A glimpse of the guided tours from the MEME21
The Massive exoplanet meme exhibition is an event that highlights the fun side of astronomical research. MEME is a valuable event for students to get involved in as it can help to engage students in STEM subjects, and show them a different side to astrophysics research and academic life.
There are two ways for you and your class to get involved in MEME: Guided tours, and content submission. The guided tours are an established component of MEME, with details on how to sign up can be found below. Content submission from students is a new component of the exhibition that is being piloted this year. Supporting guides are being developed for teachers and students, and will become available on the website once completed.
We offer guided tours through a special education venue. The tours will start with a short introduction to exoplanetary science, which will be tailored to the age of the students and their science background. Afterwards, the guides will help the students navigate the first memes of the exhibition. The guides, together with the students, analyze a small sample of memes previously selected by the organizing committee. Once the explanations are finished the students will have free time to wander through the exposition and visit the rest of the memes. The guides will be available the entire session so that the students can ask question about the memes that have not previously been explained as well as any other science or career related questions they might have.
To sign up for the guided tours use either this form below or send us an e-mail at exoplanetmemes@gmail.com.
Students are encouraged to create memes about topics such as: exoplanets, space, astrophysics, STEM subjects, and their experiences in learning STEM. These memes can then be submitted to us, and will be publicly showcased in a student room at the MEME virtual event. You may also wish to give students a specific topic to create a meme about, which can be used as motivation for them to conduct research into this topic.
There are a variety of methods that can be used to create the memes themselves. There are a number of free online meme generators, or else software such as paint, photoshop or gimp can be used. Below are a few links to some free meme creation websites:
https://www.canva.com/create/memes/
In the upcoming MEME event there will be a dedicated student exhibition that will showcase Space and STEM memes that have been created by students, along with posters created by students explaining the science and context behind memes created in previous years.
The creation of these may be presented to students as an optional homework assignment, a project to work on in class when they have finished their work, or something to be explored in an extracurricular club. Student submissions shown in the exhibition can be shown anonymously, with the option of adding the school name and the age of the creator.
Memes created by students for students can be submitted via exoplanetmemes@gmail.com. Make sure to mention all information in the mail that you want to be attributed to the meme
Another way for students to get involved is to choose an existing meme and to create a poster or presentation explaining the content of it.
This is an engaging and fun way to encourage students to explore a scientific subject, and an opportunity for students to conduct some detective work to work out the context and meaning behind some more advanced memes that may initially be difficult to understand.
By creating a poster to explain a meme, students can exercise both creativity and design skills, as well as investigative skills, and independent research. Students can either choose a meme from the archives on our website, or else explain a space or STEM meme that they have found ‘out in the wild’, as long as it is credited appropriately.
Are you a student who is interested in astrophysics, exoplanets and memes? Than join the event and enjoy the memes with the rest of us! Feel free to send us your memes about things you learned in class, your image of exoplanet sciences or your daily live having to deal with physics! If you think this event could be a great opportunity for the rest of your class, than inform your teacher and tell them to get in contact with us.
We are looking forward seeing you at the MEME!
If you are a teacher or school that would like to use the MEME to engage your students, please reach out to us under exoplanetmemes@gmail.com.
Copyright © 2024 MEME, exoplanetmemes@gmail.com
Copyright © 2023 MEME, exoplanetmemes@gmail.com