Travel to Space

Second- and third-grade students at Harrisville Wells Memorial School are studying space: constellations, stars, planets, and space exploration. The space unit will cover all of the following subjects and skills: math measurement, computer file management, communication, creative writing, typing, poetry, reading, research, note taking, singing, art, multimedia creation, physical education/movement, music, myth writing, public speaking, collaboration, word processing, and higher-order thinking skills.

To kick off the research part of this unit, students enter a 25'x30' inflatable space station and crawl through tunnels to various inflatable planets and spacecraft until they arrive at the rocket module. Once secured in their module, they use a communication headset and an iPad to talk to and receive a text message from “NASA.” The text message shows each student a picture of their destination in space and assigns them a crew member for the project.

Students then take an Internet Web Quest through space to learn how to conduct research. A Web Quest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the Internet. For this project students utilize NASA communication devices (laptop computers) to learn about the procedures for the project as well as conduct the necessary Internet research on their destination. 

Students work in pairs and go on a virtual mission to another planet, star, or moon in our solar system. While on that mission, students learn how to search for information on select websites and take notes. Students then create multimedia PowerPoint projects complete with text, pictures, picture animations, slide transitions, letter animations, and even audio recordings. 

After researching and collecting the data on their destination in space and creating a PowerPoint based on that data, each crew will contact Mission Control on Earth to transmit their data to Houston and the other student astronaut crews. Students will present their PowerPoint projects on the classroom Smart Board projection screen while teaching the other crews about their destination. So through this process the students learn quite a bit about one particular planet, star, or moon, and then their peers teach them about the other planets, sun, and moon. In addition, after studying the constellations, students write their own constellation myths based on a group of stars they have created using star stickers and glow-in-the-dark paint. The students’ mission is to write a myth that explains how their specific constellation came to be in the night sky. And throughout the unit students read books and watch videos on NASA space exploration. They learn about historical events, such as landing on the moon or space shuttle missions, as well as recent developments in space exploration.

I would like to give a special thanks to Mr. Vince Bradley, HWMS Educational Support Aide, for not only supporting the technology instruction and providing the communication headsets and giant space inflatable, but also for providing some of the creative content for this unit.                                    

John Thomas 

Second- and Third-Grade Teacher