Teacher - Blog Posts

Ideas for Teachers: Apollo Mission Control Simulation Lesson Plan

In this activity students will watch clips of system failures from Apollo 13 movie and must come up with their own solutions to the problem. This activity would be good for 3rd or 4th graders but can be modified to be harder or easier.

Introduce the Flight Positions

Split up students into five groups EECOM (Electrical Environmental and Communication) Power, EECOM Environment, BOOSTER, GNC (Guidance and Navigation Control). and SURGEON. They should have paper and a writing utensil.  

Teacher: "You are each flight controllers in NASA's Mission Control in Houston, TX. Have a picture on the board of NASA's mission control. For this mission I am the flight director but you are all  experts on a space craft system. You are in charge of three astronauts heading to the Moon in this space craft. If you have something you want communicated to the astronaut you must tell me. Have a picture of the Apollo 13 command module attached to the Lunar Lander on the board.

Point at EECOM Power

Teacher: "EECOM Power, you are in charge of the power system that keeps the communication system, computers, heat, and lights on the space craft. You will get data on the battery level, amps, volts and which systems are on."

Point at EECOM Environment

Teacher: "EECOM Environment, you are in charge of the air system on board the space craft. This means scrubbing the carbon out of the air and supplying enough oxygen. You will get data on the O2 CO2 and poisonous gas levels."

Point at BOOSTER

Teacher: "You are in charge of the boosters that fly the astronauts too and from the Moon. You make sure that there is enough fuel to accomplish each task. You will get data on the fuel level and functioning boosters."

Point at GNC

Teacher: "You are in charge of making sure the space capsule is flying in the right direction. You will get data on the flight path of the space craft."

Point at SURGEON

Teacher: "You are in charge of the health of the astronauts. You will get data on their temperature, vital organs, and comments from them on their well being,"

Above are examples of data slides you can display I made with an old Mission Control Picture. Note that these levels and figures in coming up simulation data are not very accurate. For example - in reality over 15% CO2 would cause black outs and brain asphyxiation. What is most important is that data is fluctuating and the students learn what data is important, how to write down observations and react.

Begin Mission

Pull up the current and nominal flight data on the board.

Teacher: "Here is the current data for each of your systems. Write them down because they may change and you may need to fix your systems when something goes wrong."

Students write down data.

Houston We've Had A Problem

Teacher: "These three astronauts are on a mission to the Moon, but something goes horribly wrong. And you have to do something about it. Let's see what happened..."

Show this clip: https://youtu.be/kAmsi05P9Uw

Teacher: "You are tens of thousands of miles away from the astronauts but must fix the problem. Pull up the new set of data. Here the latest data. Tell me whats wrong and how you think we can fix it.

Students write down new data and discuss among themselves whats going on. Students then let the flight director know whats going wrong. Change the data three times so it fluctuates, don't wait for students to write everything down, this is a real time crisis and things won't run as planned.

Example of data slide 4, the vitals show error because in real life the Apollo 13 astronauts took off their vital sensors for privacy.

Teacher checks in with EECOM Power and lets students share their thoughts

Teacher: "Looks like we are loosing power rapidly and can only use certain devices at once. We need to figure out how keep the astronauts alive, send data back to Earth using the computers, and collect enough data on board so we can keep each flight team updated. Hand them batteries, paper clips/ wires, lights and switches. Each light represents an electrical device on board. You must find the correct electrical configuration to power the devices and order in which they must be powered on."

Teacher checks in with EECOM Environment & SURGEON and lets students share their thoughts

Teacher: "Looks like we are losing oxygen for the astronauts to breath. How long till its all gone? Students suggest answers. Here are the materials on board to create a new air filter. This square peg in a round hole. Make it work. Dump the materials on their table." Inspired by this clip: https://youtu.be/C2YZnTL596Q

Teacher checks in with BOOSTER  & GNC and lets students share their thoughts

Teacher: Has BOOSTER & GNC sit closer to each other "Looks like we are off trajectory to the moon, the lunar lander is broken, the space craft is accelerating in the wrong direction we are losing fuel and the only logical thing to do now is head back to Earth. Both of you are needed to solve this problem. Give them a model of Earth, Moon, Capsule and attached Moon Lander. Work together to figure out how to then back to Earth with limited fuel."

Teacher: Talking to all. "Once you come up with a solution come up to the front and explain to your fellow flight controllers what you came up with and why it will work. The other flight controllers can argue if they think it won't work and why. Astronaut lives are at stake so it is necessarily to speak up if something is a faulty idea or you have a better solution."

Students work to solve their problems. Give them a little bit of time to work on it. After each team presents their solution.

Teacher: "Let's see how the NASA engineers solve the problems you were given..."

Note: You may want to scan these clips for swear words before showing them in class. And end the clip accordingly.

EECOM Power: https://youtu.be/KhoXFVQsIxw

EECOM Environment & SURGEON: https://youtu.be/Zm5nUEG5Bjo

BOOSTER & GNC: https://youtu.be/gmLgi5mdTVo

Teacher: "Lastly let's see if the crew makes it back after your adjustments"

https://youtu.be/-1BPx5Wsm7k

Celebrate with astronaut ice cream!

Ideas for Teachers: Space Lesson Plan

When I return back to my hometown I will be visiting schools to share about my NASA experience and teach programming. This is my lesson plan for teaching about NASA and space. One of my first stops will be my Mom’s Kindergarten class so you will notice my lesson plan is catered for elementary students.

Morning: Letter Of The Day

Start the day with a regular greeting an opportunity for students to share thoughts around the room. Your usual "magic talking stick" can be replaced by a space related object like an inflatable planet or space craft.

"Today we are going to visit your letter of the week in a way that is out of this world." Cheesy I know but we should let the students define what outer space is. "What is outer space?" Write down the students answers and this is the dictionary definition... the void between planets and other celestial bodies. Kindergarten classes often have letters of the week and outer-space things are very easy to categorize into letters.

Story Time

I had a unique opportunity to meet Buzz Aldrin, purchase a children's book written by him, and get it signed by him. I plan to introduce the students to the author showing pictures of him and the Apollo 11 landing. There are many children's books written by or starring astronauts. This particular story has a project involving creating a Mars habitat that students will compete after story time.

Nap Time

Prior to nap time I show a neat star mapping project put together by Google called 10,000 Stars. You can tour stars from around the Milky Way and see their name, color, size and brightness. The ambient music playing in the background is excellent for nap time.

Afternoon Snack: Eat like An Astronaut

"The International Space Station is a science lab orbiting the Earth every hour and a half. Let's hear about how they live in space." Show a few clips like this...

Chris Hadfield's Space Kitchen making a "sandwich": https://youtu.be/AZx0RIV0wss

Karen Nyberg washes he hair in space: https://youtu.be/kOIj7AgonHM

Sleeping in space: https://youtu.be/UyFYgeE32f0

Running in space with Karen Nyberg: https://youtu.be/_ikouWcXhd0

Pass out freeze dried astronaut food like ice cream, grapes and strawberries. While watching the astronaut clips.

Ideas for Teachers: Programming Lesson Plan 

When I return back to my hometown I will be visiting schools to share about my NASA experience and teach programming. I will be sharing my lesson plans here for a day of programming and a day of space related learning. Let’s start with programming. One of my first stops will be my Mom’s Kindergarten class so you will notice my lesson plan is catered for elementary students.

Morning: What is programming?

After your usual morning activities; “G-O-O-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G Good Morning Aye Aye Good Morning *clap* *clap”, drawing sticks and telling about your weekend, introduce students to the concept of programming. Ask students, “What do you think programming is?” Write down the answers on the white board. After answer along the lines of “Programming is telling a computer to do things - make a video game, control a robot, create an App, and more!” Next I would show them a short video with our current stars in technology.

Lets Start Coding

“Enough talk about programming let’s do it!” A great introduction to coding is a Made With Code project. The Yeti project is my favorite of these activities. Students take turns dragging and dropping blocks of code assigning attributes to the Yeti fur color and feet size. After assigning attributes the students can watch the Yeti dance. When I have had students write yeti code they enjoy changing the colors and dance many times!

Afternoon: Code Related Rotations

Skills needed to program are not only found in front of a screen but working in a team, time for activity rotations. (These will be the centers I will have but you all can have different ones.) At one center I will have my LEGO robot for the students to program. There will be objects that the robot can pick up or avoid. At the second center 3D printed puzzles will be available for students to solve. At the third center an activity with half a blank page and half a lined page. Students can draw a picture of what they think would be cool to program and write about it. Last center create a robot out of construction paper, foil, or other mediums.

Now You Try

Take a trip to the computer lab and let students try to program on their own. Hour of Code is a great resource where students can learn programming at various levels. Two activities I tested out an enjoyed was a Flappy Bird Game Creator and Star Wars Drone Game. Students can code on their own or work in a group to help each other figure things out.

Have fun teaching students about programming! In the future I hope to get a Sphero, 3D printer, and Arduino type kit. Maybe you all have other ideas for a programming lesson plan.

27/12/22

so i’m seeing her next week :)

she replied ???????????

i think our story just ended. made a reason to go into school today and she had left by the time i got there. tomorrow is the last day of term and there’s so little chance of seeing her and i have no reason to be there . but i wanted to apologise for the email and leave a way to get in touch but our last interaction is now just a normal conversation and that stupid email. i know it’s stupid to think that her leaving early today had anything to do with me but i can’t stop thinking that she wants to avoid me.

she’s not going to be here all summer as she’s going travelling so i can’t even dream about running into her some random day, and the next time i could see her is next year now if even .

i don’t want to email her again because i feel like she hates me but i feel so…. crushed

how does 7 years and all those chats and silly memories just end on a random week day and i didn’t even know it was the last one ?

went to leave books back in to school today and she wasn’t there .

my friends and i went out the other night and i got drunk and emailed her 😭😭😭😭😭so embarrassed i just deleted the whole email app

it wasn’t even bad , but i have to go in and give books back now so going to be very awkward. also mildly afraid she’ll hate me ??

just did my last exam so i will ….. never see her again

unless i go in next week to return books so i can speak to her

what do i SAY tho she’s not here all summer and i’m too nervous too ask for her number

i literally hate when i go to talk to her and there’s someone in her room… it’s always the same guy too like LEAVE this is my time

she emailed me unprompted today WHAT

last class w her , got photos including a few of just us two🥺

first time seeing j back at school after easter and

i spent all lunch in her room and it just . felt like home

middle of easter holidays … i miss her sm

j recommended me some movies so . weekend plans x

1 Week left to easter, 2 weeks when we come back , then that is …. it for school . forever

we are off for exams from may but our final official day is june …. i’m going try and come in and see her frequently before this

it actually rips my heart up though because although i’ll probably ask her if we can stay in touch , i’m not guaranteed to see her ever again

i want to cook her dinner so bad

30/03

j recommended me a movie to watch called room in rome ?? and she was like oh it’s 18+ be careful and i replied IM 18 IM LEGAL so…. embarrassed 🫠🫠

but i looked this movie up and it’s literally just . lesbian sex WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

28/03

saw her for a chat today i think i disturbed her marking tho lol

I WANT TO POST PICS OF J AND THIRST BUT THAT IS SUCH A BAD IDEA

my sister just agreed w me that j is hot idk how to feel