{"id":76532,"date":"2025-11-24T12:34:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=76532"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:34:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T19:34:56","slug":"planets-ost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/planets-ost\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling all future planetary scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Why wait until college to study planetary science? Thanks to a group of faculty members at the NAU <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/directory.nau.edu\/departments?id=11347\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Center for STEM Teaching and Learning<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> and a generous grant from NASA, kids in elementary and middle school can now get hands-on space learning experiences\u2026for free.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">An NAU project called <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/planets-stem.org\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology, and Science<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u2014PLANETS for short\u2014has designed three out-of-school-time (OST) units that give learners in grades 3-5 and 6-8 the chance to do real planetary science and engineering. The free units include comprehensive educator guides, videos and other resources.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cWe are enormously proud to provide educators with this NASA curriculum, which we hope will spark curiosity in youth,\u201d said Jo\u00eblle LeMer, co-director of the Center for STEM Teaching and Learning. \u201cWhat an incredible opportunity to empower youth across the nation to dive into science and engineering through fun, hands-on activities inspired by NASA\u2019s biggest questions.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is PLANETS\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JV9pI0TYLGo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The three units currently offered through PLANETS are available in both a science pathway and an engineering pathway. They are:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Space Hazards (grades 3-5):<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> In the science pathway, students play a card game to learn about how we can protect against the different hazards that we face on Earth and that astronauts and robotic probes face in space. The engineering pathway presents students with a challenge: design a space glove that will keep astronauts safe while still allowing them to do their work.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Water in Extreme Environments (grades 6-8): <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">In the science pathway, students use planet \u201cwater cards\u201d to learn where there is the most water in our solar system (hint: it\u2019s not Earth!). The engineering pathway introduces learners to the scarcity of fresh water, both in extreme environments on Earth and for astronauts in space. Students design a filtration system to purify water for reuse.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Remote Sensing (grades 6-8): <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">The engineering pathway puts students in the shoes of NASA spacecraft engineers, designing remote sensing devices to learn about the surface of planets like Mars. The science pathway then uses real NASA remote sensing data from Mars landing site candidates to choose the best place to land a rover on Mars.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">LeMer said what makes PLANETS unique is the units\u2019 unique mix of entertainment value and scientific rigor. NAU science and education faculty developed these curricula alongside kids and experts at the U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, Boston Museum of Science and WestEd to ensure the activities were educational, engaging and accurate.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cPLANETS is one of the most thoughtfully designed STEM resources I\u2019ve used in an out-of-school setting,\u201d said Kara Branch, CEO and founder of Black Girls Do Engineer. \u201cThe hands-on activities are engaging, accessible and grounded in real-world challenges that spark curiosity in every learner. What sets it apart is the intentional support for diverse learners and the clear, practical guidance for facilitators\u2014making it truly turnkey for OST educators at any experience level.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56007\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png\" alt=\"Northern Arizona University Logo\" width=\"134\" height=\"95\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png 905w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-600x426.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 134px) 100vw, 134px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><br \/>\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications<br \/>\n(928) 523-2282 | <a href=\"mailto:jill.kimball@nau.edu\">jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/planets-ost\/\">Why wait until college to study planetary science? Thanks to a group of faculty members at the NAU Center for STEM Teaching and Learning and a generous grant from NASA, kids in elementary and middle school can now get hands-on space learning experiences\u2026for free.\u00a0 An NAU project called Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":76533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}