Download Space Station One, Grades 4-8 Program Description: Have you ever

Chabot Classes – Supplemental Teacher Information
Space Station One, Grades 4-8
Program Description:
Have you ever wanted to experience lift-off in the Space Shuttle? Do you want to find out if you
have the “right stuff”? This is the class for you! We use simulated robotic arms to manipulate
objects in space, practice remote space station docking techniques used by the International
Space Station, and measure pulse rates before and during tasks to see how your students operate
under pressure.
Vocabulary:
acceleration
micro-gravity
pulse
G-force
pulse rate
simulated
Space Shuttle
blood pressure
manipulate
escape velocity
freefall
remote docking
diastolic
systolic
Possible Class Activities:
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Simulate a Shuttle “lift-off” and see how the students respond to this stress by checking
their blood pressure before and after.
Teamwork exercise: students practice giving coherent directions and following precise
instructions in using robotic arms to “dock” the spacecraft while blindfolded.
Groups “dock” a remote-controlled vehicle.
Students will explore Newton’s second law (“For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction.”) by racing small objects across a table without touching them.
Pre-Visit Activities (in your classroom):
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Introduce vocabulary.
Visit related Web sites.
Explain systolic and diastolic blood pressure numbers.
Post-Visit Activities:
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Create your own “follow directions while blindfolded” activity.
Have students bring in their Hot Wheels or Darda race cars and create some Newton’s
second law activities.
Related Web sites:
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Chabot Classes – Supplemental Teacher Information
Find the ISS and other satellites in the sky over your house by visiting this Web site:
http://www2.gsoc.dlr.de/satvis
Visit NASA's Human Spaceflight Web site to keep tabs on the next ISS launch (also has a large
press gallery of ISS photos):
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Great sites with detailed maps and piece-by-piece descriptions of the completed ISS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/station/blueprint.html
http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/core.shtml
State of California Science Standards met in this class:
Grade 5
Earth Science
5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the sun in predictable paths. As
a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. the sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed
primarily of hydrogen and helium.
b. the solar system includes the Earth, moon, sun, eight other planets and their satellites, and
smaller objects such as asteroids and comets.
c. the path of a planet around the sun is due to the gravitational attraction between the sun and
the planet.
Grade 8
Motion
1. The velocity of an object is the rate of change of its position. As a basis for understanding this
concept, students know:
a. position is defined relative to some choice of standard reference point and a set of reference
directions.
b. average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed. The speed of an
object along the path traveled can vary.
c. how to solve problems involving distance, time, and average speed.
d. to describe the velocity of an object one must specify both direction and speed.
e. changes in velocity can be changes in speed, direction, or both.
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Chabot Classes – Supplemental Teacher Information
f. how to interpret graphs of position versus time and speed versus time for motion in a single
direction.
Forces
2. Unbalanced forces cause changes in velocity. As a basis for understanding this concept,
students know:
a. a force has both direction and magnitude.
b. when an object is subject to two or more forces at once, the effect is the cumulative effect of
all the forces.
c. when the forces on an object are balanced, the motion of the object does not change.
d. how to identify separately two or more forces acting on a single static object, including
gravity, elastic forces due to tension or compression in matter, and friction.
e. when the forces on an object are unbalanced the object will change its motion (that is, it will
speed up, slow down, or change direction).
f. the greater the mass of an object the more force is needed to achieve the same change in
motion.
Earth in the Solar System (Earth Science)
4. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from the study of stars and
galaxies, and their evolution. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. galaxies are clusters of billions of stars, and may have different shapes.
b. the sun is one of many stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Stars may differ in size,
temperature, and color.
c. how to use astronomical units and light years as measures of distance between the sun, stars,
and Earth.
d. stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space. The moon and planets shine
by reflected sunlight, not by their own light.
e. the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the
solar system, including planets, planetary satellites, comets, and asteroids.
Density and Buoyancy
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Chabot Classes – Supplemental Teacher Information
8. All objects experience a buoyant force when immersed in a fluid. As a basis for understanding
this concept, students know:
a. density is mass per unit volume.
b. how to calculate the density of substances (regular and irregular solids, and liquids) from
measurements of mass and volume.
c. the buoyant force on an object in a fluid is an upward force equal to the eight of the fluid it has
displaced.
d. how to predict whether an object will float or sink.
Grades 9-12
Motion and Forces
1. Newton’s laws predict the motion of most objects. As a basis for understanding this concept,
students know:
b. when forces are balanced no acceleration occurs, and thus an object continues to move at a
constant speed or stays at rest (Newton's First Law).
c. how to apply the law F=ma to solve one-dimensional motion problems involving constant
forces (Newton's Second Law).
d. when one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object always exerts a force of
equal magnitude and opposite direction. (Newton’s Third Law).
e. the relationship between the universal law of gravitation and the effect of gravity on an object
at the surface of the Earth.
f. applying a force to an object perpendicular to the direction of its motion causes the object to
change direction but not speed (for example, the Earth’s gravitational force causes a satellite in a
circular orbit to change direction but not speed).
g. circular motion requires application of a constant force directed toward the center of the circle.
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