INSPIRING YOUNG PEOPLE IS THE FIRST STEP!
ShareSpace Education is the K-12 arm of the Aldrin Family Foundation. Through our innovative, interactive educational tools – namely the Giant Mars and Moon Maps™ – we start cultivating a love for STEAM at an early age. For some students, this is their first exposure to the world of space. It unleashes dreams and starts them on the path to pursue careers ranging from astronauts to IT professionals to doctors. Founded in 2016 by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, ShareSpace has reached more than 300,000 children and continues to grow its impact each year.
OUR EDUCATION PHILOSPHY
Within our ShareSpace division, we believe STEAM serves as an access point for guiding student inquiry, dialogue and critical thinking. When bright young minds connect their science, technology, engineering and math studies with arts practices, elements and design principles, limitations vanish. Wonder, critique, inquiry and innovation set in. You end up with students who take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration and work through the creative process.
CREATING DYNAMIC LEARNING!
Giant Mars and Moon Maps™ are exciting, core science standards-based, interactive educational tools that help children develop an understanding for real-world, STEAM-based concepts using the Red Planet and the Moon as the basis. They are making a true difference in the lives of students worldwide. It’s 21 st century learning at its best!
GO TO MARS
Through the Giant Mars Map™, kids get to sit, stand, walk, play and learn together on the Red Planet! Targeted at ages 10-14 years, students perform fun projects like building personally designed space ships and learning the names of craters and land masses on Mars. Their eyes are opened to the amazing opportunities that lie ahead for them in this new world of space exploration.
GO TO the Moon
In honor of the Apollo program’s 50th anniversary, the Aldrin Family Foundation expanded on its groundbreaking Giant Mars Map™ program to launch the new Giant Moon Map™. Eight to 12-year-old students get a deep dive on everything they would need to know to live and thrive on the Moon, while learning about one of humankind’s greatest achievements.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING…
“This amazing tool acts as a springboard to encourage a multitude of theories to be tested, experiments to be conducted and equations to be solved. These are our future explorers and their quest has already begun.”
“As a rural and lower class area, this map allows the kids to dream of what they could do, while we teach them the skills they need to accomplish these missions.”
“NASA plans to visit Mars no earlier than 2030. What does this imply? My 12-year-old students will be the scientists taking us there! If we don’t teach them the importance of STEAM, they will not be prepared to be the explorers to take us to Mars.”
MAP PACKAGES
Grant Application
Aldrin Family Foundation has worked with donors to make Giant Mars and Moon Map packages available for distribution to individual schools, school districts and informal education organizations throughout the country in areas where we believe they can do the most good, especially in under-served communities.
Please complete and submit in order to be considered for maps through our grant program. All applications are reviewed and granted based on essay question responses. Our grant process is only held twice a year.
Purchase Today
To excited to wait for our grant application season? Find out how you can purchase a map bundle from one of our team members.