Astrobotany, Space Foods and CEA

These lessons are all about growing plants in space and astronaut food! There are three lessons divided by grade level:

• Space Foods (Elementary, Grades 3-5): Students learn about what astronauts eat in space, how plants can be grown in space for astronauts to eat, nutritional science, and careers in space.
• Astrobotany (Middle School, Grades 6-8): Students learn all about growing plants in space including what plants need to grow, how NASA grows plants in space, and why astronauts grow plants in space.
• Astrobotany and Controlled Environment Agriculture (High School, Grades 9-12): Students learn about Controlled Environment Agriculture, including Greenhouses and Vertical Farms, here on Earth and in space. Students examine how Climate Change is affecting agriculture, use cases for Greenhouses and Vertical Farms, requirements for CEA including sensor technology, and how CEA is applied to space exploration.

Each lesson has associated resources such as slide decks, worksheets, quizzes, project ideas, and standards alignment information. You can access the lesson resources by clicking the “Get Resources” button.