Posted on Oct 15, 2009 05:39:12 PM | Deana Nunley | 0 Comments   

If you plan to use the DIY Podcast Spacesuits topic module for your students to create their own video podcast, you might consider requiring them to do a science demonstration to enhance their understanding of science concepts and improve the overall quality of their podcast. One of the best ways to understand a concept is to do it, and NASA Education has resources to guide students in creating their own demonstrations. The Spacesuits and Spacewalks Education Activities page lists links to lesson plans. Here are a few highlights: Some of the lessons from the Suited for Spacewalking Educator Guide now have demonstration videos. The videos give brief explanations of lesson concepts and the materials and setups needed for demonstrations. In the Keeping Your Cool demonstration, students learn how the liquid cooling and ventilation garment works. Micrometeoroids and Space Debris helps students explain the need for spacesuits to provide protection from tiny, high-speed particles in space. Students can also learn about the various layers of the spacesuit. The Bending Under Pressure demonstration allows students to use inflated balloons and rubber bands to discuss how NASA engineers must construct a spacesuit so that astronauts can work in it when it is pressurized. Students demonstrate how surface color affects heat absorption in the Absorption and Radiation demonstration. As students rehearse and record their demonstrations for a podcast, they gain a deeper, more practical understanding of these science concepts. DIY Podcast Home DIY Podcast: Spacesuits

Tags : Educator/Student Resources, Science, Spacesuits