These are my notes from the SPACE 2024 presentation, “Planting Other Worlds” by Melissa Sleeper and Lisa Dupuy. The session description is:
Tired of the same old plant growth lessons? Help spark student interest in agriculture using Space as the hook. When humans go to settle the Moon and Mars, they will have to eat. While some food may be flown in, we will have to learn to cultivate food on other worlds. Help students look at growing crops a whole new way as they use the experimental design process to plan and carry out investigations to cultivate crops in lunar or Mars regolith.
6 Minute Video: “Our World: Systems to Grow Plants in Space”
This video brings up “Regolith” and what it is, a critical element of this lesson series.
Nourish the Future resources: https://nourishthefuture.org
“Space Biology research helps us understand the fundamentals of plant growth by examining the very building blocks of plant life down to the molecular level: transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. To compare the effects of microgravity conditions on plants, we also conduct experiments on Earth using gravity or simulated microgravity ground controls at the Kennedy Space Center. We conduct our research on the ISS in conditions of microgravity to help us understand how to support astronauts aboard the ISS and on their long journey to Mars.”
About Nourish the Future — Nourish the Future. https://nourishthefuture.org/about. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Lots of great background resources for kids: Soil ecosystems, Soil nutrient testing, soil texture, “soil, microbes and plants” and more
My goal: Actually get the kids to grow crops in regolith!
NASA’s Plant Biology Program
https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical/focus-areas/plant-biology
New WIRED video that is good but may give students TOO MUCH information!
How Artemis Astronauts Plan to Grow Plants on the Moon (8.5 min)
Wired article version: https://www.wired.com/video/watch/wired-news-and-science-how-scientists-plan-to-grow-plants-on-the-moon
Our activity today: “Regolith Nutrient Testing”
- Focus question: What nutrients are found in regolith?
- Work with people at your table to conduct multiple tests: ph, extraction tests for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
You can order both lunar and Mars regolith online to test!
- Exolith lab is my Regolith source: https://sciences.ucf.edu/class/exolithlab/
MY COMMENT: I definitely want to use these videos and some of these resources for my “Coding Mars” project / “Minecraft Mars” STEM unit, in which I have students build virtual terrariums / farms in Minecraft Education!
Another related project and website to check out: Plant the Moon Challenge!
Source : Plants in Space
