Students travelled to Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin in a field trip to accompany their experiences in a 2-week camp in Madison, Wisconsin whose topic was 'Living In Space.'
In order for humans to live in space, they need to understand how Earthly items will respond to microgravity and that was the focus of this activity. Students were engaged in some activities with typical toys found here on Earth and analyzed them as they played with them or observed their pair partners using the toys.
After outside play , the students watched several NASA films in which astronauts at the International Space Station were using the same toys the students used in the outside playtime.
This lesson helps students to understand how astronauts perform tasks while on an extravehicular activity (EVA - a spacewalk. Astronauts use gloves custom fit to a particular astronaut. The outcome of the lesson is for students to design a more useful, manageable glove to help them better perform tasks outside the International Space Station or any space vehicle.
