News

Fast Plants in Space on Blue Origin!

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Emily Calandrelli shows 4 petri dishes containing Fast Plants that traveled with her into space.

Emily Calandrelli, The Space Gal, Took Fast Plants Experiments & Seed Into Orbit!

On November 22, 2024, science communicator, author, and engineer Emily Calandrelli became an astronaut and successfully conducted two Fast Plants experiments in space aboard the NS-28 Blue Origin mission. This mission is a milestone in space science and education. Be sure to follow #fastplantsinspace with Emily, @thespacegal, to learn how your students can participate, too!

In this and several other NASA and Space Force Projects, Fast Plants have once again reached for the stars—this time with the help of Emily Calandrelli, a dynamic engineer, author, and champion of STEM education. Partnering with Space Force and the Wisconsin Fast Plants® Program, Calandrelli contributed to sending two experiments involving Fast Plants to space. One of these, launched aboard the NS-28 Blue Origin Mission, explores the fascinating world of plant growth in microgravity.

 

This milestone is also a fresh chance for STEM educators to connect students with space-based research. The nutrient Fast Plants experiment, still active post-flight, offers a compelling way to bring space science...

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Investigating Brassicas Around the World with Fast Plants

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NEW! Lesson plan, video, experiment, & more!!

Sometimes, in teaching, we hit a real sweet spot with a lesson that is brimming with learning opportunities folded into one investigation. Brassicas Around the World is exactly that. Interwoven seamlessly you’ll find support for learning about:

  • Environmental influences on how plant populations change (both through human selection and natural selection).
  • Genetic diversity and allelic variation influences in plant breeding and natural adaptation.
  • History of agriculture and appreciation for how early humans shaped crops we depend on today.
  • Appreciation for how cultural diversity is at the heart of Brassica diversity (along with genetic and environmental diversity).

There you have it, a beautiful blend of fundamental biological concepts with valuable knowledge about food production and cultural connections that can be taken as deep as you wish. Here are just a few of the resources we developed for this robust investigation:

  1. Comprehensive, NGSS- and Ag standards-aligned Open Source Investigation, written in Brett Moulding’s Gather, Reason, Communicate and BSCS’s 5E Models. This is a Google Doc lesson plan that you can copy to...

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