Top 10 Aerospace Lesson Plans

As teachers, we all know that students are more likely to retain information they find interesting.  When I first started teaching, I always looked forward to my space unit the most, as it was easy to motivate kids to learn about stars, planets, and spaceflight. Something about the mysteries of space makes kids sit up and take notice! After several years, I started incorporating more and more aerospace into the rest of my curriculum, until one day I realized that nearly every unit I taught contained some aspect of spaceflight.

All in all, there are hundreds of ways to integrate aerospace throughout the science curriculum. Here are my top 10 favorite lesson plans - use them to inspire and encourage even your most reluctant learners! 

1.  While most teachers don’t readily consider the human body an aerospace topic, there are many physiology applications when it comes to spaceflight. Microgravity has a dramatic effect on our bodies, and students will love conducting the Puffy Head, Bird Legs activity to simulate what happens to body fluids in space.

2.  During units on the muscular or skeletal system, students can enjoy learning how Muscles and Bones are affected in space.  In this unit, there are numerous hands on activities that make concepts come alive!

3.  If you are teaching a unit on animal behavior, vertebrates, or fish, your students will be fascinated to learn about the First Vertebrate Mating in Space conducted with Japanese Medaka fish aboard the space shuttle in 1994. If you have older students, you might even choose to have them construct devices to test their own “fish astronauts” in the classroom.

4.  Can Plants Be Grown in Space?  Liven up a unit on plants by asking students to grow plants for long-duration space missions. Which plants are best to use – wheat, soy, or something else?  How should growth chambers be constructed, and what kind of light should be used?  What types of meals can be made with different types of plants?  The possibilities for inquiry here are endless!

5.   Astronauts on long-duration space missions need to bring or produce all their own life support materials, including food, water, and oxygen. This means they are essentially part of a Closed Ecosystem, in which nothing in transported in or out. Constructing a closed ecosystem in the classroom can drive home important life science points, as well as provide your students with an opportunity for inquiry. Can ghost shrimp survive in a closed ecosystem for long periods of time? How is a bottle ecosystem similar to a habitat on Mars? Can you design a habitat that will support humans for one year on Mars?

6.  Spice up your Force and Motion unit by incorporating elements of spaceflight! How do we use Newton’s Laws when planning a spaceflight?  How do rockets use Newton’s laws?  Design a Personal Satellite Assistant using activities from NASA!

7.  Rocket Me into Space will also supplement any unit on force and motion as elementary students engage in a lesson which reinforces rockets as a vehicle that uses Newton's third law of motion. In addition, the ideas of thrust, control and weight - all principles that engineers deal with when building a rocket - are introduced.

8.  Earth science units provide the perfect avenue for comparing and contrasting the surface features of Earth and Mars.  Mapping the Surface of a Planet allows students to interpret real planetary data from the Mars Global Surveyor Mission, developing conclusions about the geologic history of Mars based on similar Earth features.  The Teacher’s Guide to these activities provides valuable background information and answers to all questions in the Student Guide.

9.  Add a twist to your weather unit by allowing your students to be weather reporters for the Martian Sun-Times by gathering and interpreting weather data for Earth and Mars. Student worksheets for this unit provide an overview as well as questions to answer using the Martian Sun-Times website.

10.  While teaching the concept of velocity in a physical science unit, try TE Activity: The Great Gravity Escape .  Using these activities, students examine the principles of orbit using water balloons and a piece of string to see how gravity and the velocity of a spacecraft balance to form an orbit, as well as how engineers design huge rockets so that they can get out of the Earth's gravity.