This session prepared us to lead a one-week unit in which  students take a “journey” to the Moon. Facilitators Tara Clopper and Heather Slatoff led us in hands-on activities, including designing our own mission patches. One perk with this session—a free CD containing the whole unit, including video clips.
In the photo above, teachers examine Tara Clopper’s t-shirt decorated with lunar mission patches designed by students. Clopper and Slatoff said they stayed up late ironing patches on t-shirts, and as someone who hates this task, I was relieved that they advised us to recruit help for this part of the unit!
During a mission communication activity, teacher teams played the roles of “senders” and “receivers.” Senders shaded squares on a grid and tried to convey the design to the receivers without showing them the grid. It reminded me of the game “Battleship,” which was popular when I was in seventh grade.