Plant The Moon Challenge (K12)
Spring, Annually 

Sponsored by the NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium,
Hosted by The Institute of Competition Sciences

Application Deadline for Spring Competition To Be Announced

 

The Plant The Moon Challenge (PTMC) is supported by NASA and hosted by the Institute of Competition Sciences. K12 students at the middle and high school levels are invited to participate in this agriculture-challenge in which lunar or Martian regolith must be used to try and grow different crops as efficiently as possible with as little soil additive as possible.

General Information:

Six states will be participating in this program; your students and others across Florida will be competing with teams in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico. NASA recently granted a just-over-one-million-dollar award to the Virginia Space Grant Consortium for the regional program, (which you may read about here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-awards-4-million-through-new-space-grant-kids-opportunity/.)

 
The project is tied to Artemis, NASA’s mission to return to the Moon. Participating educators receive a PTMC Activity Kit for each student team including lunar or Martian regolith simulant, a Project Guide, a pH meter, and a $100 materials stipend for each kit. Student groups work together to design their plant growth experiments using the given simulant. Experiment variables may include the plant growth setup structure, amount of water used, and nutrients added to the regolith simulant. Teams use the Project Guide to define their plant growth experiments. For two weeks before the 8-week plant growth period, throughout the grow period, and for two weeks after the grow-period, teams are tasked with hands-on project activities to further their eventual composition of a final report, which is the largest consideration toward the PTMC’s competition aspect.
Teams may register and compete at the Junior (middle school) or high school levels. Student teams are encouraged to cap participation to 10 students per team, though Junior-level teams may have up to 30 students. 
The Florida Space Grant Consortium will support 10 teams across the state to participate in the Spring program spanning January-May.
 

Professional Development (PD) Sessions:

 

Four professional development sessions of about one to two hours each will be offered virtually for participating educators. In addition to these sessions, PTMC staff and the FSGC coordinator (Lina Dupuy) will be in regular communication with the participating educators throughout the Challenge and available to assist and answer questions via email, phone, and Zoom/virtual meetings as needed. Educators and student participants will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the Challenge.
We ask that participating teachers dedicate time to attend the PD sessions, as the updates shared therein are vital to your Challenge candidacy.
 

Experiential Prizes for Winning Teams:

 

Four state winners will be selected for an expense-paid STEM experience in their state. A best overall middle school and high school team from each state will compete in a regional selection for the top regional prize. The regional prize for the winning students and their teachers at the middle school level and at the high school level will be an expense-covered trip to Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex or Orlando Science Center. (Team entry to the KSVC will be covered; however, support for food and transportation can’t be fully guaranteed.) At the awards venue, the top winning teams will present their projects and be awarded their prize certificates at a ceremony which will include NASA and Space Grant invitees.
We ask that any interested educators or school administrators to please consider the May 8-15th period as a range of dates within which we will be hosting the State Awards ceremony. Details regarding travel to the awards day venue will be discussed later with the winning teams, and will likely be the responsibility of the school. Entry fees will be the explicit responsibility of the FSGC. Ideally, we would expect to host up to 2 chaperones per student team.
 
For additional information from PTMC website at
https://plantthemoon.com/
If you have any questions on the application process, please email Lina Dupuy at lina.dupuy@ucf.edu.

 

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