Daily Stem Challenge

daily stem challenge

British Science Week 2018 It’s british science week!

Happy British Science Week educators, parents and future STEM experts!

Are your students ready to take on the Curved House Kids Daily STEM Challenge? We’re confident they have what it takes!

Our five cross-curricular activities ask students to code, de-code, design, calculate, draw and compose their way through a mini-mission to space. Our accessible, multi-modal approach is sure to engage all students.

Complete one activity a day for a week to succeed in this challenge. Our pack includes everything you need to make British Science Week fun and flexible, including teaching notes, a progress checklist for students and a completion certificate.

Good luck! The Space Crew Curved House Kids ACTIVITY ONE DESIGN YOUR SPACESUIT

Every astronaut needs a spacesuit to keep them safe. With digital and multimedia resources provided, students will research the types of spacesuits astronauts need, and the features they include, then they will design their own suit. your Design It’s time to design your spaceSUIT own spacesuit!

You can design it however you want but don’t forget to include features that will let you breathe, communicate and keep you protected.

Zap to see ESA astronaut Tim Peake in the Sokol suit he wore for launch and re- entry and find out what special features your suit will need.

PRINCIPIA SPACE DIARY © CURVED HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING PRINCIPIASPACEDIARY.ORG Resources Required without your whole suit flooding! • Coloured pens or pencils • An air valve. An oxygen supply connected to the suit • Optional: Tin foil for reflection, cotton wool for is activated in times of de-pressurisation. insulation • A radio and microphone to communicate. Background to the Activity Running the Activity ACTIVITY 0.4 A spacesuit isn’t just a uniform, it’s like a personalised, Encourage older pupils to use a range of material human-shaped spacecraft designed to keep astronauts DESIGN YOUR SPACESUIT! samples to design the suit. This works well fastened on From the Pre-launch Chapter of the alive in space. There are two types of space suits: one as a ‘swatch’ using a treasury tag. Ideas: Principia Space Diary for travelling to and from space, and one for doing http://principiaspacediary.org/ spacewalks (EVAs). Tin foil: to reflect radiation activities/design-your-spacesuit Cotton wool: for insulation – to trap air The EVA suits for spacewalks have lots of different jobs Black inside: to absorb heat to do. They provide the astronaut with air to breathe, LEARNING LEVEL White outside: to reflect heat radiation keep them warm or cool, protect from debris flying KS1, KS2, P1-5 through space, allow the astronaut to move fairly freely Questions for the Class and even have rocket boosters in case the astronaut gets into trouble! The suits are heavy on Earth but zero • What are the different parts of the spacesuit? gravity in space makes them feel light. • Why is the spacesuit made like a onesie? When travelling to the ISS and back to Earth, Tim Peake • How heavy will the spacesuit feel in space? wore a Sokol spacesuit, which is different to the one he used on his space walks. ‘Sokol’ means ‘falcon’ in • How do you go to the toilet when you are in the Russian, and it is a rescue suit. This is the same design spacesuit? as the one that Helen Sharman wore when she went to Extensions & Digital Resources the Mir Space Station. The main features of this type of space suit are: ZAP! Students can access use the Zappar app to find out more about Tim Peake’s spacesuit and to • Two layers: the inner one is rubberised and the outer see a video with Lucy Hawking and Dallas Campbell one is made of white nylon. discussing spacesuits at the Science Museum. See Zappar instructions at the link below and note that the • Boots that are built into the suit and space gloves mobile/tablet will need to be connected to the internet: attached at the wrists by special aluminium http://principiaspacediary.org/using-zap-codes-to- fastenings. strengthen-digital-literacy/ • A helmet that is also part of the suit. To put the suit on you have to squeeze your head through a neck seal into the helmet, which has a visor on a hinge (so you can open it). The seal at the neck means you can float in water on landing and open your visor ACTIVITY Two THE SPACE QUIZZES

Our trio of quizzes is a fun and exciting way to learn about space, whether you run each quizz as a group activity or for students to complete individually. Our first True/False quiz explores what happens to astronauts’ bodies when they go to space. Our second takes students to Mars, where they can learn the basics about our neighbouring planet. Students can even write their own questions to challenge their classmates.

Our third quiz activity allows students to make their very own online quiz, using Code Club’s Scratch. Students will love this coding challenge, which they can share with the class. Zap for answers!

WHEN YOU GO TO SPACE Your YOU MAY FIND THAT... True False Body 1. You get taller. 2. You’ll probably feel sick for your In Space first few days in space.

3. Your thumbs fall off.

Hey guys! 4. Your eyeballs change shape. I’m Marco and I help astronauts like you Your bones become weaker. understand how your body 5. will change in space. Can you help me work out which five 6. Your ears turn purple. of these are true?

7. You grow hair all over your body.

8. Your face gets puffy.

9. You can’t poo in space!

10. Add your own question and test 10. your friends!

PRINCIPIA SPACE DIARY © CURVED HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING PRINCIPIASPACEDIARY.ORG True False True

bounce twice as high on Earth. has weather! solar system, Olympus Mons. Mars has two moons. The planet Mars was named after it also Because Mars has an atmosphere, the Mars Bar. the Mars Bar.

1. 2. Lower gravity on Mars means you would the sun. 3. Mars is the eighth planet from 4. 5. A year on Mars is 1000 Earth days long. 6. Mars has the highest mountain in 7. 8. Humans have successfully flown to Mars and founded a Martian city. Earth with the 9. Mars is visible from naked eye! 10.

YOU TELL US... TELL YOU TRUE OR FALSE? OR TRUE YOUR MISSION MARS DIARY © CURVED MARSDIARY.ORG HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING YOUR MISSION MARS DIARY

your friends! For number 10, create your own create question and test you on this

Hi explorers, I’m Sue Horne, important mission. at the UK Space Agency. at the UK Space Agency. Head of Space Exploration

Let’s test your knowledge of Let’s

we send the Red Planet before

quiz

answers!

Zap for the the for Zap mars

PRINCIPIA SPACE DIARY © CURVED HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING PRINCIPIASPACEDIARY.ORG Code your own quiz!

Extend the quiz activity further by coding your own quiz with our Scratch coding activity developed by Code Club.

https://codeclubprojects.org/en-GB/space- mission/space-body-quiz/ Resources Required because the lack of gravity means the spine will expand and relax more easily. • Add-on: Post-its to encourage questions from the class. Running the Activity • Computer/s if you wish to complete the Code Club extension activity Ask the questions to your class or have them test each other. For older children, ask them to research the effects of space on the human body and come up with their ACTIVITY 0.2 Background to this Activity own questions. Could they make a presentation or give a YOUR BODY IN SPACE There are many changes that the human body goes talk on their research? From the Pre-launch Chapter of the through in space and the International Space Station is Principia Space Diary Students can use the Zappar app on the iphone or tablet the perfect environment to monitor these changes. Many http://principiaspacediary.org/ to access the answers. See instructions overleaf. of Tim’s activities on the ISS were tests on his body. activities/your-body-in-space Pre-flight, astronauts need to be sure that they do not Quiz Answers LEARNING LEVEL have any colds or infections that they could take into the 1. True 2. True 3. False 4. True 5. True 6. False 7. False 8. ISS. They also see flight surgeons who make sure they KS1, KS2, P1-5 True 9. False do not have any medical conditions that would require treatment so far away from home. There is some medical Extensions & Digital Resources equipment on board but astronauts would need to be flown home if they had a major health issue. See Code Club activity on previous page. In microgravity, astronauts float around and therefore ZAP! Students can access the quiz answers themselves there is no load on their body. Their bones and muscles using the Zappar mobile/tablet app. See Zappar instruc- decondition and they need to exercise daily on the tions at the link below and note that the mobile/tablet space station to counteract the effects of space. Tim will need to be connected to the internet: http://prin- trained for two hours per day on the ISS to counter the cipiaspacediary.org/using-zap-codes-to-strength- effects of gravity and he even completed the London en-digital-literacy/ Marathon up there. Astronauts are also prone to motion sickness and kidney stones. Sleep is often disturbed on the ISS as the circadian rhythms are disrupted. Fluid shifts mean that astronauts may feel as if they have a head cold and this also affects their sense of smell and taste. They can get a puffy face, and sometimes their eyesight may be effected. In fact, the shape of the eyeball can change ever so slightly. This would not be noticeable to the human eye. Astronauts can grow by up to two inches while in space Resources Required bright in 2018, appearing as a red dot in the night’s sky. In late July 2018, it will be at its brightest, when Smartphone or device for Zapcode [Link] • Earth orbits between Mars and the sun. This is a Solutions to the Quiz great time for summer stargazing, either at home or at your local observatory. 1. False; 2. True; 3. False; 4. True; 5. False; 6. True; 7. True; 8. False; 9. True Running the Activity ACTIVITY 1.3 Background to this Activity Ideally this is done as a group activity with students MARS QUIZ calling out ‘true’ or ‘false’ while the teacher gives The Mars Quiz is a fun way to find out more about Mars From the Chapter One of the the correct answer if needed. It is interactive and Missions: Mars Diary for students and teachers. entertaining as well as imparting basic facts about Mars. marsdiary.org 1. The Planet Mars was named after the Mars Bar – Use of mini-whiteboards for instant feedback, with T False, Mars was named after the Roman god of war. LEARNING LEVEL on one side and F on the other, would make this more active for children and provide teachers with instant KS2, P4-6 2. Lower gravity on Mars means you would bounce twice as high as on Earth – True, gravity on Mars is feedback. This could also be done as a stand up for true, 62% lower than on Earth. sit down for false activity – giving the same overview to teachers. 3. Mars is the ninth planet from the sun – False, Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. When children have created their own questions, these can be shared as a class, perhaps as a separate quiz, or 4. Because Mars has an atmosphere, it also has verbally as a plenary to the activity. weather! – True, like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons and weather, but its Questions for the Class atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for • Why is research on Mars important to us? long on the surface. • What reasons could missions to Mars be deemed 5. A year on Mars is 1000 Earth days long – False, one ‘unsuccessful’? year on Mars is 687 Earth days. • What do you think the weather would be like on Mars? Why? 6. Mars has the highest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons – True, Olympus Mons is 25 km high. ZAP! Students can independently access multimedia resources using the Zappar mobile/tablet app. See TRUE OR FALSE? 7. Mars has two moons – True, Mars’s moons are called mars YOU TELL US... Zappar instructions at the link below and note that the True False 1. The planet Mars was named after Phobos and Deimos. quiz the Mars Bar. mobile/tablet will need to be on a WIFI connection: 2. Lower gravity on Mars means you would bounce twice as high as on Earth. Zap for the answers! Hi explorers, 3. Mars is the eighth planet from the sun. Humans have successfully flown to Mars and founded marsdiary.org/using-zap-codes-to-strengthen-digital- I’m Sue Horne, 8. Head of Space Exploration 4. Because Mars has an atmosphere, it also at the UK Space Agency. has weather! Let’s test your knowledge of literacy/ the Red Planet before we send 5. A year on Mars is 1000 Earth days long. a Martian city – False, humans are yet to travel to you on this important mission. 6. Mars has the highest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons. Mars. All spacecraft that has gone to Mars has been 7. Mars has two moons.

8. Humans have successfully flown to Mars and founded a Martian city. unmanned. 9. Mars is visible from Earth with the naked eye!

10. For number 10, create your own 9. Mars is one of the planets humans can see from Earth question and test your friends! without needing a telescope. It will be especially ACTIVITY THREE LETTER TO TIM

This activity combines several factors – the incredibly inspirational figure of ESA astronaut Tim Peake, the opportunity for children to write creatively and a chance for students to research the issues involved in interplanetary travel. There are many arguments for and against sending humans to Mars. While it would result in scientific advancements, astronauts would face a dangerous journey and the challenges of living on an inhospitable planet. So why should we go to Mars? Will the benefits outweigh the costs? Can students write a letter to persuade Tim Peake that a mission to Mars is worthwhile?

YOUR MISSION MARS DIARY © CURVED HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING MARSDIARY.ORG HAWKING LUCY AND KIDS HOUSE CURVED © DIARY MARS MISSION YOUR

Zap to watch to Zap

Tim’s message! Tim’s

TIM

reply explaining the reasons for your mission. your for reasons the explaining reply so keen to get to Mars. Zap to watch, then write a a write then watch, to Zap Mars. to get to keen so

LETTER you’re why know to wants He Peake! Tim astronaut Whoa, you’ve received a video message from ESA ESA from message video a received you’ve Whoa, Resources Required • Features of a letter • Smartphone or device for Zapcode • Formal language • Whiteboards (mini), scrap paper, lined paper – for This will help the children to work independently in their drafting letter writing. Children can then pick which points they want to raise Background to this Activity and start to write/structure their persuasive letter. These ACTIVITY 1.4 There are many arguments for or against sending can be edited and shared at the end. humans to Mars. Going to Mars would allow scientists LETTER TO TIM From the Chapter One of the Your to study the Martian surface in detail, which will help Questions for the Class Mission Mars Diary advance science in many areas. But the mission would • How can we persuade someone to go to Mars? marsdiary.org also be extremely dangerous. Other than the usual • What incentives can we provide? dangers of traveling to space, a habitat would need to How will we protect people from the radiation? be constructed so that humans could survive on Mars, • LEARNING LEVEL where there are dangerous levels of radiation, severe • What features do letters have? KS2, P4-6 wind storms every two years, no food or water sources • What formal language should we use? and communication challenges because of the 24-minute • What would persuade you to go to Mars? time lag in communications reaching Earth from Mars. The journey to Mars will take at least six months, so if ZAP! Students can independently access multimedia there is a problem on Mars, it won’t be possible to send resources using the Zappar mobile/tablet app. See help from Earth. It will also cost billions of dollars to send Zappar instructions at the link below and note that the humans to Mars. So why should we still go? Will the mobile/tablet will need to be on a WIFI connection: benefits outweigh the costs? Can students write a letter marsdiary.org/using-zap-codes-to-strengthen- to persuade Tim Peake that going to Mars is worthwhile? digital-literacy/

Running the Activity To start this activity, use the zap code to listen to a recorded message from Tim. In the recording, Tim talks about the risks and benefits of space exploration. After this, brainstorm ideas about the costs and benefits of travelling to Mars. If required, at this point, children can independently research the issues surrounding interplanetary travel (resources, temperatures, oxygen, time, cost, training, radiation). Before writing, either in groups or as a class, collate information and models on: • Good persuasive openers ACTIVITY FOUR TIME FOR LAUNCH

Learn about time and duration while completing a comic strip! The creative/visual elements in this activity, such as drawing, provide a way in to the complex topic of time, and challenge students to make links between analogue and digital time. ready forlaunch!” launchsiteand get the It’s 10:48am,pleaseevacuate “Mission Control vehicles: toall time: site righton at thelaunch Tim hasarrived Launch Day! It’s Principia

TIME AM

for

launch!

day. Help us tell his story.

Can you add the times to 2015, Tim Peake’s launch

the clocks and draw the

here! It’s 15 December

Vinita Marwaha Madill

missing scenes?

20 minutes later... Tim enters the Soyuz later theSoyuzmeets theISS Wow! 6hoursand10minutes AM

LIFTOFF!

9 minutes after launch the

in time fordinner! ISS for thefirst time,just opens and Timboards the Phew! At 7pmthehatch Soyuz separates from the rocket

PRINCIPIA SPACE DIARY © CURVED HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING PRINCIPIASPACEDIARY.ORG Resources Required Children then continue adding on the minutes to find out the next time. They need to draw in the missing • Analogue clocks (optional) hands to the clock faces. Background to this Activity Remind children that the hour hand moves as well as the minute hand – demonstrate on a real clock how This lesson works well as a challenge task for children to the hour hand moves between the hours as the minute make links between analogue and digital time. It also hand rotates around the clock. ACTIVITY 1.1 introduces the concept of duration, as children have to TIME FOR LAUNCH! calculate the new time using the clues given. Children are also able to draw two of the scenes in the From Chapter 1 of the Principia comic - the launch (“lift off”) and the last box where Tim The timings used are those from Tim Peake’s 2015 Space Diary boards the ISS for the first time. http://principiaspacediary.org/ Principia mission launch and will help children develop activities/time-for-launch an understanding of how long the different stages take. Children should be developing an understanding of analogue and digital time. As they are introduced to It is also interesting to note that the time used on 24-hour time, they could be asked how to convert and LEARNING LEVEL the ISS is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) which is record all the times from the sheet in 24-hour time. KS1, KS2, P1-5 equivalent to GMT. It was originally set to GMT-5 to coincide with the time in Texas, USA but this was not a Questions for the Class suitable time for the cosmonauts in Russia – so GMT is also a compromise between the time in Houston and To challenge students further, try asking some extension the time in Moscow (the two primary mission control questions about the durations between different times: centres). • How long did Tim spend between arriving at the launch site and taking off in the Soyuz? Running the Activity • How many minutes did Tim spend in the Soyuz For this activity, children need to convert time before the launch site had to be evacuated? between analogue and digital time. They also need to • What was the total amount of time spent in the understand the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. Soyuz, from boarding to disembarking? Begin by looking at the times already displayed. Ask the children to indicate which times they have to find out – they will have to do this by adding the correct numbers of minutes to the times already given. Ensure that children recognise that the first picture in the series is below the title and not to the right. Ask them how they know this. They should be able to explain that 8.33am is earlier in the morning than 11.03am. Using the times given, children should be able to work out how to read the storyboard in the correct order. ACTIVITY FIVE ROVER’S DISCOVERY

This activity uses the premise of rock samples collected by the ExoMars rover to help students practise their visual differentiation skills to crack the code. It also provides an opportunity for students to consider the differences between robotic and human exploration. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the two different types of explorer – and how could they best work together on the surface of Mars?

YOUR MISSION MARS DIARY © CURVED MARSDIARY.ORG HOUSE KIDS AND LUCY HAWKING YOUR MISSION MARS DIARY

shape size , , ,

the rocks below. below. rocks the

kshhhhh... ExoMars ExoMars kshhhhh...

code by looking very very looking by code

texture colour

of the the of and reporting... do you read you do reporting... me? kshhhhh... crack my my crack kshhhhh... me?

find their exact match from from match exact their find

seven rocks at the top, and and top, the at rocks seven

carefully at the the at carefully

DISCOVERY

need to work out what it’s trying to tell you. tell to trying it’s what out work to need

communications are not working well – you’ll you’ll – well working not are communications

high levels of something in the atmosphere. But But atmosphere. the in something of levels high

collected some Mars rocks, it has also detected detected also has it rocks, Mars some collected

ROVER’S Your rover has been busy! Not only has it it has only Not busy! been has rover Your Resources Required Questions for the Class • Access to outdoor area to collect rock samples • How are messages from the ExoMars rover (optional) received? • Laptops to research and collate evidence (optional) • Are the rocks on Mars the same as those on Earth? • Why do you think it is important to collect samples Background to this Activity from planets like Mars? • Can you investigate/research the most significant ACTIVITY 4.2 The ExoMars mission is a true collaboration between humans and robots. Robots like the ExoMars rover can finds from expeditions to Mars? ROVER’S DISCOVERY From the Chapter Four of Your withstand conditions on Mars more easily than humans, • What do you think are the benefits and challenges Mission Mars Diary because they do not need oxygen, food or the same of the close relationship between human and marsdiary.org level of protection against radiation like us. They can machine? refuel themselves with solar panels and do not have the psychological or emotional needs of a human, so Ideas for Differentiation LEARNING LEVEL exploring Mars alone for a long period of time is not Lower KS2: KS2, P4-6 an issue. But robots do not possess the same kind of intuition as humans. The ExoMars rover will be guided • Add further letters to the completed code by humans to collect the most scientifically useful rock before the children start. samples, so that we can discover whether there is – or Upper KS2: was – life on Mars. • Number the letters (A=1, B=2 etc). Children will Running the Activity then match the number to a letter and discover its In this activity the children will crack a code from Mars. place in the code. Explain to the children that the job of the ExoMars • Develop a similar code based on rock samples. rover is to collect data to send to Earth so we can Children can draw their own rock samples for each develop our understanding of the Solar System. letter of the alphabet and create words for others to solve. Tell the children that the rover communicates its messages to Earth, which are received by Mission Useful Links Control. Once the information has arrived it is a Article about Curiosity rover discovering methane on human’s job to access and analyse the data. Mars: http://www.iflscience.com/space/curiosity- One aspect of this close relationship between human rover-confirms-methane-mars/ and machine is that the controller needs to interpret the data sent by the ExoMars rover. Introduce the code Clip made on the third anniversary of Curiosity’s launch cracking activity. (2015) which shows how humans control the rover from Earth (includes good footage of Martian landscape Solution to this Activity and rover in action): https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Txti0XLxOzI METHANE

Quizzes

The Space Space The

Activity Two: Two: Activity

Time For Launch For Time Activity Four: Activity CHALLENGE

Activity Five: Discovery Rover’s

CHECKLIST

Space Suit Space

Design Your Your Design Activity Three: Tim Letter To

Activity One: One: Activity

DAILY STEM DAILY

CHECKLIST:

certificate of completion! completion! of certificate

Kids Daily STEM Challenge to earn a a earn to Challenge STEM Daily Kids

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