Crewmates| Create a Mascot
Awards & Nominations
Crewmates has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Create a Mascot
The Ursa Major Project
Summary
In this project, I developed the mascot Ursa the Explorer to encourage students 7-12 years old to learn about space science. The scientific name of the bear is “Ursidae.” I chose the bear because being a Californian the bear symbol is close to me as it is our state animal. In Native American culture, the bear symbolizes strength, confidence, and courage to help others. I wanted to connect the bear to something to do with space exploration and earth science. I read about Ursa, a Greek bear constellation in a Greek mythology series called Percy Jackson. That became my inspiration for my mascot. The message I want my mascot to represent is equal access to space exploration and knowledge.
How We Addressed This Challenge
Through The Ursa Major Project, I developed the mascot “Ursa the Explorer” to encourage young students (7-12 years old) to learn about space science. The message I want my mascot “Ursa the Explorer” to represent is equal access to space exploration and knowledge for all. This is important because Ursa, the bear in Native American culture symbolizes strength, confidence, and courage to help others. And with knowledge one gains the confidence to take leadership and spread the message of the importance of space and earth science exploration.
How We Developed This Project
For my mascot, I chose the bear because being a Californian the bear symbol is close to me because it is our state animal. Also, in Native American culture, the bear symbolizes strength, confidence, and courage to help others. I wanted to connect the bear to something to do with space exploration and earth science. I read about Ursa, a Greek bear constellation in a Greek mythology series called Percy Jackson. That became my inspiration for my mascot.
First I hand sketched the mascot, and then used the free software Paint.net to develop Ursa . I also used Microsoft PowerPoint to finalize my project demonstration .
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
I used NASA’s space image galleries to figure out facts about URSA major constellation. I reviewed various links provided in the resources section of the challenge to do my research.
Project Demo
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PWPQHcswHw6Dwc0mLKAIHr0bsazLfqH9/view?usp=sharing
Data & Resources
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070427.html
https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e000402/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e000402~orig.jpg
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a031000/a031039/STScI-H-p0706a-840x6000_print.jpg
https://sites.google.com/site/healeyuniverse/stars-and-constellations/ursa-major-the-big-bear