Get Involved: Spaced Out Sports

Space + sports = fun. Yes, I am a former math teacher, and I remember what adds up to engaged learning — start with two subjects that most students enjoy.

Hypothesis: Combining the wonder of space and NASA with the thrill of sports will motivate students for greater learning success.

And now the science teacher in me comes out.

Whether you take the mathematical approach or use the scientific method, NASA’s Spaced Out Sports design challenge can get the ball rolling. Okay, I’ll stop.

Students design a game for astronauts to play on the space station.

Students apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to design or redesign a game that astronauts on the International Space Station can play.

The competition is open to students in grades 5-8. Student teams will submit game demonstrations via a playbook and a video. Submissions will be accepted from schools, home school groups, and after-school or enrichment programs.

Watch the video of last year’s winners.

Use the DIY Podcast videos to jump-start students’ ideas and to find background information about Newton’s laws and microgravity.

•    DIY Podcast: Micro-g
•    DIY Podcast: Newton’s Laws
•    DIY Podcast: Sports Demo

DIY Podcast videos
•    Tightrope walking in microgravity
•    Microgravity baseball
•    Football on the station

The deadline for Spaced Out Sports submissions is March 16, 2012.
For details, visit the Spaced Out Sports website.

Teachers, let the games begin!

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Production Ideas for Using Still Images in Video Podcasts


We’re wrapping up our blog series on using still images in video projects with a few production ideas for developing classroom projects with DIY Podcast materials. In the Sports Demo topic module, astronaut Clayton Anderson demonstrates sports in microgravity. He shows how it’s different to play ball or do gymnastics without the full force of Earth’s gravity. Your students could show the earthbound perspective by taking pictures with their digital cameras.

 It might be fun for your class to participate in the same sporting events that Anderson demonstrates on the space station. You could designate a few students to take action shots of their classmates playing baseball. Some of the students who play in the baseball game could serve as photographers for the next sporting event. By the end of your sports demo, all the students will get to shoot photos and play sports.

With the use of transitions and special effects, your class could create a video product exclusively using still images. If you take that approach, you could grab still images from the Sports Demo video clips to draw a contrast between sports in space and on Earth. You could mix in some of the stills on the DIY Podcast: Sports Demo Images page. Or your class may prefer to capture video and just drop in still images for titles, transitions or special effects.

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DIY Podcast: Sports Demo

Educator Resources for the Science of Sports in Space


The action of sports and the thrill of space exploration are great motivators for even the most reluctant learner. From Newton’s Laws of Motion to the conservation of angular momentum, there’s a lot of science to consider when contemplating sports in space. You’ll find several resource links on the
DIY Podcast: Sports Demo page. A recent DIY Podcast Blog post, “Resources to Put Newton’s Laws in Motion,” features a long list of useful links, including the Buzz Lightyear Mission Game 5 that shows students how toys behave in microgravity.

Here are a few more resources that might come in handy if your class develops a podcast episode about the science of sports in space:

•    NASA — What is Microgravity?
•    Out-of-This-World Olympics
•    The Effects of Space Flight on the Human Vestibular System

The last link, covering the human vestibular system, points you to instructions to demonstrate Newton’s laws and the conservation of angular momentum using a rolling office chair. Your class could videotape a student in a rolling chair to make it easier to understand some of the scientific principles that would likely be discussed in your podcast on the science of sports in space.


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DIY Podcast Adds Sports Demonstration Topic Module


We added a new topic module to the DIY Podcast activity today. It’s called “Sports Demo,” and encourages students to create their own podcast demonstrating the science of sports in space. This latest topic module includes video and audio clips of NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson discussing scientific laws and how they apply to sports in space. He uses basketball, football, baseball, soccer and gymnastics to demonstrate Newton’s laws, the conservation of angular momentum and the effects of microgravity. Anderson demonstrates how much easier it is to dunk a basketball or do gymnastics in microgravity.

Students may choose from 16 video clips to create a video podcast that blends their own original content and NASA astronaut footage. Students also have the option of creating an audio podcast that mixes their own narration with any of 11 audio clips of Anderson explaining the science of sports in space. This DIY Podcast topic module, which also includes images, helpful information and sports and microgravity links, gives students a fun way to compare sports on Earth and in space and get a better understanding of scientific laws and principles.

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DIY Podcast: Sports Demo

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Game-changing Ideas for a Sports Demo Podcast


In the DIY Podcast Sports Demo topic module, astronaut Clayton Anderson samples several sports and demonstrates how different it would be to play them in the microgravity of the space station. Imagine expanding sports beyond the space station to an Earth-orbiting stadium where athletes could play the summer Olympic games or to the moon where gravity is one-sixth of Earth’s gravity. Game rules would change and new sports would be invented.

These are just a few thoughts and ideas you might encourage students to use as a springboard to develop their script for a podcast episode on the science of sports in space. Students could generate new versions of games they like to play or create new games as they consider multiple factors that affect playing sports in space. Students could record their game demonstrations and mix their video with Anderson’s sports demonstration video clips. Be sure to include narration or on-camera interviews with students or subject matter experts explaining the game rules and the science that would require them to be different in space.

In the Comments section below, share your students’ ideas for new or modified games. It might be fun to experiment with the new sports and games that other classrooms develop.

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DIY Podcast: Sports Demo Video Clips

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