| Use a Mars Mission as a Current Event |
Typically, the information sources for current events are printed materials, television, radio, and the Web. Occasionally, teachers are able to schedule presentations by people familiar with or involved in an event, and sometimes students can conduct interviews with such people. Formats to share information include bulletin boards, oral reports, student reports, and current event notebooks. Each of these methods involves students in different ways and at different levels of intensity. Below are several ways the Pathfinder mission could be used in a current events context:
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| Obtain Images and Data Sets To Analyze and Interpret |
| One way to develop students' analytical skills is by having them interpret images or data sets, preferably ones relating to something students are studying or in which they have an interest. For example, students studying weather or geology can make interesting Mars-Earth comparisons by looking at Pathfinder's Martian weather reports and geology data. Having students examine and contemplate images from another planet can lead to exciting questions that can serve as the basis for student-based investigations.
Each module in the Mars Exploration Program guides teachers in how to use data and images effectively to develop students' analysis and interpretation skills. In addition, the module activities encourage students to generate questions. Pathfinder's data and images are available at its Web site. The best way to determine the kinds of data and images available from a mission is to visit its homepage and find out what instruments are on the spacecraft. Each instrument has a specialized purpose. Match topics in your curriculum to the images or data returned by one or more of the instruments. Be creative. For example:
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| Use Student Questions as the Basis for Experiments and Models |
| As students analyze images or data sets, questions will emerge. Questions such as: What would cause that feature? How might this form? or Why do I usually see these two features together? are springboards for inquiry. Students need to devise a hypothesis, design a model or experiment, collect and analyze data or images, and draw a conclusion. Often, one question leads to another. You can have students take a question they have recorded in their Mars Journals and detail how they would investigate it. Such a plan could be the basis for an investigation or project. |
| Learn About the Scientists and Engineers Involved in a Mission |
| For many students, knowing about the people involved in a mission brings it to life. Most mission-related Web pages have pictures and short descriptions of the key people working on a mission. Teachers can profile various individuals as role models or develop career awareness. Occasionally, scientists and engineers host a chat or enable students to send them e-mail messages. For example, the Pathfinder team hosted a chat every night for the first few months of the mission. Students can do reports, collages, or posters to bring out the human dimension of a mission.
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| Explore Engineering/Design Issues With Mechanisms, Simulations, and Models |
The Pathfinder mission offers many examples of how engineers met a variety of
challenges:
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| Students can make scale models such as NASA's spacecraft paper model kits or invent mechanisms that carry out specific tasks. For example, students can model how an altimeter works by arranging objects in the bottom of a deli container, covering the opening with paper, and pushing pencils through the paper. By measuring how far down the pencil goes at each position sampled, students can map the arrangement of the objects. An altimeter works on the same principle using a laser beam. The Pathfinder Web page has information on each instrument and on how the design team dealt with the various challenges. |
| Students can become immersed in a topic through simulations such as the Planetary Society's "Red Rover, Red Rover - Rover Simulations" and the Challenger Center's "Marsville" and "Mars City Alpha Kits" which present many engineering challenges. Teachers like simulations because they ask students to integrate many disciplines. |
| Consider How Conditions on Mars Could Affect Processes that Students Have Studied |
Earth is twice the size of Mars, has two and a half times the force gravity, has an atmosphere 100 times denser, and has 150 times the atmospheric pressure at the surface. In addition, Mars has no surface water and the temperature averages around -80 oC (-62 oF). Earth, life and physical science students can have many fruitful discussions about how the processes they have studied would change under these conditions. As students learn about various topics, they can extend their understanding to Mars. By understanding how a process might function in the Martian environment, students can gain additional insight into the topic they have studied. What consequences do the different conditions found on Mars impose on processes such as the water cycle, weather, or life? These realizations lead to a deeper understanding of the planet.
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