Learning Like an Astronaut at Colborne Public School

“Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person.” Chris Hadfield

Our Mission:

What can life in space teach us about life on earth?

If we were going to learn like an astronaut, what would we need to do?

Each month your class is challenged to complete a class task. You may record your results any way you prefer: audio, video, tech, picture, chart, story—any way you want!

A winning class will be selected each month based on four criteria:

(A student team will work with Ms. Outram to determine success criteria within each of these four).

  1. Creativity and Imagination
  2. Connection to Our Mission
  3. Quality
  4. Percentage of Class Participating

Each challenge will have a prize for the class with the most points. Classes can earn points for the big prize at the end of the year. Entries due on the last school day of each month.

Month / Big Idea / Your Monthly Challenge
September / Set-up and hype!
Visit classes to get ready for lift-off.
October / Prepare your body. / Design a fitness test for astronauts.
November / Prepare your mind. / Learn something interesting and teach it to students in another class.
December / Practice problem solving. / Map out a process for solving big problems and a process for solving small problems.
January / Work as a team. / Do something to make CPS a better school.
February / Practice in the simulator. / Find a problem that needs solving and then practice solving it over and over and over. Bonus points for multiple failures on the road to success.
March / Figure out how things work. / Build a helpful classroom robot.
April / Explore technology. / Find another class on the other side of the world to follow online. Report on your findings.
May / See things from another perspective. / Show what you know or imagine about life on another planet or elsewhere in the universe beyond Earth.
June / Find a real astronaut. / Answer these questions:
  • What can life in space teach us about life on earth?
  • If we were going to learn like an astronaut, what would we need to do?

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.”

RESOURCES:

  • http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html