Classroom Space Travel Kit
Team Encounter and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education have created the Classroom Space Travel Kit, which allows students worldwide to participate in a real space mission while they learn about the scientific principles on which the exercise is based. With different lessons for students in grades K-2, 3-4, 5-8 and 9-12, the kit teaches students the basics of solar sail flight through a scale model of the solar sail that students build with the software. The program also teaches students about how light intensity propels a spacecraft, as well as how to use a spectroscope to examine the visible colors that make up light. Team Encounter LLC, (713) 522-7282, www.teamencounter.com.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2004 issue of THE Journal.