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Pop Bottle Station

Guiding Question

What would you need to live comfortably on the Space Station?

Objectives

Encourage creative thinking
Develop motor skills
Develop group interaction
Show common themes of life on earth and life on the space station

Concepts

Communication. Sharing supplies and listening to each other's ideas without interruption.
Teamwork. Using everyone's idea in a group so everyone on each team contributes.
Creativity. Original thinking or drawing, usually of something having to do with your interests.

Principles

Safety. Using equipment properly to prevent yourself from being hurt.
Health. The condition of your body that requires the proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep.
Working Together. Sharing, listening, and participating.

Materials

Two liter pop bottles
Plastic hose connectors
Assorted dowel rods
Cellophane tape
Scissors
Razor blade knife
Miscellaneous

Room Preparation

Place material on each table or place the supplies at the front of the room and have members of each group come up to receive the supplies.

Procedures and Activities

You have been selected to become a member of the NASA Space Station Construction Team. You are involved with several other engineers to design a safe and technologically advanced space station constructed out of two-liter plastic pop bottles and various hardware and scrap items. NASA administration has asked for several designs but only one may be launched into space. If your design is the one selected, you may have the opportunity to live aboard your own space station. Your first task is to get acquainted with your teammates. Take this opportunity to get to know them a little better, since these are the people you will be working with for the duration of the project. Decide on a team name as soon as possible - be creative! The main goal of the team is to design, plan, and construct a model of a NASA Space Station with the materials you are given. Good luck!

Steps

Cut the pour spout end off of one of the two pop bottles collected for each module as shown in the diagram. Tape this end to the rounded bottom of the other bottle so that the module appears to have two pour spouts. Make at least four modules per space station model.
Join the modules together in any design you wish with the hose connectors.
Add solar panels made from plastic meat trays, antennas from paper cups, the bottoms of pop cans, or anything else your students come up with.
To add extra interest to the model, cut doors in the modules with the razor blade knife and add furnishings to the modules. Partitions from plastic meat trays can be taped in place or held with glue. Small toy human figures can be added. Use one module as a terrarium Add aquarium gravel to its bottom and cover with soil mixed with charcoal. Plant small-growing plants and water. Be careful not to over-water. Shortly, water drops will condense on the walls of the bottle and run down the sides to form a mini hydrologic cycle.
Assemble the model on a table top or suspend with many strings from the ceiling.

Evaluation

Summarize the experiment; discuss students' results. Discuss with the students why they picked the equipment they did and make sure they understand why they need certain equipment.

Integrate results with concepts; discuss possible extensions. Relate how preparing for a trip to the space station is very much like preparing for a week long camping trip.

Explain your design to the class and consider how a real version of your station would be constructed in space and what would take place on board it.

Link to Careers

Identify careers that may be associated with the lesson. The motor skills and creativity that are required of the students in this lesson are skills that are used by people in many careers.

Math
Science
Engineering