ART - Space Apps Challenge

ART| Create a Mascot

Create a Mascot

The world is full of scientific information that can help us make informed decisions and take action. However, that information is not always accessible to young learners. Your challenge is to create a mascot that can help make learning about Earth and space science more fun and welcoming for younger audiences.

ARTy: The Amazing Rocketship Teacher

Summary

ARTy is short for Artemis, the goddess of the moon. ARTy is also a spaceship, which is the ultimate symbol of exploration and adventure. The goal of ARTy as a mascot of Earth and space science is to encourage the natural creativity of younger students. ARTy takes on the challenge of keeping that curiosity alive and inspiring young students to continue learning about the world. NASA’s education program around the Artemis Generation is to excite students about sending the first woman and another man to the moon by 2024. ARTy is an inclusive mascot that encourages kids of all ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and gender identities and expressions to reach for the moon and the stars!

How We Addressed This Challenge

We created a mascot to help communicate and teach younger students the amazing wonders of Earth and space science. We found that although the K-4 audience was the largest segment of students reached through NASA's STEM programs, there was no unifying mascot to help communicate and inspire these younger students. Through ARTy's engaging personality, it can reach a diverse audience and make learning fun.

How We Developed This Project

were inspired by NASA's Project Artemis to go back to the moon by 2024. We put together a we are multi-generational team of white, Hispanic, black, and LGBTQ-affiliated members to think about what inspires us about going to the moon. We realized that the moon plays an integral part in all of our lives from when we are a child being read "Goodnight Moon" to watching the moon scene in E.T. to gazing at a full moon with friends and lovers.

We first researched the NASA education data to determine our audience and realized that almost half of the students participating in STEM activities were K-4 students so we decided to focus our energy there. We were inspired by the teacher Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus and wanted our mascot to be funny and also knowledgeable and credible. We considered many concepts, but the spaceship seemed the most universal and timeless.

Also, we wanted an inanimate object that was gender, racially, and culturally inclusive. In the past, most rocket or space ships were just vehicles that other characters used. ARTy is a character until itself that will cross over to all of NASA STEM activities as a familiar face that elementary students would see and understand that that activity is for them.

How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project

We used the data provided in the NASA STEM education 2019 highlights. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ostem_highlights_2019.pdf

This helped us determine how to target our project. The report said that 827,257 students participated in NASA STEM actives in 2019 and 46.3% or 383,020 were elementary students. Therefore we focused on creating a mascot for the K-4 segment.