This week
your students can become a part of history!
They can become part of a team made up of artists, social media, NASA
officials, and more to help celebrate the launch of the Magnetospheric
MultiScale (MMS) mission this week. What’s
that, you say? The MMS Mission is a set
of 4 satellites that will be launched this week to study magnetic reconnections
in the magnetosphere? Still not clear? These four satellites are going into space to
study the explosions that cause “space weather.” These explosions of energy can wreak havoc
with our electrical systems, astronauts, other expensive satellites and our
everyday tv, radio and phone transmissions.
The first challenge
A couple of years ago, I
was given the opportunity to help develop lessons around a new NASA Mission,
The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) a mssion that was not even going to launch for a couple of years.
Our mission (and we chose to accept it) was to design a lesson that
would teach kids around the world what the mission was all about and why it was
important AND we had to include a social media component. We decided to design a truly authentic
mission and turn that challenge around to our students. The MMS Challenge was
born. Students from all over participated and shared their videos, artwork, models and activities that would teach other children about the MMS Mission. Check out what students have done to meet the challenge.
A new challenge
Fast forward to today….the
mission is launching this week and we are once again asking students to become an
integral part of the team. What better
way to demonstrate in a very real way, the wide variety of careers involved in
such an undertaking than to talk to some of the people that are directly
involved. We would love to have your
students meet our team, learn about the mission and share through social
media. Our team includes Father of
Digital Art Laurence Gartel, NASA MMS Education Outreach TEAM, NASA MMS Social
Media Team, students and teachers.
Introduction to the
mission
There are a number of
great short videos that you can use to introduce your students to the mission.
Another way to get your
students acquainted with the purpose of the mission is to use the SCAN tool at
TregoED to learn and discuss why the mission is important from different points
of view. SCAN is a free, private online
discussion tool. Teachers should
register at TregoED.org and set up the SCAN lesson, Space Exploration and You: SCAN the NASA MMS Mission to get a
unique URL for their class discussion.
Each step of the SCAN critical thinking strategy will allow students to See
the important issues, clarify them, Assess what is important and Name next
steps. Students discuss the issues from the
point of view of an astronaut, student, electric company owner, and satellite
company owner to determine how the MMS mission could have an impact on their
daily lives. An engaging way to get them talking about the mission in a real
time online classroom.
Find lesson plans and activities that your
students can do to learn about the mission.
Make the
math-science connections by mapping out the size of one of the satellites in
your classroom with this activity.
Get them involved
Encourage
your students to participate as a journalist, scientist, artist or engineer and
share their knowledge of the launch through social media.
Details coming
soon (email me at sanwoz@gmail.com if you want me to email you the details) on how you can join a student led team, on the afternoon of March 11 or
12. Meet the Father of Digital Art Laurence Gartel, NASA MMS Education Outreach
Team, NASA MMS Social Media Team, and other NASA MMS Officials and follow and
post on our social media channels (#magrecon):
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MagMultiScale
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NASA_MMS
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/nasamms
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NASA_MMS
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/nasamms
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