Hosted by OSOS , contributed by katerina on 9 March 2018
Students Visions on the Future of Space Exploration is a research and development project for the innovative OSOS schools. Exploration and pioneering have inspired and shaped civilizations since the dawn of history. Such endeavors are distinguishing characteristics of an advancing civilization. As people explore, they discover, innovate, prosper, lead— and become great. In this project, we have selected as the main topic a major challenge for the humankind: The journey to Mars. The project is using the concept of storytelling a catalyst for the effective interaction between art and STEM disciplines which share in many ways similar values, similar themes and similar characteristics. We want to extend the early year style of learning, so that learners of all ages continue to learn through a creative process of designing, creating, inquiring, experimenting, and exploring. Such a project introduces creative approaches in STEM education to generate alternative ideas and strategies within scientific enquiry as an individual or group, and reasoning critically between these.
The project has been designed and test a new vision for teaching and help develop strategies for how teachers’ roles and conditions can support and enable deeper learning for students.
Learning Objectives
The main concept applied in this activity is the use of creativity as a mean to achieve innovative learning in STEM subjects, based on the use of storytelling and the example of a journey to Mars. When implementing the STORIES activity to its full extent (at least 40 hours), a great variety of learning objectives can be achieved, such as:
- Students learn how to develop models and work with scales/analogies.
- Students represent the orbital paths of Earth and Mars through group demonstrations and make scale models of the planets and the Solar System.
- Students explore drawing, visual communication and image making to develop their ideas and concepts.
- Students learn how to make calculations and graphical representations. Students create storyboards and flipbook-style animations with paper and pencils that depict life in the first Martian community.
- Students learn how to solve complex problems.
- Students learn how to collaborate to solve a complex problem. Students learn how to collaborate over distance (for example while they are at home through the platform).
- Students work with scientists and engineers to learn about the Martian environment, and the challenges it would pose to the first inhabitants.
- Students explore the planet geology and identify good spots for establishing a human colony.
- Students understand the effects of the lower gravity in our body and identify solutions to handle these problems.
- Students work with 3D design software to create a community on Mars.
- Students propose solutions on how they will select the first settlers in terms of gender, age, profession etc.
- Students design and construct models of the spaceships, buildings on Mars, landers and rovers using 3D printers.
- Students plan and understand the challenges of a trip to Mars and its return to the earth by a spaceship.
- Students work with scientists, engineers, garden experts, artists and designers to provide food for the Martian community.
- Students perform experiments and tests to make sure that the Mars communities are going to last for extended periods on the planet.
- Students are developing their own models of spaceships and Martian infrastructure (rovers, landers) using 3D printer software.
- Students learn how to collaborate with external experts to provide guidance and support.
This list of learning objectives can be enriched or adapted to the needs of the teachers, students and curriculum, depending on the focus of the students’ needs and curriculum demands of the respective grade.
Available partnership opportunities
Here are some partnership opportunities you should consider in your development:
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Parents |
Supporting, as externals, the students’ exploration and work to find the appropriate information and offering their expertise if relative to |
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Local businesses |
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Local authorities |
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NGOs |
Contribute by supporting with specific knowledge, activities, e.g. by |
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Artists |
Professional artists will have the chance to support the development |
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Museums / Science Centers / Researchers |
Provide information and knowledge about Space exploration, access to scientists about all aspects of space travel, life on other planets, etc. |
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Research institutes |
Will offer a place for informal education that is complementary |
Responsible Research and Innovation
One of the key aspects of OSOS is the inclusion of RRI - Responsible Research and Innovation principles (more information at RRI-Tools.eu). This is how the Learning Science Through Theater Accelerator fits into the RRI model:
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Governance |
Students will be able to anticipate possible challenges for the future of society through this Accelerator. i.e.: students will be able to propose solutions to social problems of the future, such as the need to explore a distant and uninhabited planet or other challenges. |
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Public Engagement |
Students may involve different stakeholders in order to bring the results of this project to the social reality, knowing the concerns and problems that may arise within the population. i.e.: students should be in touch with different stakeholders (such as neighbors and families) to know their points of view, discuss with them the topic and thus develop better decisions and solutions in a collaborative way. |
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Gender Equality |
The solutions proposed by students will take into account the gender dimension, offering an equal perspective and counting on the opinion of both men and women. i.e.: students will interview an equal number of men and women in the course of the project, including both neighbors and families, to contemplate their problems, and also experts from the space sector to know their feedback. |
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Science Education |
This activity aims to study problems that may arise in the future of space exploration and also find their solutions through the scientific process. For this, students should take into account social and ethical aspects from a theoretical point of view, but close enough to the practical reality of space exploration. i.e.: students will investigate the state of the art of space exploration and, taking into account the achievements made, will try to anticipate future social problems related to this issue, incorporating the opinion of society and different ethical positions. |
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Ethics |
Students will be able to reflect on the state (past-present-future) of space exploration, incorporating ethical aspects that have arisen or may arise, and that are important for the society. i.e.: students will develop a state of the art of space exploration, having in mind ethical issues that may affect society. Students will reflect on them and be able to extract conclusions and solutions to add value to their project. |
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Open Access |
This Accelerator proposes a series of open materials that can introduce the problem to be addressed, including some aspects in detail. It is also interesting that students look for other materials more specific to the problem they wish to work with. i.e.: students can access both scientific and dissemination articles, as well as portals specialized in space exploration (ESA, NASA, SpaceX, etc.), in which they will gather their point of view and knowledge about the topic of this Accelerator. |
Recommended resources
There are no financial resources needed actually. The project has been designed in order to support and enable deeper learning for students. To this goal, a storytelling platform will be interlinked with the OSOS infrastructure, where students will develop and publish stories about a future Mars Mission with the aim to develop a sustainable community on Mars. A rich collection of resources is available for teachers and students: http://www.storiesoftomorrow.eu/?q=node/44
Feel
Addressed Challenge: Space missions, both robotic and human, expand the knowledge of our planet, our solar system, and the universe, leading to the expansion of humankind itself from the Earth to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The challenge of bringing life to Mars push us towards a deeper understanding of our anatomy and demands creative solutions to sustain humans in the journey to the red planet. NASA and ESA are planning to send people to Mars in the next 15 to 20 years. The students of today – maybe one of the students who will be involved in the project in case it is approved – will be among the first people to set foot on the surface of Mars.
Are our students aware of the contribution of space exploration to our societies? There are several strategic, practical and scientific reasons for humans to explore Mars. Exploring Mars provides the opportunity to possibly answer origin and evolution of life questions and could someday be a destination for survival of humankind. Exploring Mars has the potential to improve the quality of life on Earth, help us learn about our home planet, and expands humankind’s knowledge in the international exploration of space, as this endeavour also serves to inspire the next generation of explorers and dramatically expand human knowledge.
In this activity, students are being challenged to approach these issues with a critical mind and a positive attitude towards problem solving. Exposure to the arts enhances communication skills, which are essential tools for collaboration. It develops flexibility and adaptability. In this approach the artificial barriers developed over years among subject areas could be eliminated and students will be given a broader context for solving real‐life problems, which demands the development of analytical, interpretive and evaluative skills used in many subject‐matter areas.
Space missions, both robotic and human, expand the knowledge of our planet, our solar system, and the universe, leading to the expansion of humankind itself from the Earth to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The challenge of bringing life to Mars push us towards a deeper understanding of our anatomy and demands creative solutions to sustain humans in the journey to the red planet. NASA and ESA are planning to send people to Mars in the next 15 to 20 years.
The students of today – maybe one of the students who will be involved in the project – will be among the first people to set foot on the surface of Mars.
This activity offers a unique framework to combine scientific knowledge with creativity while students are dealing with a major future challenge of the humanity:
- It encourages students’ reflection on the societal and scientific challenges of future space exploration using ‘storytelling’ as a catalyst to integrate Creativity in STEM disciplines.
- How (and should we?) do we leave the earth and create settlements on other planets?
- What are motivating and interesting ways to teach scientific problems with creativity in primary schools?
How can digital storytelling be an inclusive activity that motivates all pupils in a school classroom?
Imagine
The proposed activity combines formal and informal learning while asks for institutional cooperation. Such a project requires access to unique resources of scientific data, interaction with experts, parental engagement and support.
The project is based on the close cooperation of formal and informal science education organisations. Students will interact with experts while they will have to get data from scientific archives.
In the classroom, student should form groups to commonly create, plan and implement their story over a period of ca. 20 weeks.
Create
Phase A - Stories from Space & Mars
(Visual Arts and Music)
- Students will create storyboards and flipbook-style animations with paper and pencils that depict life in the first Martian community.
- They will work with scientists and engineers to learn about the Martian environment, and the challenges it would pose to the first inhabitants.
- They will have to explore the planet geology and identify good spots for establishing a human colony.
- They will have to understand the effects of the lower gravity in our body and identify solutions to handle these problems.
- Students will explore drawing, visual communication and image making to develop their ideas and concepts.
- Students can add Martian music and sound effects to help tell their stories.
- Their videos are uploaded on the STORIES Storytelling Platform.
Phase B - Planning a mission to Mars - Preparation
(Visual Arts, 3D Worlds and 3D Visualizations)
- Students will work with 3D design software to create a community on Mars.
- Students will have to think on how they will select the first settlers in terms of gender, age, profession etc.
- Students will team up to create their designs using commonly found materials, such as cardboard and paper cups. The students will take their community plans to the next level by recreating it with 3D design software commonly used by architects. The 3D design software as well as the resulting 3D world will be integrated in the authoring and delivery environment of the STORIES Storytelling Platform
Phase C - The trip to Mars
(Performing Arts, Science Theatre, Science Movie).
- Students imagine how they will travel to Mars and return to the earth by this spaceship. They play in a blue screen set, and digitally synthesized with their drawing and virtual scenery. To make a movie, children have to use different types of talent, for example, painting, acting, writing a script, coordinating roles, and building spaceships and Martian buildings with simple materials. Art, Math, Science, Literature, and learning to communicate are very important in this kind of activity. Their videos will be uploaded on the STORIES platform.
Phase D - Explore and Monitor Mars
(Arts and Architectural Design)
- Students will brainstorm on what we need for a successful and sustainable community on Mars keeping in mind the Martian environment, the needs of the settlers, and the materials available.
- Students create different artefacts (paintings, dioramas, biospheres, and constructions with simple means). All students’ constructions will become will become part of a Martian landscape which can be completed with craters and lava tubes.
- They will have to think of innovative solutions to produce a self-sustained environment capable of hosting humans on an alien planet. They will have to explore the consequences of the thin atmosphere on the attempts to grow plants and how to retrieve water.
Phase E - Sustainable Community on Mars
(Arts and Architectural Design, 3D Printing)
- Students will design and construct models of the spaceships, buildings on Mars, landers and rovers using 3D printers. In this way they will develop further their dioramas and create step by step more realistic representations of their stories (as part of the activities presented in the previous stages).
- The completed model can be exhibited at the end of the project during a school event. As the project evolves, students will have collaborated on site planning to figure out which building should go together and how they would be connected.
Phase F - Living Community on Mars
(Arts and Architectural Design, 3D Printing, Augmented Reality))
- Students will work with scientists, engineers, garden experts, artists and designers. They will work on common projects developing e.g. Martian gardens that serve two purposes - they are beautiful, hold a variety of plants from all over Earth, and provide food for the Martian community.
- Students will take their stories to the next level by using the advanced interfaces of the platform. Students’ models that will be created by the 3D functionality of the authoring tool and models that will be created through the 3D printer will be integrated in the same story and they will come to life through the use of Augmented Reality interface of the STORIES Storytelling Platform.