Middle School Activities

Activity Guides for Teachers
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute has a series of educational units for grades 4-8 highlighting NSBRI research areas. These free teacher guides contain 6-10 activities that allow students to investigate NSBRI research areas.

NEW The Science of Heart and Circulation offers nine activities that help students understand the heart and circulatory system. Using examples from current research on human space travel, this guide engages students in authentic questions and investigations. Students will learn that the circulatory system distributes materials to and from all regions of the body, and that it plays a role in regulating body temperature by transferring heat from warmer regions of the body to cooler ones, and vice versa. This publication also features Astroblogs – An Astronauts’ Point of View.
Sample Activity (PDF 632 KB)
Heart and Circulation Download (PDF 4.8 MB)

REVISED The Science of Sleep and Daily Rhythms offers teachers eight activities that help students understand not only how the body's biological clock adjusts during space missions but also addresses the problems humans face when adjusting to jet lag, night work or simply shifting from standard time to daylight-savings time.
Sleep and Daily Rhythms Download (PDF 5.0 MB)

Muscles and Bones offers teachers 10 activities that help students understand how the body's muscles and bones work. The activities in this guide help students explore important questions related to muscles and bones in living things; such as: Do you know which foods have lots of calcium for your bones? What are you doing to keep your muscles strong? And how do your bones and muscles work together?
Sample Activity (PDF 300 KB)
Muscles and Bones Download (PDF 2.6 MB)

The Science of Food and Fitness offers teachers seven activities to help students learn about the relationship between nutrition and fitness. The activities in this guide help students examine techniques to make life-long healthy meal and activity choices, such as determining the proper serving size, understanding food labels, and assessing proper nutritional and exercise choices.
Sample Activity (PDF 280KB)
Food and Fitness Download (PDF 2.2MB)
Food and Fitness Virtual Online Workshop

To request a copy of the Activities Guide, call 800-798-8244.

What's Up With Jose and Cecilia's Story
These middle- and high-school curriculum guides are problem-based case studies on sleep and circadian rhythms and neurovestibular function. Problem-based instruction uses real-world problems as the context for learning. These studies give students enough information to proceed with investigations, but require them to undertake further investigation to solve the problem at hand. In partnership with the Harvard Medical School Teacher Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine created these guides for 5th through 12th grade teachers and students.
What's Up With Jose Download (PDF 7.7 MB)
Cecilia's Story Download (PDF 2.4 MB)