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The Great British Space Dinner - Secondary Resource

The Great British Space Dinner Challenge contains nine lessons:

Lesson 1: All Aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Sets the scene with a brief introduction the ISS and the Great British Space Dinner Challenge. Students develop a brochure about the ISS suitable for year 5 students.

Lesson 2: Taking food into orbit Investigates restrictions on food to be sent to the ISS, both nutritionally for astronauts and also suitability for the confines of space. In this research lesson students use video resources to interpret and construct a list of physical restrictions on food selected for space.

Lesson 3: Zero-G Biomechanics: blueprint construction] Activity on the skeletal and muscular system, with an emphasis on biomechanics. This lesson explores ‘flipped’ classroom techniques to investigate forces and muscles. Student’s research includes bone health, muscles and their own activity levels to aid design of a zero-gravity exercise machine.

Lesson 4: Biomechanics: prototype design Can be used to teach forces and muscular-skeletal system simultaneously. Students are facilitated for independently researching, designing and building a model a zero-gravity exercise machine suitable for the ISS. This activity links the effects of being in space on bone health to the importance of bone health on Earth.

Lesson 5: (optional) A lesson to promote healthy eating and drinking, focusing on the Eatwell plate, relating this to meal planning for a space menu.

Lesson 6: A stacked plate: nutritional analysis Students use web nutritional tools to draw conclusions about their diet and complete nutritional and energy calculations.

Lesson 7: Exercise and hydrate Students consider different nutritional requirements at distinct stages of life / lifestyle and perform a simple hydration experiment.

Lesson 8/9: ISS dinner ready Students synthesise information collected so far and work in groups to creatively and independently design recipes for a space dinner menu. Sets the challenge and encourage creativity in the classroom! Reviews the differences of food in space compared to food on Earth.

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