Space Explorers

One of the pre-K classes at my school was learning about Black contributions to space exploration, which led to this lesson.

Their classroom teacher, El, said students were excited to learn about Katherine Johnson, Mae C. Jemison, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. “We combined books, charts, and videos to gather information about their contributions to space travel. Students were particularly stoked to learn that all three of these people are real people who were once kids like them!”

El approached me about a collaboration—could his students make something to support their learning? El’s students discovered that there’s no air in space, and that astronauts wear special technology to allow them to live and breathe in space. So, we decided as a group that if we were going to pretend to be in space, we would need gear!

Pre-Visit Planning
Space exploration props and astronaut costumes are of course readily available for purchase, but El and I thought that letting students be a part of the design process would better support their learning.

I collected plain paper bags, stickers, and markers, and took some initial steps with scissors before students arrived in my art studio. I cut the handles off the bags, cut large holes for students’ faces, and cut out space in the sides of the bags for students’ shoulders.

Decorating Space Gear
Students used markers to decorate their bag helmets, and it was exciting to see what elements they chose to include. Some students featured their names or drawings of themselves, patterns, and designs. One enthusiastic student drew an entire representative solar system on his, naming each planet as he worked.

I used a die-cut machine to make letters for USA and NASA, acronyms that students discussed when they saw them on astronauts’ uniforms. Some students chose to glue these letters to their bag helmet, while others used shiny foil star stickers.

Moving to Photography
When the helmets were completed, we spent two class periods photographing students in front of a green screen. I asked them to pretend that they were walking on the moon or floating in space. In El’s class, students became familiar with the concept of gravity, and they brought those ideas to the photo shoot, bouncing and holding their hands out for balance.

Students joined me at the iPad, where we used the Green Screen app by Do Ink to remove the background from their photos and choose new backgrounds. Students could choose between the moon, galaxies, planets, or, if they had a specific idea in mind, a quick internet search could bring up a picture that suited their needs. I guided them through inserting the background into their photo, and they could resize or rotate the image of themselves floating in space. This experimentation was open-ended and each photo was unique.

One student, Scarlett, said she chose to visit to the moon because it’s her favorite “moon color,” grey, and you can see the Earth from the moon: “I think I would see other astronauts there. I would want there to be lots and lots of astronauts. We would play ‘astronaut seek’—the astronaut hides and then the other astronauts bounce to walk to find him.”

The playful spirit of the photo shoot followed students back to their classroom. El said the students’ delight for learning about space extended into their conversations and their play—both in the classroom and on the playground. They built rockets and rocket launchers, drew the solar system and themselves in space, and moved through the playground bouncing like the moon-landing videos we watched.

Our space unit was derived from students’ play and was only strengthened by their interest in the topic. It was a joy to watch them develop new ideas based on our conversations and incorporate complex concepts into their daily play.

Not only did students have a souvenir photo of their journey through the solar system, they also created memories through imaginative and open-ended play.