From Outerspace to Innerspace: Activity Guides for Teachers

A series of educational units for grades 4-8 highlighting each of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute's (NSBRI) research areas. Subsequent units, developed by Baylor College of Medicine, will give students the opportunity to investigate each NSBRI research area.

Established in 1997 through a NASA competition, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute is a consortium of 12 institutions working to prevent or solve health problems related to long-duration space travel and prolonged exposure to microgravity. The group's primary mission objective is to ensure safe and productive human space flight.

Sleep and Daily Rhythms Download (PDF 2.2 Mb)

Sleep and Daily Rhythms

Sleep and Daily Rhythms offers teachers seven 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.

Muscles and Bones Download (PDF 2.6 Mb)

Muscles and Bones

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?

Food and Fitness Download (PDF 2.2Mb)

Food and Fitness

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.


BioEd Online is funded by grants from Houston Endowment Inc.; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Science Education Partnership Award program of the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH; National Space Biomedical Research Institute; National Science Foundation (Divisions of Graduate Education and Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings); Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; RGK Foundation; The Powell Foundation; and the Houston Independent School District. © 2004—2010 Baylor College of Medicine. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy fruit fly image © 2001 Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.