Last February, I attended NASA's Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. One word, WOW! What an incredible experience. I attended every minute of learning and really got caught up in the magic and amazement of space exploration. Now, I live around the corner, could probably walk to NASA so to say, I took it for granted would be an understatement. I knew it was there but now I realize what a gift it is.
That is Walter posing in my pictures of the legendary Gene Kranz and the Shuttle Mock-up. He attended many a session with me throughout the weekend.
I had never heard of SEEC until this year and hope to never miss another one. Starting with this post, I will be sharing several lessons that were inspired by SEEC that my friend Valerie Blackburn and I developed for our Summer Camp that we made Space themed after attending SEEC! It really had us wrapped up in the moment and still using the knowledge 4 months later to help foster learning and creativity in students!
This blog entry is to share the Design Your Own Mission Patch activity we developed from a great presentation by Brian Ewenson. Below is the patch that Walter and I created to represent me as a teacher!
Valerie and I wanted to embrace the A in STEAM learning and allow for not only creativity but some personal ownership and self of each team member. We were blown away. Every 'Mission' (table group) really embraced the activity and theme. Below were our patches and Mission Worksheets.
These were fabulous. The WS template (pictured below) was to allow freedom to pick things that represented them, rather it be video games or pizza! We wanted them to own their Mission
There is a great lesson template online from New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science LodeStar Astronomy Center that can be found here. Me being me, or course, I had to make it harder on myself. I needed like 10 Patch options so every option was available to the students.
We also had a handout developed from all our research and gave one to each group so they knew the history and inspiration that goes in to a Mission Patch design. The above lesson from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science LodeStar Astronomy Center has some great information.
You may get our badge templates and rubric here for FREE!
I want to use this in my math class next year. I think it would be a great way to set a math goal and have the students tell me about them selves. It can be used beyond Space learning! I love how our students embraced the activity and taught us about themselves!
Enjoy,
Lisa
