World space week
World Space Week takes place annually from 4-10 October but having a Space Week is a great thing to do at any time of the year. This year’s theme celebrates space and sustainability.
Space and sustainability
Exploring space is super important to help with Earth’s sustainability. Finding out more about space gives us information about the Earth, our solar system and the role of gases in our atmosphere. This can then help scientists and us with the best actions to make sure we keep Earth and our whole solar system sustainable.
Using satellites in outer space, we can monitor changes and promote the responsible use of land and natural resources to protect our ecosystems. Earth’s ecosystems are essential to life as we know it, contributing to some of our most basic needs like water, food and clean air. So, ensuring we know as much as we can about Earth and our solar system will help tremendously.
Here are some ideas to get you started thinking about World Space Week as a class.
What’s it like in outer space?
What is it like in outer space? Your students will have to use their imaginations to answer that question, even if they have already learned extensive content about the universe beyond. Unless they have actually taken a rocket into orbit, your students will have to speculate what those outer regions are like. Divide your students into groups of four to talk about what they imagine outer space to be like. During their discussions, your students should try to use sensory descriptions when sharing their ideas.
You can ask them questions like the following. What does it feel like in space? What can you see? Do you hear anything? What is it you hear? Can you smell anything? What does it smell like? Is there any taste in the air? What will you eat while you are there? Giving students some informational books about space may help them put detail in their descriptions.
Encourage your students this World Space Week to be creative and use their imaginations in this activity. They may say they can smell green cheese when they are near the moon. They may see bits of ash floating by that have come loose from the sun. Because your students are using their imaginations, there are no wrong answers here as long as they can give good explanations for their ideas.
Space postcards
Do you ever send postcards when you are on holidayvacation? Have your students ever sent a postcard to someone from the U.S.? Have a collection of postcards available for your class a collection of postcards from as many places as you can find. They are even more useful if they have a message written on them. Then give your class some time to look at the postcards and read the messages that the senders have written. Ask your students what they would want to say to their friends and family if they were to send a postcard from outer space. Would they use the usual, “Having a great time. Wish you were here,” or something more original?
Tell your students that they are going to write postcards to three people from outer space. They must imagine themselves there when they write the postcards. Give your students some pieces of card. Then have each student write three postcards to people, imagining that they are writing from space. Your students should also either draw or paste a picture onto the front of the card just as an actual postcard would have. You can have your students drop their postcards into a classroom mailbox. Then post the cards on a bulletin board so the rest of the class can enjoy what their peers have written. You should post some cards with the message facing out and others with the pictures facing out.
Once you take down your class’s postcards, encourage them to send the postcards to the people they wrote to, but make sure they explain the purpose of the class project when they do.
Living in outer space
For many years, people have dreamt of the day that human beings would live in outer space. Whether it was the moon, another planet or a man-made space station, people have imagined themselves living in outer space for generations. There are plenty of movies and television shows to prove it, too. Encourage your students to think about the future. Can they picture themselves living somewhere other than planet earth?
Pair your students with one another and give them time to discuss what it might be like to live someplace other than earth. Each pair should work together to think about, discuss and describe what it would be like to live in this other place. The pair should draw a picture of their farfetched home and then present to the class the details about this place. Give each pair a chance to work on their public speaking, and then ask your class to vote on which scenario they think is most realistic or most likely to come true.
Is there life on other planets?
Some people have very strong opinions as to whether or not life exists on other planets. Do your pupils students have opinions on the subject? If there is anyone who has a relatively strong belief on each side, divide your class for a debate. Give children students some time to research and present a supported argument either for or against the proposition that there is life on other planets. If you have a class of at least twelve, put four pupils students on each side of the debate. For the remaining four, have them act as judges in the debate.
When the rest of the class has presented its arguments and had an opportunity for rebuttal, it is time for the final four to determine which side has presented a better argument. If you desire, have the judges work together to write an opinion, similar to those a judge would write, stating which side of the debate was more convincing and had stronger support.
Take a survey
Have you ever challenged your class to write a survey and then go out and talk to participants? If not, the topic of life on other planets is a great topic to begin with to celebrate World Space Week. Divide your class into groups of four or five and have each group write a survey on life on other planets. Then have your groups go out into the school and ask other classes and children for a moment to answer a few questions. This activity will give your students practice speaking as well as give them different opinions.
After your students have gotten enough participants in their surveys, have them come back to class and discuss the results. Were they surprised at what people believe? Did most people share their own opinions? What can they learn from the opinions of others?
Learning about space through these activities is vital for children to expand their knowledge and understand more complex things. Exploration in space is important as it gives us a lot of information about our planet, including climate change, the air we breathe and much more.
For more information on how you can help support our planet, check out our oceans blog and read about how you can help protect them.
