Financial Literacy and Space

​Space is a very exciting subject for students. We have been leveraging the topic of space to make other STEM topics exciting too.  One topic that is hard to make engaging is financial literacy but financial literacy is an important subject that is rarely taught in school. So, to take on this challenge, Ms. Manfre, Mrs. Craven and Ms. Imhoff have been finding areas where space and financial literacy intersect.
 
For example, our Stock Market Game students have been interested in ways to invest in the private space industry. Although it is not possible to buy stocks of Space X (which our students would very much like to be able to do), students can invest in many companies that are contracted with NASA. Our students are of the age where they may be the first generation to colonize Mars. NASA calls these students the “Mars Generation.” As the private space industry is growing, we will continue to make connections between the students’ interest in space and financial literacy.
 
When we were at the NASA Johnson Center, we saw lots of examples of private industries at NASA. When I was touring the Neutral Buoyancy Pool that astronauts use to simulate being on the International Space Station, there were employees from several oil companies practicing for when they may have to fix oil leaks in the ocean. We heard from pharmaceutical companies about how they have been partnering with NASA on research that can help people with diseases here on earth. In addition in NASA keynotes, Space X was regularly mentioned as a way to expand space exploration. Do you have any connections between financial literacy and space? We would love to hear them; comment below.