This section offers an overview of the Mission and our suggestions for some special displays or classroom arrangements that you may consider.
General Note: Each mission has assignments that students are to record in their Agronaut Log, a notebook that you or the student should choose. This Agronaut Log will be an important part of the curriculum, so you may want students to keep them in a safe place in the classroom. If your students have regular access to a word processing program, you may want to use some or all of the Agronaut Log charting or journal activities as opportunities for the students to use technology and practice on a word processing program. Whatever you prefer, the log will be an important summary of their journeys on the adventure and will serve as an invaluable reference as they work to design their plant growth chambers for the Moon.
Click on the thumbnails below to view pictures of Adventures of the Agronauts in action!
Please offer your additional ideas for classroom preparation to agronauts@ncsu.edu.
For this first mission on the Sun, Moon and Stars, you may want to decorate the classroom with a map of the Moon, or cut out stars and post them on the ceiling and walls in the shapes of constellations.
To prompt student thought about the Earth, Sun and Moon, ask them:
• How are we on Earth dependent on the Sun? How are we dependent on the Moon?
• If you were going to the Moon for a long time, what would you take with you?
Mission 2
For this mission on plants and plant parts, create a light chamber for your classroom and grow plants from seeds (see the Activity on Building a Light Box). If you want to build a larger display, perhaps for a school lobby, see http://www.fastplants.org/instructions/lighting_systems.html for instructions on building a light bank system. A fully-grown, live plant or varieties of plants in the classroom would be a bonus as students begin to learn about plant parts, similarities and differences.
To prompt student thought about plants, ask them:
• What kind of interrelationships exist between you and plants?
• What have you and a plant done for each other today?
Mission 3
This mission focuses on soil and its role in delivering water, nutrients and air to the roots of plants. Have a display of different types of soil that you can use to introduce students to different textures and throughout the mission. Gather soil samples from different areas of the school grounds, or have students bring some from their homes.
To prompt student thought about soil on the Earth compared to the surface of the Moon, ask them:
• What do you think soil is made up of on Earth? On the Moon?
• What lives in the soil?
Mission 4
This mission focuses on two important concepts, light and heat, and probably contains the most abstract information for your students.
To prompt student thought on light and heat:
• List some sources of light. Do the same for sources of heat. Look for connections between the lists.
• What is the relationship between light, heat and human beings? How can light and heat be both good and bad for us? What things help to protect us from extreme light and heat?
Mission 5
Mission 5 ties together the content of the first four missions by asking students to think about living things in space. Students will investigate three specific plants and think about the advantages and disadvantages of selecting that plant to take to the Moon.
To prompt student thought on living in space, ask them:
• What are some things that might happen to the human body in space?
• What do you think will happen to plants in space? To animals?
• What do you think astronauts do while up in space?
Mission 6
This final Mission affords great flexibility to you as the teacher. The student work could be as simple as drawings and stories about their plant growth chamber design. If you can attain some scrap parts or household items, then students could make models of their chamber. And, with the help of parents, corporate partners, and community members, you may even decide to make a working model of one or more designs and use the chamber to grow plants right in your classroom! You can also be very creative and flexible in how you "graduate" your students from Agronauts-in-Training to full-fledged Agronauts! A ceremony may be a great way to involve other teachers, administrators, parents and your community in your students' achievements.
To prompt student thought on the plant growth chamber design:
• Before groups begin work, lead the students in a review of the information they learned throughout the year or semester about plants, soil, heat, light and the Moon environment.
