4. Ready for Impact

Setup: Prep Time 40 min.

• Set up materials stations.
• Print handouts.

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

21st Century Skills

• Critical Thinking

Habits of Mind

• Apply science knowledge to problem-solving
• Investigate properties and uses of materials

Learners Will Do

• Test how materials protect against impacts and consider which to use in a space glove.

Learners Will Know

• Engineers must learn how different materials work for different uses.

Connecting Across Adventures

• Adventure 3: Chilling Out: Last time, learners tested how well materials protect against cold.
• Adventure 4: Ready for Impact: Today, learners test how well materials protect against impact. Later, they’ll use collected data to design space gloves.
• Adventure 5: Dangerous Dust: Next time, learners will test how materials resist dust.

Level Up! (Optional)

• Translatable testing instructions are available in the How to Prepare and Teach Playlist

• If learners would benefit from an additional visual of the testing procedure, play How to Design and Test Space Gloves (1:00–1:33).

• Refer to the Engineering Design Process (PDF) poster. Ask: What phases of the Engineering Design Process did you use today? (The Ask phase. We asked which materials are best at protecting against impact.) (5 min.)

• If you can, show the video clip: Testing designs for impacts hazards in space, (2:33–2:53) to help learners understand how NASA tests materials to protect against impacts. (5 min.)

• Ask this story prompt: Can you tell me a story about something creative you did to protect yourself from getting hurt? Tell learners, if anyone asks what they did today, they can say “We tested which materials protected model bones made of spaghetti from falling weights” and ask the above story prompt. Consider returning to learners’ ideas at the start of the next adventure. (5 min.)