Space project week 1

So, the space project is coming along. The students have broken into groups and they have selected jobs from the list that I will attach below and each group has chosen their own mission. We have some groups going to the moon, some to ISS and one as far away at Titan. Now all of the people who have the same job are working together to complete a googledoc with the appropriate information. Most groups have broken the job down into smaller pieces and are now working away. I will check on them after Monday's class, to see how the information is coming together and will then get the groups to try to compile the information so that each student is comfortable before returning to their original groups as the expert.

Having the kids on googledocs has been really great. They like working together and I think it is interesting for them to be able to see what other students are doing in the same space where they are working. Initially I let them play for a little while just to get used to the idea of working on a collaborative document, but it didn't take long for them to settle in and work together. Some students have been on the documents this weekend, even though I explained that they would be given lots of class time this week. They were very happy when they asked me how to save the file and I told them that it was already saved!

I talked to the 2 other science teachers at my school who teach grade 9 and they are keen to do the project as well, so now all 210 students are doing this project. We decided to have a presentation day so that all students can share their projects (some will be making movies, songs, skits etc). I think the final products be more impressive because there is nothing like the motivation of having to show your work to a large audience of your peers to make students want to put something good together.

Job Descriptions
Researcher – Your job is to determine the scope and strategy for your mission. In order to do this, you need some background information on your destination, previous missions to your destination, and a comparison of your destination to the Earth (eg. Size, composition, temperature, distance from the Earth, etc). After this, you must design an experiment or plan of investigation that will be the purpose for your mission.

Safety – Your job is to understand all the risks inherent with undertaking a space mission. The most dangerous parts of any mission are taking off and landing. Be sure to research some previous tragedies so you are aware of potential problems and find out some of the modifications that will prevent similar dangers in the future. During the flight you must be aware of dangers surrounding radiation, space junk and malfunctions that may occur during a space walk or landing mission.

Doctor – Your role is to ensure the health of all the astronauts during and after the mission. As preventative measures, you must be aware of all the life support processes onboard, such as water, air and food supply as well as waste disposal. You also must have a plan to combat the effects of microgravity. Additionally, you must research means of monitoring the health of the astronauts and research some common space related illnesses and understand the basic treatment for these conditions.

Flight – Your job is to fly the mission. The first job is to decide what kind of vessel will best suit your mission. In order to do this you need to know how multistage rockets and space shuttle take off and land, as well as the kinds of missions each has been used for in the past. Then assess the advantages and disadvantages of both vessels and decide which vessel will best suit your needs. You need to understand how your vessel will move once it is in space (fuel and gravitational assist). Finally, design a flight plan for your mission that includes your plan to get where you’re going, how long it will take and how far it is from the Earth and how you will successfully get back to Earth.

Communication – Your job is to make all communication connection with ground control as well as with people doing space walks or landing missions. You must also know your location and be able to use remote sensing to better understand your destination. Therefore, you must understand how different communication satellites work, including knowing their orbit, how signals are relayed, potential lag times for your messages and whether there will be situations when you will lose communication with Earth. You are also in charge of knowing the precise location of your spacecraft by learning about GPS satellites and methods of triangulating your coordinates. Additionally, you need to learn about remote sensing satellites so that you can decide whether you will deploy any satellites during your mission to study your destination after your return to Earth.