First-ever meet-and-greet session between a NASA astronaut and Singapore preschoolers
World Space Week 2021 will no doubt be well-remembered by over 250 K2 students of our five Methodist Preschools at Bedok, Faith, Foochow, Sengkang and Toa Payoh. They had the privileged opportunity to Zoom-meet and interact with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Nick Hague on 7 October 2021âa first-of-its-kind engagement between a NASA Astronaut and preschoolers in Singapore! Significantly, Nick Hague was the NASA astronaut who deployed Singaporeâs nanosatellite into orbit from the International Space Station in 2019.
The highly anticipated meet and greet session with NASA Astronaut Nick Hague via Zoom was a blast! He wowed our students with fascinating videos and photos captured inside and outside the International Space Station during his seven-month-long mission in 2019. He also told the children about his personal experiences of living and working in space, and shared interesting anecdotes of his childhood aspirations and journey to becoming an astronaut. He ended his talk with this encouragement for our students: âWhatever your dream is, dream really BIG, work really hard and don’t ever give up!â
The highlight of the Zoom session was most definitely the Q&A session, during which Astronaut Nick interacted with our students by answering some of their burning questions. Our little inquisitive minds wanted to know: âWhy do astronauts need to wear space suits?â âWhat do astronauts do if they get sick in space?â âHow do astronauts shower in space?â and more! The 50-minute session was full of smiles, excited faces and most certainly inspired a sense of interest and wonder in our Methodist Preschoolers about the next frontier!
Celebration of World Space Week at MPSPL Methodist Preschools
World Space Week, which is held annually from 4 to 10 October, is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contributions to the betterment of the human condition. In celebration of World Space Week and to prepare our preschoolers for the inaugural Zoom meet-and-greet session with NASA astronaut Nick Hague, our preschools conducted a myriad of unique space-themed learning programmes comprising engaging lessons and fun hands-on activities that fuelled discovery, inquiry and learning about space.
Methodist Preschool Space Buds Education Programme
The exclusive conversation with NASA Astronaut Nick Hague is part of Methodist Preschool Space Buds Education Programme. It is developed in partnership between Methodist Preschool Services Pte Ltd (MPSPL) and Space Faculty Singapore Pte Ltd, which is part of Singapore Space and Technology Ltd. The one-of-a-kind Space Buds programme is specially designed to introduce preschoolers to all things space, and fire up our young minds to build lifelong interest and foundational knowledge in space, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) through a purposeful and intentional approach. Essentially, FUN meets PASSION in an environment that educates, spurs creativity and ignites passion for learning and appreciation for innovation.
In addition to the prized opportunity to Zoom-meet and interact with an astronaut, the MPS Space Buds programme comprises a series of interesting lessons and hands-on activities to learn about space food, the solar system and the moon. Students even get to sample space ice-cream to get a taste of dessert in space! Participants of our Space Buds programme can look forward to receiving a Certificate from Space Faculty upon completion of the programme.
A pilot Space Buds programme was conducted for our K2 cohort in Faith Methodist Preschool in October 2021. With the successful pilot implementation of Space Buds, it will be introduced as a signature programme in the K2 curriculum of our groupâs Methodist preschools from 2022, along with other innovative initiatives that are currently in the works. Through introducing riveting learning programmes such as this, we hope to inspire Methodist Preschoolers to stay passionate about learning and maximise their potential! Our commitment is always to nurture every student to be a person of Good Character, who is an Explorer, an Innovator and an Entrepreneur.
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Every Child a person of Good Character who is an Explorer, an Innovator and an Entrepreneur
Chan Yuey Sum is the Manager (Marketing and Promotion) at Methodist Preschool Services Pte Ltd. / Photos courtesy of Methodist Preschool Services Pte Ltd