Today, PCG is excited to announce a new suite of K12 Space Education offerings with The Aldrin Family Foundation. According to Dr. Andy Aldrin, CEO of The Aldrin Family Foundation, “The first crew to explore Mars are in America’s classrooms today.” Through this partnership, we are providing Space camps, robots, gigantic Mars and Moon learning maps and a unique Space Education curriculum that can be taught in classrooms, virtually, or in a hybrid approach to locate and inspire students across America.

PCG will be offering a starter curriculum kit for $5,000 that includes a robot, set of lessons plans and the Aldrin Foundation gigantic maps of Mars and the Moon that offer floor-based activities for middle schoolers. Our offering also extends to a broader K12 curriculum package leveraging STEAM topics into other subject areas such as ELA where students can begin learning exciting topics such as governance, or what a “Bill of Rights” would look like on a new frontier such as Mars.

“Space is an exciting topic, not only for students but also for teachers and parents. People love to think about, learn about, and dream about space,” said Tony Mclean Brown, PCG Principal and Director of Strategic Investments. “Our partnership with the Aldrin Family Foundation will enable us to connect to that shared excitement, inspire creative thinking, and create opportunities for increased engagement and discussion.”

Earlier this year, PCG and the Aldrin Family Foundation (virtually) met with superintendents from across the country to discuss the idea of bringing space education into traditional ELA curriculum. Hear what these superintendents had to say:

More About Our Space Education Offering

Our Space Education curriculum suite includes giant maps of Mars and the Moon with WiFi-connected robots, STEAM lesson plans and teacher professional development. The map, robot and curriculum kits can then be scaffolded by adding Space Education curriculum units in ELA and more to create a STEAM solution for K-12 students focused on Space and Mars Exploration. Through our partnership with the Aldrin Family Foundation, we are excited to also offer EPIC Space Camps and fully-digitized curriculum on Pepper^TM, PCG’s online learning platform.

This is not PCG’s first learning initiative related to space exploration. Prior to officially partnering with the Aldrin Family Foundation, PCG worked alongside ShareSpace Education, the K-12 arm of the foundation, this Spring to bring space education into homes across the country. Nearly 600 families nationwide participated in the free family-based activity online called “The Apollo Project: We Came in Peace.” This free activity brought families together to solve for how a live Visitor Center could be established on the Moon, along with all of the colonization and governance discussion of building such a facility on a new frontier. 

You can read the Aldrin Family Foundation’s recent press release announcing our partnership here.