Run a space camp at your school

Students of all ages find space exploration one of the most exciting and motivating contexts for learning but, without the luxury of expensive simulators, how can you harnass this in the classroom?

This programme, designed by the International Space School Education Trust (ISSET) will enable you to run your own ‘Space Camp’ at your school. ‘Space Camps’ can be run in after school or lunchtime clubs, on weekends or during the school holidays.

In addition, teachers will be able to use in the classroom the majority of the ‘Space Camp’ activities to provide effective and motivating lessons that really engage the students.

The ‘Space Camp’ programme has been developed over four years by ISSET and has included extensive training input by the Kennedy Space Centre education department.

‘Space Camp’ provides the equivalent of five days of stimulating, hands-on, multi-media based student activities that utilise state of the art aspects of the human space programme. ‘Space Camp’ is based around five themes:

• Planning a mission
• Understanding the solar system
• Rocketry and propulsion
• Living in space
• Landing and living on other planets

The ‘Space Camp’ course provides the resources, including CD-ROMs, to run a five day programme for 25 students at your school. Simply attend the training and you are ready to go. The course also includes guidance on how schools can apply for grants to carry out the ‘Space Camps’ as out of hours learning activities.

Space Camp CDs

The course is supported by a comprehensive range of materials and equipment that includes:
Software CD, Teaching programme CDs, and 25 Student CDs that include:

• Activity plans; including hands-on and computer based activities, activity planning and recording sheets
• Videos; astronaut presentation, launches & landings, tribute to Columbia, space activity reviews, International Space Station, Mars Explorer Animation, Space Walking, Space Environment Simulation, UK students at NASA
• Templates; for models and design and make activities
• Template for promotional posters
• PowerPoint presentations; Missions Patches, Space Acronyms, History of Rockets, Solar System
• 3-D International Space Station fly around and internal tour simulations
• Virtual solar system jig-saw

Find out more here

Next: Organise a trip to one of Nasa'a space centres, or, get a an astronaut to visit your school!