HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Earlier this year, the Cosmosphere kicked off LaunchNext. The online virtual program was invented to provide up to 48 underserved Kansas school districts the opportunity to better teach STEM programs to students.
Now the space museum is adding another element to that program with LaunchLearning. LaunchLearning brings grade-specific classroom topics ranging from rocketry to living in space to classrooms everywhere. The content aligns with Next Generation Science Standards and offers lesson plans, video resources, live science demonstrations, hands-on activities, teacher guides, subject matter experts and more.
“Students report higher understanding and interest in STEM subjects after experiencing the programming at the Cosmosphere,” Cosmosphere President and CEO Jim Remar said. “LaunchLearning brings those experiences to classrooms everywhere through exceptional resources. The unique aspect to LaunchLearning programming is that it is conveyed against the backdrop of space exploration, which makes the content relevant to many curriculum areas.”
LaunchLearning enables a school district, education center or school group to access the online content for all its classrooms. Additional services, such as live streaming with Cosmosphere STEM educators and field trips, are also available as part of the license.
Several other programs are also available through LaunchNext including LaunchTeaching, which is virtual professional development for educators to gain more insight into the delivery of the content while earning professional development and continuing education credit. LaunchWonder provides free virtual/digital access to the Cosmosphere’s galleries, exhibits, artifacts and archives, which represent the largest combined collection of U.S. and Soviet-era space artifacts in the world.
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