5 Ways to Use NASA in the Classroom
There are few topics that tend to be universally appealing to all students, so when we find them as educators we tend to latch onto them and run with it! One of these topics that tends to span space and time is, well, space! (Do forgive my space pun.) From elementary school through high school - and beyond - students of all genders and backgrounds tend to find at least a passing interest in space, whether it’s space exploration, the open-ended question about life beyond Earth’s atmosphere, or just the beauty and wonder of the sky and galaxies beyond.
Luckily for educators (and space enthusiasts alike!), NASA is dedicated to the continuous communication of its vision of “[reaching] new heights and [revealing] the unknown for the benefit of humankind.” There is no shortage of resources provided by NASA, which can be a bit overwhelming if you aren’t sure what to look for. We’ve got the top 5 ways for you to use NASA in your classroom ahead - but by no means is this an exhaustive list of all that NASA has to offer!
Utilize NASA Lesson Plans + Units of Study
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement is tasked with, among other things, creating high-quality science lessons for educators to use in their classrooms around the globe. There are nearly 750 lesson plans available on NASA’s STEM Engagement website - and that number grows monthly. The best way to integrate NASA lessons into your classroom is by searching keywords found in your standards in their educational resources search portal. You can filter the results by subject, material type, and audience.
For example, a search of “force and motion” yields 62 results under “lesson plans/activities.” NASA’s search portal includes lesson plans from all of NASA’s affiliated-organizations, including the many created by JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The lesson I selected, “Simple Rocket Science,” is a JPL designed-activity, and is ready-to-go with just a few simple supplies. All of NASA’s lesson plans are user-friendly and teacher-tested, and often include both suggestions for accommodations and extensions. Nearly all of the lessons indicate their NGSS-alignment.
Foster Creativity
Engaging students with NASA resources isn’t just limited to the areas of science, technology, engineering, or math. NASA offers so many opportunities for students to demonstrate and develop their creativity - particularly in writing, art, and those all-important soft skills like teamwork and collaboration! NASA hosts several contests or opportunities for students to have a hand in NASA decision-making throughout the year. You might be aware of some of these contests, as they’ve previously included naming missions or spacecraft, including most recently Percy, aka Perseverance the Mars Rover. Using the same educational resources search portal as you do for lessons, you can filter by “contests and challenges.” Currently there are 15 opportunities for students to directly engage with NASA - several of which are appropriate for students in grades K-8.
For example, the “Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest” is currently open to any student, K-12, through December 17th. This would be an amazing way to tie NASA and students’ interest in space exploration in with writing instruction. NASA provides a great prompt (including a video prompt!) and guidelines for word-count; teachers can register their entire class or students can register on their own. Every student that submits an essay receives an official certificate and an invitation to a virtual event with an astronaut. It’s a GREAT way for students to demonstrate their creativity while also honing their skills through the writing process. (Did I mention that the national winner in each grade division gets a trip with their family to watch the first Artemis test flight?!)
In addition to these educator-led opportunities for creativity, NASA’s website for students and their families have many creativity-required activities, including opportunities to engage in the making of art.
Strengthen the Home-School Connection
NASA’s outreach doesn’t just stop with educators; it continues with students and their families through their NASA-at-Home initiatives. This is a wonderful way to create a seamless transition and strengthen the connection between home and school. It’s not just kids who tend to be enthralled with space - it’s true for adults, too! Providing opportunities for families to gather around this common interest and connect it to the school day broadens opportunities for deeper learning.
NASA offers three versions of the website, K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 in order to meet students’ developmental needs. The resources and activities available for each grade-band are diverse, both in content and format. One thing that families may find particularly appealing are the activities that are “screens off,” like the monthly art challenge or making handprint art using UV light. Of course there are lots of technology-based activities as well, from storybooks to games to simulations like “Explore Mars.”
NASA’s Space Place is another great hub for activities at-home, and is designed for K-8 students to navigate independently. (Much of the content is a crossover from the NASA-at-Home initiatives.) Finally, there’s the NASA Kids Club, which is designed for elementary-aged students to engage in the most up-to-date activities about current missions and programs.
Grow Your Teaching Practice
NASA doesn’t just support educators with lesson plans, activities, and other instructional resources - they support educators with on-going professional development on a wide-range of topics. Not only that, but NASA frequently offers experiences - open to educators - that are once-in-a-lifetime (more on that later).
NASA’s STEM Engagement & Professional Resource Collaborative website has all the information you need on how to engage with NASA as an educator. They offer dozens of webinars - FOR FREE! - each month, focusing on topics both broad and narrow. For example, you can learn more about the Commercial Crew program, or you can learn more about Astro-Rats & “Mighty Mice” on the ISS. Occasionally they’ll offer parent and student-focused webinars as well.
One of the most unique things about the Collaborative is the opportunity to participate in digital badging! Both students and teachers can earn digital badges for enhancing their knowledge of STEM topics. This is a great way to track your professional growth as well as set goals for expanding your professional knowledge. Who doesn’t love a badge quest?! (For more information about using the digital badges with students, click here.)
Finally, NASA offers ways to engage through their social outreach (@NASASocial on Twitter). NASA Social events offer opportunities for educators, space enthusiasts, and influencers to get a hands-on, up-close look at NASA projects and events. While these events are currently virtual due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, they will resume in-person when it’s safe to do so. Anyone with a public social media presence (public FB page, Instagram, or Twitter) is eligible to apply, along with other criteria for a given event.
I applied for a NASA Social event in November 2019, and was selected on my first try. The event I participated in was an unmanned resupply mission to the International Space Station. Myself and other NASA Social participants had the opportunity to participate in behind-the-scenes private tours of the NASA facilities, as well as participate in all of the media opportunities - including both of the associated press conferences (I even got to ask two questions)! On our second day, we attended the launch from a restricted launch viewing area. My students and our entire school division followed along both days as I documented my experience, which not only generated interest in STEM, but opened up further opportunities for collaboration between myself, students, and our community. I highly recommend keeping your eye on the NASA Social website and subscribing to their mailing list to ensure you don’t miss out on applying when these events open back up!
Make Sure You’re in the Know!
NASA is so much more than the well-televised and promoted pomp-and-circumstance of manned missions to the International Space Station. In fact, it’s hard to keep track of just how much NASA is doing on a daily basis both here on Earth and in the vastness of space above. For example, I had *no idea* that a new satellite - to monitor changes in sea level - was being launched this weekend... and I am a self-proclaimed space nerd!
This is where NASA’s excellent communications department comes in handy. I’m signed-up for a variety of NASA email lists, and received this one just in time to make sure I’m “in the know” about the launch. Not only that, but it gave me an opportunity to share that same information with my students and their families, making curriculum connections that are both relevant and timely!
I recommend signing up for these two NASA email lists, as each serves a different purpose, and following NASA on their social media channels:
NASA EXPRESS: Your STEM Connection - this newsletter is focused on NASA’s STEM initiatives, and is curated specifically for educators, though it does include at-home activities (so it could be shared with families). It is sent weekly.
NASA Explore - this newsletter is NASA’s general-audience communication, and tends to focus on upcoming events or progress updates on current and future missions. It is sent weekly.
NASA on Social Media - NASA has a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube (also in Spanish). Note that these are the main NASA accounts. Each division of NASA has their own social media accounts, as well as each regional/local NASA center, and some notable NASA “celebrities” too (for instance, NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover). I highly recommend finding your nearest NASA-affiliated facility and following them for any opportunities that might be locally-available
Truly, I could’ve made this the “50 Ways to Use NASA in the Classroom” because the depth and breadth of what NASA has to offer is truly difficult to articulate and contain in a single post! I hope that you will try out at least one of these suggested activities and report back - my inner space nerd can’t wait to hear what you think.
