< Remote Sensing

Full Educator Guides

How to Teach These Units

Take a little time to prepare and get ready to teach. The pages linked below give you an easy-to-follow checklist and resources that get you prepared for facilitating PLANETS activities.

1: Technology Stories: Sharing Experiences

Learners share experiences with, and stories about, technology. Note that this activity is identical to the Science Pathway Technology Stories activity.

Guiding Question

Why is technology important?

Activity Downloads

Activity Timing

10 MIN. Get Ready & Team Up

25 MIN. Storytelling

10 MIN. Reflect

45 MIN. TOTAL

Setup: Prep Time 30 min

  • Set up a materials table.

*See Materials & Preparation in the Educator Guide linked above for full info.

21st Century Skills

  • Communication

Habits of Mind

  • Communicate effectively.

Learners Will Do

  • Share a story or experience about technology.

Learners Will Know

  • Humans design technologies to solve problems they have identified.

Connecting Across Activities

  • Ready, S.E.T., Go!: Last time, learners designed spacecraft to gather data about Mars. As scientists, they chose a mission. As engineers, they figured out which instruments to send on the mission.
  • Activity 1: Sharing Experiences: learners share experiences with, and stories about, technology.
  • Activity 2: Investigating Light: Next time, learners investigate how light travels and how mirrors can redirect light to gather data from a distance.

Level Up!

  • Refer to the Engineering Design Process (PDF) poster. Ask: What phases of the Engineering Design Process did you use today? (We investigated reasons why technology is important.) (5 min)
  • Check out some great examples of the more than 2,000 NASA spin-off technologies that enrich our lives thanks to space exploration. (5 min.)
  • Tell learners, if anyone asks them what they did today, they can tell them “We shared stories about why technology is important.” (5 min)