Mission to the Moon: Virtual STEM Program
Distance Learning STEM Curriculum: Mission to Moon
By Natasha Wilkerson
Are you looking for a low-prep STEM curriculum that supports distance learning, engages students, and involves engineering design and careers?
With a live leaderboard, weekly raffle prizes, and career chats with NASA engineers, Vivify presents Mission to Moon, a hands-on STEM program delivered virtually for classroom or at-home learning. Your students will design robot hands, rovers, roller coasters, and more while learning about real-world STEM, meeting real STEM professionals, and connecting with schools across the world!
Watch this video below to see the student projects and what teachers had to say about the program.
What is Mission to Moon?
Developed by a team of engineers and educators, including NASA experts, Mission to Moon includes hands-on engineering design challenges that are adaptable from 4th - 8th grades. Instructional videos and live career chats connect each activity to real-world professionals, science concepts, and exciting current events. Student teams will also have access to a live game on Goosechase, an app where students will answer science questions and upload engineering challenge projects in exchange for points and entry into a weekly raffle.
Why should I join?
In October, 24 schools and 124 student teams across the country participated in the virtual Mission to the Moon. Here is what one teacher had to say:
Space Club will bring excitement, enjoyment and a lot of learning to any classroom! If you are looking for a way for students of all abilities to be creative and learn about science and engineering this program is for you! Not only will students develop STEM skills, they will learn to become more persistent and develop their speaking skills. If you are working remotely, students will be in attendance because they can't wait to create!
In the Spring, remote learning was not easy and the students were not engaged. The same students are happily building, racing to the Goosechase app to check if a new mission has been posted and checking in to see if they have bonus points. The students ability to speak on camera is improving. This week I watched a student's video where he taped the lunar base drawing on the wall behind him and spoke in front of it as if he was on a news segment. Girls who were shy and quiet are producing the most amazing projects and drawing and then creating videos describing their well-thought-out creations.
As a teacher, I love the setup of these lessons! They are well thought out, flow easily and keep my students engaged and connected to each other (which is important to me).-Marlene M. a Tech Teacher in Brooklyn, New York
Real-world STEM
Each week includes an in-depth instructional video led by an engineer with science, engineering, and career connections. Check out one of the instructional videos below that includes a closer look at the resources on the Moon with special guests from Southwest Research Institute.
Looking for space STEM activities you can implement in your classroom? You can also check out Vivify's space STEM products previewed below or our post on Top 10 STEM Space Activities for more ideas!
