Attention All Families!
Tuesday, April 25th our students will be attending assemblies with Jet Propulsion Laboratory!!!This is an amazing opportunity for our students to get an inside look at what happens in a high-level innovative environment, but also to learn how a STEAM education can be the path to an exciting future. We are looking for student presenters from lower grades and upper grades. They will either share their illustrations for their spacecraft designs, or their Mission to the Asteroid Belt, during the assembly. To be considered as a student presenter, projects must be turned into teachers by Tuesday, April 18th.
Who are JPL?
This is an intro from their website where you can get more info: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/who-we-are
“Have you been awed by views of desolate Martian valleys, swirling storms above Jupiter, and the icy blades ringing Saturn? Then you have journeyed with JPL spacecraft and rovers.
JPL’s workforce includes a dedicated and diverse population of scientists, engineers, technologists, developers, communicators, designers, safety experts, business administrators, and more.
We are humanity’s leading center for exploring where humans cannot yet reach. Our spacecraft have flown to every planet and the Sun in a quest to understand our place in the universe, and to search for the possibility of life beyond Earth. Our missions honor the relentless pursuit of the explorer: Voyager, Curiosity, Cassini, Galileo.”
Why is this assembly special?
- JPL houses innovative scientists, engineers, builders, planners and architects. They are on the cutting edge of discovery and are in the business of problem solving.
- We are the first elementary school assemblies they’re holding.
- JPL is testing out this presentation in our school, and hoping to find the right formula so they can then bring this assembly to other elementary schools.
- JPL has created content especially for our students and intentionally chose topics that tie in with our PBL units.
- JPL will bring special show-and-tell items to excite the kids and spark their imaginations.
- JPL will review student’s work and provide feedback on how their designs will hold up in real situations.
When are the assemblies, and can parents come?
Assemblies are scheduled for April 25th, and are only open to teachers and students. Unfortunately, parents are not invited.
After the assembly links for families:
JPL Timeline: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
Downloadable Posters: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/
Technology of the future: https://scienceandtechnology.
NASA’s Mission to the Asteroid Belt Challenge
Here are the details. Completed projects can be turned into the front office or to teachers.
- Challenge: Design a Mission to the Asteroid Belt
- Work in groups or individually to complete your Mission to the Asteroid Belt
- Collect space rocks and bring them back to Earth.
- How will your designs solve a problem?
- Name your rover or orbiter.
- Challenge yourself more
- Add design elements to scan targets, take measurements and pictures, or anything else that can help lead to discoveries!
- Create a physical model to help explain your design
- Be flexible in your storytelling. How will you explain your designs and ideas to JPL?
- Know that JPL often looks to nature to design rovers. Can students look to nature to solve a problem?
- Here are 3 examples/Links of JPL looking to nature to design rovers
- Robosimian acts like and ape and can both crawl and stand to complete tasks
- Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) can move on planet terrain as well as explore ice and water landscapes
- Dragonfly is built to sample locations, and then lift off and fly to another area of the planet to collect more samples
- Here are 3 examples/Links of JPL looking to nature to design rovers
JPL Spirit Buttons and Review: All Students who submit mission designs will receive a JPL Spirit Button and their work will be highlighted and reviewed by JPL at the April assemblies.
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