Educators Online Network. This is actually a Social Networking site designed just for teachers by NASA to keep them in the loop with changing information.
With each day, we are provided with more and more online resources that I never knew existed. It frightens me that I was about to go into teaching without knowing about these materials!! They seem endless and overwhelming, but I'm looking forward to beginning lesson planning so that I can use these resources appropriately.
Our evening professional development consisted of planning for the next day's activities. We were visiting the space camp at Space Center Houston and doing an activity with the students there, and we had to make sure we were prepared.
We were split into two groups, and each group was going to do a different activity with the students. The first group was going to do make Mission Patches with their kids, and the other group was going to do a lesson on Space Gloves.
Mission Patches:
Mission patches are actual patches that are designed by astronauts and graphic designers. Astronauts receive these patches at the end of each mission.
Here are some examples:
To read more about mission patches, visit NASA's webpage.
For this activity, students are to make their own mission patches to signify themselves and a mission of their lives. Here are some student examples shown:
To prepare, each PSTI partipant created their own Mission Patch to represent a long or short term goal that represents who we were.
For example, I created my Mission Patch with a puzzle piece to symbolize Autism Awareness, an apple to represent teaching, a sketch of me with children, and the words 'Educator' and Lifelong Learner' to represent my goals to be a great educator and successful in continuing my education.
Activity: Space Gloves Discovery
The other activity we planned for with our students was a discovery of Space gloves and using them in space.
The activities we planned included using garden gloves to zip and unzip, buckle, button, weave, play games (Perfection, Operation, Puzzles), and draw a picture. When the activity was over, we planned to give each camper a laminated 'Certification card' to congratulate them.
We only had half an hour with the campers so were limited on our activities, but we I was researching space places I found an awesome idea to teach about the layers of the space gloves by having students build their own gloves using household materials. Find that activity here.
One more thing I wanted to mention was the box we are using for activity. You can build your own glove box with a plastic tub, PVC pipe, and gloves. Find those instructions here.
We were able to sit right in that control room and listen to Gene Kranz describe his own experience and feelings during the Apollo missions, as well as learn about his job at NASA as a Flight Director.
This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event, and we were all very excited to have this opportunity.
To learn more about Gene Kranz, visit his wikipedia page.
