HOUSTON – Children’s excitement about life in outer space can help motivate them to learn about health and science issues on Earth.
Sleep and Daily Rhythms: Activities Guide for Teachers helps students understand not only how the body’s biological clock adjusts during space missions but also the problems humans face when adjusting to jet lag, night work, or simply shifting from standard time to daylight-savings time. The guide, designed by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), is available free of charge to upper-elementary and middle-school teachers.
"Kids get very excited about space-related activities," said NSBRI’s Dr. Nancy Moreno, activities guide co-author. "And these activities teach children how spending time in space affects the human body and how comparable situations on Earth affect people."
Through group activities, students learn about the Earth’s rotation and day-and-night cycles, and how to measure time using shadows. Other lessons teach the importance of regular sleep patterns, how sleep and other body functions are controlled by timing mechanisms within the body, and the different factors that affect sleep quality.
"One of the unique things about the activities guide is that it uses real-world, tangible exercises to teach hard-science concepts," co-author Barbara Tharp said. "Teaching kids this way is much more effective than having them simply read or memorize facts."
The three-to-six week unit, designed to align with the National Science Education Standards for science and technology, is the first in a series of guides for the upper-elementary through middle-school grades. The NSBRI Education and Public Outreach team members at Baylor College of Medicine are developing more activity guides. The guide can be found online in the Education and Outreach section of the NSBRI Web site at www.nsbri.org or can be requested toll-free by calling 800-798-8244.
"Comments and suggestions from teachers participating in two rounds of field tests with more than 250 students in each test helped refine the guide before its release," Moreno said.
Established in 1997 through a NASA competition, research by NSBRI scientists addresses bone loss, muscle weakening, cardiovascular changes, sleep disturbances, immunology and infection, balance and orientation, radiation exposure, and medical research technology needs. In October, research areas will include four additional areas – nutrition, physical fitness and rehabilitation; neurobehavioral and psychosocial factors; integrated human function; and smart medical systems. While focusing on space health issues, the institute will quickly transfer solutions found to Earth patients suffering from similar conditions.
The NSBRI’s consortium members include Baylor, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, The Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Rice University, Texas A&M University, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Health System and University of Washington.