Space Settlement Design

Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and an assortment of...

A tree shading an air conditioner can improve its efficiency up to 15 percent. In the activity, pupils work in groups to design a landscape after listening to a gardener speak to the class. Scale drawings and pictures of selected plants...

Students discuss the benefits of the International Space Station. They evaluate the challenges the designers faced when trying to design the space station. Students discuss the use of scale models when designing large structures and...

Design and construct buildings with rooftop gardens. Junior engineers work in groups to build two buildings and then perform experiments to determine whether or not a garden affects the building temperatures. They graph and interpret...

Say goodbye to giant rocket ships and hello to micro-spacecraft. Taking a look at the future of space exploration, this video explores the development of tiny, expendable space probes that can investigate the far reaches of space and...

Make a splash from space. Participants use the engineering design process to create a waterproof space exploration vehicle capable of an upright landing. Young engineers test and modify designs as needed and participate in a group...

Learn how the professionals at NASA send information across space. Engineers use a microdevice, laser pointer, and mirrors as relays to model data transmission in space. Scholars program a microdevice to detect light received and test...

Build problem-solving skills with science! Step-by-step videos walk investigators through each stage of completing a science fair project. Scientists learn to formulate a testable question, design an experiment, collect data, draw...

Middle schoolers research space and gravity and understand the difficulties humans have while on the International Space Station. In this space lesson plan, students listen to personal accounts of astronauts on videos and present designs...

Blast off! How do satellites, space shuttles, and space stations escape Earth's gravity and achieve orbit? Young astronauts study rocket science (literally) with an interactive lesson. They discover the four main uses for satellites, how...