FAQ's
Want to be an Astronaut?: FAQ’s
Q: Is the pre-mission lesson plan necessary for the e-Lab?
A: Yes! There are two pre-mission lesson plans for this e-Lab. Lesson Plan 1 provides an assessment tool to determine student growth during the e-Lab (pre-assessment vs. post-assessment knowledge). Lesson Plan 2 requires your students to create a mission patch for their team. The students will share their mission patch design with the Flight Director on mission day!
Q: If I have a class size of 32, can I still conduct a mission with all of my class involved?
A: The Want To Be An Astronaut e-Lab is designed to accommodate 25 students. If there are more than 25 students, you can have double members on each team. However if there are more than 32 students we require that you separate the students into two missions so that everyone can enjoy the full experience.
The students should be divided into five teams with at least 5 students on each team. They will work collaboratively throughout the e-Lab. Team names are Team A, Team B, Team C, Team D, and Team E.
Within each team, each student will be given a title and a specific job to be completed during the e-Lab. The titles and jobs are:
Mission Specialist – will share the mission patch (the students created during a pre-lab activity) and explain the creation process
Fitness Coach – will be challenged by the Flight Director to accomplish a task related to fitness exercises and participate in the discussion of these topics
Equipment Designer – will participate in discussion about tools that were created for the astronauts to use in space
Glove Technician – will participate in the discussion of the creation of the space suit gloves and be challenged by the Flight Director to complete a simple task wearing a pair of gloves (provided by teacher).
Science Officer – will demonstrate how certain toys (provided by the teacher) operate on Earth and then make predictions about how the same toy will operate in space.
Q. Other than the printable materials, are there materials that are mandatory for the e-Lab?
A. Yes, during the lab we will ask some of your students to interact with the Flight Director to complete a task. Therefore, we ask the teacher to provide the following items:
Each Glove Technician (5 students) will need a pair of gloves (the thicker the better) and some small objects you have in your classroom – like 8 pennies, 8 unifix cubes, 4 nuts and 4 bolts, etc.
One of each of the following toys – spinning top, jump rope, yoyo, soccer ball, and marbles.
** If any or all of these materials are unable to be obtained please let your Flight Director know as soon as you connect on your mission day.