This summer, most of us won’t be going very far from home. So, to make up for that, you might want to fill your kids’ days with some “out of this world” adventures. Thanks to the folks from NASA, you will find more ideas and activities for kids than there are days in July and August combined.
It turns out that one of the responsibilities of NASA is to share with the public – including kids – the things they learn. And they are learning plenty!
David Seidel, a science educator who works at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena was a featured speaker at the STEAM Extreme event at the California State PTA convention in May 2019. During the first part of his talk he presents some startling facts about space exploration. For example, do you know when the last time was that there weren’t people living and working in space? And when do you think NASA expects it could determine whether or not humans are alone in the universe?
You’ll find the answers in this video.
David also provides a guided tour through the learning resources available for kids of all ages on both the NASA and JPL websites. There are examples of how math is used to plan and do space exploration. There are brief, exciting video series like “Mars in a Minute” and “Eyes on the Sky.” There are computer simulations and lots of information about career opportunities in fields related to space exploration and science.
In this video, David presents a quick virtual tour of all there is to see and link to on these websites.
After listening to David’s descriptions you can take your own tour of the website resources. Go to our new California State PTA Resource Library and just put “NASA” in the search box to find some of the best places to start.
Also, NASA is headed for Mars in July. Watch for more information on that soon!