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2010 Art Contest for Grades 2-4

Winners Announced!

1st place: "We are the World," by Willy Yeh, Grade 2, Camas, Wash.

2nd place: "I am Mercury," by Alejandro Toledo Navarro, Grade 4, Newark, N.J.

3rd Place: "The Moonlit Stars," by Josette Cruz, Grade 2, Newark, N.J.

3rd place: "My Place in Space," by Anu Iyer, Grade 4, Chantilly, Va.

3rd place: "Earth's Beauty," by Jerry Huang, Grade 3, Camas, Wash.

Honorable Mentions: Larry Huang, Abby Buchanan, Harnish, Montanna, Kayla McKinney, Pably Pintado, Ayush Khurana, Jacson, Duan, Ivy Han, Julianne Chen, Jacob Gradaille.

Imagine you could travel anywhere in space,
Take a look back at Earth, a very nice place.

Explore Earth's moon, jumping crater to crater.
Watch flares blast from the Sun, sooner or later.

You could zip around Saturn's five golden rings,
Or dive into Jupiter's giant red spot of all things.

You might even hike up a mountain on Mars,
Stopping to gaze at faraway stars.

Hitch a ride on a comet and you'd really soar,
But watch out for asteroids and meteors on your tour.

What about Pluto, so far away?
You could go even further to galaxies beyond our Milky Way.

Imagine you could travel anywhere in space,
Join us to wonder, explore, and find your favorite place!

This year's contest invites young scientists and artists to explore our solar system and beyond. Read stories and books. Search websites. Watch movies. Then draw a picture showing what you learned. And don't forget to enter your artwork in the 2010 IGES art contest!

Download Entry Form (PDF)
Download Printer-Friendly Announcement (PDF)
Did you Know?
Guidelines
Contest Rules
Contest Prizes
For the Teacher or Parent
National Education Standards
Guiding Questions
Activities and Resources for Children, Educators and Parents

Did You Know?*

Our star - the Sun - is a bubbling, boiling ball of fire. It constantly belches out great clouds of hot gas. This stuff travels at astounding speeds. In fact, hurricanes are just a breeze compared to solar winds. Solar winds blow at up to two million miles per hour!

On Mars you would only be about half your age on Earth. That's because Mars takes 687 Earth days to make the full trek around the Sun. So a Martian "year" is considered to be about 23 months long.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and is often called the "jewel of the solar system" because of its beautiful rings. Saturn has 59 known moons including Titan, the second-largest moon in the solar system.

The four planets closest to the Sun - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars - are called the terrestrial planets because they have solid, rocky surfaces. Two of the outer planets beyond Mars - Jupiter and Saturn - are known as gas giants. The more distant planets - Uranus and Neptune - are called ice giants.

On July 4, 2005, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft blasted out a crater in the nucleus of a Comet Tempel. NASA crashed the spacecraft into the comet on purpose. This was done to learn more about comets and what they are made of.

Moons - also called satellites - come in many shapes, sizes, and types. Earth has only one moon, which you can see at night. Jupiter has 63 known moons, including the largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede. Many of Jupiter's outer moons orbit "backwards" (opposite to the spin of the planet).

*Sources: Information is from the following NASA resources: Our Solar System Lithograph Set, Space Place website, and Our Very Own Star: The Sun.

Guidelines

One entry per person; must be your original work (not a copy of published art/illustrations)

• Should be creative, bold, and colorful.
• Use pen, pencil, crayon, pastels, marking pens, and/or paint.
• Artwork should be on white stock and not exceed 16" x 20". Artwork should not include a mat.
• Sign your artwork in the lower right corner.
• Provide a title on the entry form that describes the artwork: Do not put a title directly on the artwork. Do not use the contest title (My Place in Space!) as your title.
• Tape a completed entry form to the backside of the artwork.

Contest Rules

The contest is sponsored annually by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). This contest is limited to U.S. students in grades 2-4.

Entries must be received by IGES no later than Nov. 1, 2010. Artwork will be judged by a panel including artists, educators and scientists. All artwork submitted becomes the property of IGES.

Verification of winning artists' grade levels will be required. Contest results will be posted on the IGES Web site (www.strategies.org) by November 15, 2010. The 1997-2009 winning entries can also be viewed at this site.

IGES conducts education, public policy, and research studies designed to improve understanding of and response to global environmental issues. IGES is a nonprofit (501c3) organization. For more information, see our website at: www.strategies.org

Contest Prizes

1st, 2nd and 3rd Place:

• Artwork featured on IGES's Web site: http://www.strategies.org/ArtContest
• Framed color certificates.
• Visa gift card (1st place - $100, 2nd place - $75, and 3rd pace - $50).
• IGES will retain the original artwork, but will provide 2 color prints: one for the student and one for their school.

Honorable Mentions

• Color certificates
• IGES will retain the original artwork, but will provide 2 color prints: one for the student and one for their school.

Winning artwork and honorable mentions may be used in products including, but not limited to, calendars, notecards and e-cards. A copy of any products generated using student artwork will be provided free of charge to the student artist and their teacher or parent. Any sales of these products will support IGES educational programs.

Certificates of Participation

• Certificates of participation will be available online as PDF files for teachers or parents to download and print. IGES will email teachers and parents the URL and password for downloading the certificates.

IGES will only return artwork for non-winning entries if return packaging and postage are included with the submission. Those entries will be returned by Feb. 1, 2011. IGES assumes no responsibility for lost or damaged artwork.

For the Teacher or Parent

Our annual science and art contest for grades 2-4 is designed to give teachers, parents and children great flexibility in how they participate. This year's contest could be used to integrate reading, science and geography, as well as art. The contest could also be used to introduce or conclude a related topic or unit.

National Education Standards

Teachers can use the contest to support learning related to the following national science, geography and arts education standards:

AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 2006
The Physical Setting: The Universe - Grades 3-5:

• Planets change their positions against the background of stars. 4A/E3
• The Earth is one of several planets that orbit the Sun, and the moon orbits around the Earth. 4A/E4

National Science Education Standards, 1996
Content Standards for K-4

Earth and Space Science - Objects in the Sky

• The Sun, moon, stars clouds all have properties, locations and movements that can be observed and described.
• The Sun provides the light and heat necessary to maintain the temperature of the Earth.

Earth and Space Science - Changes in the Earth and Sky

• Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. The Sun for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the Sun. The observable shape of the moon changes from day-to-day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994
The World in Spatial Terms

• Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective

National Standards for Arts Education, 1994
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

•Students use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

•Students explore and understand prospective content for works of art.
•Students select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Visual Arts Content Standard: 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

•Students identify connections between the visual arts and other disciplines in the curriculum

Guiding Questions

Questions could focus on a specific planet. What does the planet look like from far away? How would it look up close? Is it bigger or smaller than Earth? Is it warm or cold? Does it have a rocky surface or is it made entirely of gas? Is the land mostly flat or does it have many mountains and valleys? Is the atmosphere quiet or is it full of clouds and storms? How many moons does the planet have?

Questions could also focus on the area between planets and beyond our solar system. What do comets and asteroids look like? What are their shapes and sizes? How fast do they go? How do stars form and what makes them twinkle? How many galaxies are there and what are their shapes?

Activities and Resources

For Children

Amazing Space
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/
Amazing Space uses the Hubble Space Telescope's discoveries to inspire and educate about the wonders of our universe. Find online adventures, pictures of celestial wonders, answers to cosmic questions, and much more!

Climate Kids
http://climate.nasa.gov/kids/
The site answers the "big questions" about global climate change using simple illustrations, humor, and games. One interactive feature, the Climate Time Machine, reveals how global changes have affected or will affect our planet over time. "Climate Tales" has animal cartoon characters coping - more or less good-humouredly - with the effects humans are having on their habitats. Check out a collection of games including "Wild Weather Adventure" and "Missions to Planet Earth." A Green Careers section profiles real people doing jobs that help slow climate change.

The Exploratorium
http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/astronomy_space/
TExplore things to make and do related to astronomy & space. Includes hands-on activities, online exhibits, articles, videos, and more. You can also find out how old you would be on different planets: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/age/index.html

Our Very Own Star: The Sun
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Our_Very_Own_Star_The_Sun.html
This NASA storybook for children tells the story of the sun. An online, interactive version of the book is also available at: http://stargazers.gsfc.nasa.gov/pdf/products/books/Sun_booklet_English.htm.

Space Place
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov
Check out the many games, animations, projects, and fun facts about Earth, space and technology. For example, check out:

• Year of the Solar System Game
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/solar-system/
Nine NASA space missions plan to do great things in 2011. It will be the Year of the Solar System! Play the "Year of the Solar System" game to start the celebration now.
• Lucy's Planet HuntÉor, how to see things in a different light
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/spitzer/storybooks/lucy/book.shtml
Lucy wonders whether there could be life elsewhere in the universe. So she helps make a special space telescope to look for other Earth-like planets. What does she learn? Read her story and find out.

Starry Critters
http://www.starrycritters.com/
Explore the incredible imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and other great observatories. Identify and share the patterns you see in the nebula, galaxies and star clusters.

For Educators/Parents

Celebrate the Year of the Solar System!
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/yss.cfm
Spanning a Martian Year - 23 months - the Year of the Solar System celebrates the amazing discoveries of numerous NASA missions as they explore our near and distant neighbors and probe the very outer edges of our Solar System. New missions will further unveil the secrets of Jupiter, the Moon, and Mars. Other robotic explorers will encounter comets and asteroids, journey to dwarf planets, and continue to unlock the mysteries of our Sun, Mercury, Saturn, and our home planet, Earth. Each month from October 2010 to August 2012 will explore different aspects or our Solar System - volcanism, ice, near-Earth objects, life - weaving together activities, resources and ideas that teachers, parents, libraries, planetariums and museums can use.

Exploring Ice in the Solar System (Grade PreK-5)
http://www.messenger-education.org/teachers/MEMS_CompPlanetology.php#mystery
The Exploring Ice in the Solar System education unit examines the importance of water in the form of ice in the Solar System. From hands-on experiences with ice, the unit moves on to investigating ice in everyday life, in polar regions on Earth, and throughout the Solar System. The unit was developed by Carnegie Institution of Washington Carnegie Academy for Science Education as part of their astrobiology program.

Mission Geography (K-12)
Mission Geography contains curriculum support materials that link the content, skills, and perspectives of Geography for Life: The National Geography Standards with NASA missions, research, and science. The K-4 Module 1, Exploring our Planet from Above, includes the following investigations:

Mission to Saturn: Reading, Writing & Rings! (Grades 1-4)
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/educationK4Program/
Developed in partnership with the Cassini-Huygens Education and Public Outreach Program, the Bay Area Writing Project/California Writing Project, Foundations in Reading Through Science & Technology (FIRST), and the Caltech Pre-College Science Initiative (CAPSI), and classroom educators, "Reading, Writing, and Rings" blends the excitement of space exploration with reading and writing. The guide is divided into activities for grades 1-2 and grades 3-4. All materials are teacher-developed, aligned with national science and language education standards, and are available free of charge.
Examples of lessons for grades 3-4 included in this unit include:

• What Do I See When I Picture Saturn?
• The Mysteries of Saturn and Cassini
• Wondering About Saturn: A Short History
• How Far Away Is Saturn?
• My Spacecraft to Saturn

Our Solar System Lithograph Set (Teachers, elementary-secondary)
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Our_Solar_System_Lithograph_Set.html
This lithograph set features images of the planets, the sun, asteroids, comets, meteors and meteorites, the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, and moons of the solar system. General information, significant dates, interesting facts and brief descriptions of the images are included.

Space Weather Action Center (Grade 4+)
http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/swac/
Imagine being able to monitor the progress of an entire solar storm from the time it erupts from our sun until it sweeps past our small planet effecting enormous changes in our magnetic field. Now imagine being able to do all of this from your classroom-based Space Weather Action Center (S.W.A.C.)! By following the basic steps in the instructional guide your class will soon be on its way to accessing, analyzing and recording NASA satellite and observatory data.

Science and Children magazine by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is designed for elementary teachers and has many great articles on teaching science topics related to space. Check your school library or the NSTA website at nsta.org (articles are available as PDFs for free download to members) In particular, the following articles may be useful for teachers implementing the art contest: