1. SURVIVING IN SPACE
KEEPING COOL IN A SPACE SUIT

2. KEEPING COOL IN A SPACE SUIT
Flow of ideas through the activities (green = practical activity):
When we exercise we get hot!
How hot do we get when we exercise?
Normally we are cooled by the air moving over our skin but in a space suit this can’t happen.
Can we build some ‘space underwear’ to help keep us cool?
Astronauts therefore wear special underwear with pipes for water to run through and keep them cool

3. KEEPING COOL IN A SPACE SUIT
Suggested Activities:
Check understanding that when we exercise we get hot!
Check understanding that normally we are cooled by the air moving over our skin but in a space suit this can’t happen.
Ask children to think about how this problem might be solved
Look at space underwear on and select ‘clickable spacesuit’ then ‘LCVG’
Watch about getting dressed in a spacesuit (first 3 minutes – or all 11 mins if you have time; it is completely fascinating!)
Measure temperature of skin on tummy before and after exercise
Try to design and build some water cooled underwear to help keep cool
Test it by repeating the temperature measurements / exercise routine

4. KEEPING COOL IN A SPACE SUIT
Specific Curriculum Links Y3 Y4
“identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in
the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with
temperature”
Link to us sweating when we are hot so that the evaporating sweat takes heat away with it and cools us down
“recognise that environments can change and that this can
sometimes pose dangers to living things”
Link to our (and other mammals’) ability to control our own body temperature as an important adaptation  that lets us live in different environments Y5 Y6
“identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their
environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead
to evolution”
Link to our (and other mammals’) ability to control our own body temperature as an important adaptation
“describe how living things are classified into broad groups
according to common observable characteristics and based
on similarities and differences, including micro-organisms,
plants and animals”
Link to ability to control body temperature as one of the characteristics common to all mammals
“identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and explain the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood”
Link to our blood vessels constricting when we are cold to keep warmth in vital body organs and dilating when we are hot to help lose heat through the skin
“recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function”
Link to exercise and body temperature

5. KEEPING COOL IN A SPACE SUIT
Explain to the children that they will be working in groups to create a piece of water-cooled space underwear.
PE kit is probably a good idea as they will be deliberately exercising to get hot and sweaty! (and those who test the water-cooled underwear may well get wet…)
Finding out our baseline
Give each child a ‘space suit’ (a bin bag from which they need to cut head and arm holes!) that will ensure they get nice and hot as they exercise.
Talk about how they need to arrange things to ensure their space underwear gets a fair test (keep the same… exercise time, type of exercise done, person doing the exercise, clothing worn…)
Explain that they constraints are that (a) they have to exercise on the spot so that they can be plugged into the water supply for they underwear and (b) we only have enough pipework for 11 sets of space underwear so they will need to work in groups. They will all measure how hot they get and then the member of the group who gets hottest will be used to test the underwear.
All measure and record the temperature of the skin on their tummy using one of the 3 temperature guns
All do their agreed exercising on the spot whilst wearing the ‘space suit’ for 2 minutes and then, again, record their temperature.
Make and test the water-cooled underwear
Give each group a bag with pipe, connectors, sports bib and masking tape and let them make their space underwear (which must have a connector for the ‘water in’ and a connector for the ‘water out’)
The selected child from each group should put on the underwear plus the ‘space suit’ and present themselves to be connected to one of the 3 pumps (the aquarium pumps need to be submerged in an tank of water; there are pipes supplied for connecting to and from the child).
Record their start temperature, repeat the exercise routine, record their end temperature.
Does their space underwear have any effect?
National Curriculum skills:
Observing over time (what observations to make, how often, with what equipment, making what records)
Pattern Seeking (effect of exercise, how similar are different people’s results, does the underwear work?)
Fair Testing (what do we need to do to make a fair test of the underwear?)

6. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR RELATED MATHS ACTIVITIES
Statistics – who had the biggest temperature rise whilst exercising? What was the difference in temperature rise between exercising with and without the water cooled underwear? What was the average when exercising without the water cooled underwear? What was the average with it? Would you say the space underware was effective or not?
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR RELATED ENGLISH ACTIVITIES
Imagine you are going to try to sell water cooled underwear for keeping cool on hot days and write an advertisement that will persuade people to buy it
Imagine you have bought a set of the wonderful water cooled underwear but it has leaked all over your best clothes. Write a letter of complaint to the supplier

7. ‘KEEPING COOL IN A SPACE SUIT’ RESOURCE LIST
How hot do we get? (one class at a time)
1 bin bag per child for them to make a ‘space suit’ to exercise in
3 x temperature scanners
3 x submersible pumps with connecting pipes + connection pieces
(these need to be submerged in a tank of water before being turned on)
Enough for up to 11 groups making water cooled underwear:
Sports bib to act as the garment
10m plastic tube
Connection pieces
Masking tape for fixing to bib