Tag: moon
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Visualizing Off-Planet Habitats
My middle school computer programming students are continuing to work on our “Coding Mars” unit, in which they are using Minecraft MakeCode to simulate the 3D printing of structures and habitats which Icon of Austin, Texas, is under contract with NASA to do first on the moon / the lunar surface and (ultimately) on Mars.…
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1000 Starships to Mars Every 2 Years
Tonight Elon Musk and Chris Anderson have stretched my mind in some unexpected ways. Elon hopes we’ll see (and is working toward) a future within 10-20 years where SpaceX is launching 1000 Starships to Mars every two years, so we can establish a self-sustaining city of a million humans who will be able to carry…
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Teaching Conspiracy Theories & Media Literacy to 6th Graders
My favorite unit to teach the last two years to my middle school students has been on “Fruit Loop Conspiracy Theories.” Rather than study and discuss controversial political topics, we focus on the Apollo Moon landings and the skeptics (who are sometimes also “flat-earthers” on YouTube) who believe NASA never landed on the Moon, and…
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Parody Fest: Goodnight Goon, Dune, Forest Moon, iPad, Democracy & More
Our family members have been fans of “Goodnight Moon” (by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd) for many years. Prior to Christmas last year, I learned about David Milgrim’s clever “Goodnight iPad” book, which he wrote under the psyudonum “Ann Droyd.” There are several other creative parodies of “Goodnight Moon” available in print,…