This second batch of additional materials for the STFC's Borrow the Moon scheme was focused on meteorites.

Like the Hands on the Moon package (see previous post), the content of the booklet and accompanying posters was left entirely to me to implement, research, write, design and illustrate. Unlike Hands on the Moon, this package would lack the 'interactive' elements, so, after much thought and reflection (during which time, I wandered alone in the wilderness for many days and nights until inspiration was visited upon me as I took shelter beneath the boughs of an ancient oak tree*), I decided to call it the The Little Book of Space Rocks.

You can download a full-fat PDF of the booklet here and the poster here.

*Sequence of events may have been embellished.

As part of the revamp of their Borrow the Moon scheme (see previous post), I was asked by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to develop some entirely new materials that could accompany and complement the main educational materials. The new materials would also have to stand on their own and be used by students and teachers not lucky enough to have access to the Lunar and meteorite samples. Each new element would take the form of a booklet and an accompanying two-sided poster.

With no existing resource to update, this Borrow the Moon 'side project' was entirely my own to implement, research, design and illustrate – it was left entirely to my own judgement and it was tonnes of fun!

First up was the booklet and poster to accompany the 'Lunar' element of the scheme, which was designed to be the more 'interactive' of the two by including some activities for the students to complete.

You can download the full-fat PDF of the booklet from the STFC's Borrow the Moon website here and the PDF of the poster here.

I spent later the later quarter of 2017 and first quarter of 2018 working on a mahoosive project for the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The goal was to completely redesign the entire suite of support materials for their awesome Borrow the Moon Lunar rock and meteorite loan scheme.

The STFC's Borrow the Moon scheme allows schools and universities to borrow samples of lunar material brought back to Earth during NASA’s Apollo missions – as well as samples of meteorites. The scheme has run with great success for a number of years and, after being handled by thousands of students, some of the samples were starting to look a little bit tired and in need of a little rejuvenation. So, while the physical samples were given a spring clean and the number and scope of the samples expanded, it was decided that the accompanying educational materials would also receive a complete revamp and redesign – ready for a grand relaunch in March this year.

The splendid folk at the National Space Academy were tasked with developing the materials for the Teacher's pack and the many activities that accompany the scheme. I was tasked with designing it all so it looked all nice and shiny, but was also easy for students and teachers alike to engage with and use.

On top of this, I was given the task of creating some entirely new materials to complement the scheme, which I would write, illustrate and design entirely from scratch... but I'll cover those in the next couple of blog posts.
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The final page count for the Teacher's pack was 62 pages and the Activities pack was at the generous end of 70-odd pages, so I won't share them all here! If you want to check out the materials in their entirety, head over to the STFC's Borrow the Moon webpage!