Many technologies that were originally designed by NASA for space travel and evolved into “spinoff technologies” used in our everyday lives for the purpose of making life “better.” “Better” can be described as faster, less expensive, safer, more efficient, more environmentally responsible, more profitable, or stronger. As technologies are developed and refined, it is also important to remember, there are often unintended negative impacts associated with these technologies.
FerranteTech Inc. has been hired by NASA to create infographics to promote a technology, product, or service originally designed by NASA for space travel, then evolved into a “spinoff” used in everyday life.
An infographic is a collection of images, photographs, diagrams, charts, and text that is effectively arranged to present a topic. Infographics can be used to sell products, teach concepts, raise awareness about issues, and to present ideas. The general purpose of an infographic is to effectively communicate complex information in a clear, engaging, and easy to understand format.
Infographics usually contain a minimal amount of text, but can include words, numbers, statistical facts, phrases, sentences, short paragraphs, and even videos if the infographic is digitally presented. Here are a few examples for you to look at.
Two of these are student samples of infographics, one is a NASA publication. Can you tell the difference?
Visit NASA's Home and City web page.
Scroll down on the screen a little so you can view the two cartoon-like images and the title boxes “Explore City” and “Explore Home”.
Click on the “Explore Home” title box. A new image will load.
You can now pan around the room by clicking and dragging on the image to rotate it. You will notice small blue circles at different locations on the image. Click on a blue circle to enter a specific room in the house or a location outside.
Pan around the new location and select a click on another blue circle to select a specific “spinoff technology”.
Read about the “spinoff technology”, to learn why it was originally developed and how it evolved into an everyday product or service.
Select the “Learn More” button, scroll down and play the short video clip to learn more.
Close that window and return to the NASA Explore Home.
Repeat these procedures for another two or three technologies.
Move on to Task 2.
After reviewing several “spinoff” technologies or products in Task 1, select the one that most interests you to develop your infographic around.
Review the information for this “spinoff” again and complete the NASA Spinoff Technology Data Sheet posted in Google Classroom. If this is not posted in Google Classroom, make a copy of the document and save it in your Google Drive.
Submit your assignment in Google Classroom. If the assignment is not posted there, Save it in your Google Drive until the assignment can be turned in.
The Google Applied Digital Skills videos below can be used as a guideline for learning about creating infographics using Google Drawings. The lessons are not specific to this topic and can be used for other assignments in other classes as well.
Find and Add Information to Your Infographic (You already gathered your facts in Task 2, however there are a few good skills covered in this video).
Download Your Infographic as an Image File (we will use a .png file) and will add this to our Website Portfolio
There are many other applications available for creating infographics and editing images. Below are a few additional applications that can be used. If any of these applications ask you to create an account, please do not create an account without parent and teacher permission.