In this blog post I will describe 3 creative ways to teach about Outer Space. I often get asked, “How do you know so much about Space?” “How can I teach about Outer Space?” As a teacher you can’t be an expert on every subject, but there are certainly some subjects that you have more knowledge on and for me, that’s Space! A few years ago I lead an educational tour group from Australia to Space Camp in Alabama and to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. So if you’re looking for creative way to teach about Outer Space, you’ve come to the right place.
The creative approach I like to use
- Involves hands on design and building activities.
- It includes an information search around the room.
- It involves students using their reading skills to comprehend key parts of the information and apply it to their design.
I generally use 3 main resources to engage students in the topic of Outer Space.
TEACHING ABOUT OUTER SPACE THROUGH THE ISS (International Space Station)
The reason I like to teach about the ISS is because you can engage in real time webcams from the ISS you can also track the current position of the ISS and current studies that are happening. There’s also amazing footage from the ISS that the students may recognize, such as Chris Hadfield’s rendition of Space Oddity filmed and sung on the ISS.
The way I use this ISS resource to teach my students is.
STEP 1: I hide all the information fact sheets around the classroom.
STEP 2: STUDENTS search and find all the strips of I formation
STEP 3: Students pick out the key facts in each strip and apply it to the design of their own ISS model.
STEP 4: Students build their own model of the ISS
It really is such a fun and creative way to teach about Outer Space.
TEACHING ABOUT THE LUNAR MODULE
This is my favourite creative way to teach about the Moon. I tried to think of the way that I liked to learn as both a child and an adult, and i love any Hands-on activities.
Rather than feed all the information to the students on sheets of paper or on slides, I like to hide small strips of information around the room. Students need to go on a treasure hunt to find all the information. They read each strip, which contains key information about the LUNAR MODULE. Once they have gathered all the information strips they apply their new knowledge to designing and building their own LUNAR module.
It really is a creative way to learn about the Moon and the moon landing.
TEACHING ABOUT THE MOON BUGGY
Did you know that the MOON BUGGY was folded up and travelled inside the LUNAR MODULE? Once the Lunar Module Landed on The Moon, then they astronauts would unfold the moon buggy! Crazy, I know. So how can we teach this amazing engineering marvel to our students in a creative way?
In a similar way to the Lunar Module. I like to hide small strips of information around the room. Students need to go on a treasure hunt to find all the information. They read each strip, which contains key information about the Moon Buggy. Once they have gathered all the information strips they apply their new knowledge to designing and building their own Moon Buggy.
Your students will surprise you with these 3 creative ways to teach about Outer Space.
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