Tomatosphere: Involving Young Students in the Life Support Needs of Future Astronauts
- Paper number
IAC-08.E1.1.11
- Author
Ms. Beverley Thirsk, Canada
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Purpose: The Tomatosphere project was previously presented from a programmatic perspective at the 57th International Astronautical Congress. This paper will discuss the practical implementation of this educational outreach project in the classroom as well as its impact on the participating students. Methodology: The excitement is clearly evident when grade 4 students are told by their teacher that they will participate with space scientists in the development of futuristic life support systems for spaceflight. Over the past eight years, the Canadian Space Agency and its partners have made Tomatosphere resources available to classrooms in Canada and elsewhere. In addition to curricular resources, the classrooms are provided with space-treated tomato seeds as well as earth-based controls. The seed treatment varies each year, but always involves exposure to a simulated or actual space environment. Students plant, nurture the seedlings and record plant growth data. The students' interest in and sense of ownership of their experiment results is fascinating to observe. Ensuing classroom discussions move 'from imagination to reality' as students speculate whether tomato plants could be cultivated in a controlled spaceflight environment and provide astronauts with life support resources. Results: Students put into practice the scientific method and recognize the importance of control groups and the merits of a blind study. Along the way, students learn about plant biology and space science. Tomatosphere also serves as an excellent springboard to extend the space exploration theme to other curricular areas such as language arts, math, art, music, social studies, international relations and computer skills. In addition, Tomatosphere captures the interest of the parents and the whole school environment. Conclusions: Tomatosphere in the classroom has been an effective tool for teaching Canadian provincial grade four science objectives. Its primary strength is that it actively engages students in interesting scientific research. Good support is provided to teachers by the Tomatosphere program manager and the website enabling easy implementation by teachers with and without extensive scientific background. Areas for Discussion: Tomatosphere serves as a good model for the creation of other educational outreach projects.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.E1.1.11.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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