Buckingham, Bill Public Program Director, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona "A New Science Education Center at Lowell Observatory" (No written material enclosed) Davis, Meg McKemy Middle School, Tempe, Arizona "At Home on the Red Planet" (Material not available on-line) Gerard, Maureen Gilbert Elementary School, Gilbert, Arizona "Space Art Painting Project" Heyl, Patricia Jefferson Elementary School, Mesa, Arizona "Creating a Classroom Planetarium" Martin, Mary Kiva Elementary School, Scottsdale, Arizona "Golf Ball Activity to Assist Students in Understanding how the Thermal Emission Spectrometer Works" O'Kelly, Sadie Florence Elementary School, Florence, Arizona "Counting Stars" (See below) Pasos, Lindy Western Regional Director, Folsom, California The Challenger Center for Space Science Education "Marsville: The Cosmic Village" (See below) Yoshina, Granville and Weber, Cheryl Imperial Middle School, Orange County, California Representing The Planetary Society MarsLink Program "MarsLink-- Activities in Topography and Image Enhancement" (Written material specific to this topic not enclosed, see below)
Lindy Pasos of Folsom, California Western Regional Director The Challenger Center for Space Science Education
The Challenger Center for Space Science Education, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a non-profit organization that is continuing the Challenger's original mission.
The Challenger Center has established nearly 20 Learning Centers across the country, and is actively bringing space education into many thousands of classrooms in areas where Learning Centers are unavailable.
The latest Challenger Center project is called Marsville. This program is especially well-suited to students in grades 5 - 8. Considering that the NASA Mars Observer mission is underway, the Marsville project is quite timely.
[In the hardcopy] you can read some more information about The Challenger Center and the Marsville project. This material was provided by Lindy Pasos and Pam Peterson of the Challenger Center.
Granville Yoshina and Cheryl Weber Imperial Middle School Orange County, CaliforniaRepresenting:
MarsLink and The Planetary Society Pasadena, California
Sound familiar?
This was 1979-1982. There were threats to turn off the last functioning Viking lander which was still sending weather reports from the martian surface. There were threats to turn off Voyager 2, which would have otherwise gone on to explore Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989 (luckily, it did). In addition, a project to send a U.S. spacecraft to examine Halley's Comet in 1986 was terminated (although Europe, Japan, and the U.S.S.R. sent probes to the comet).
In this uncertain environment, a group of scientists lead by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, Bruce Murray of Cal Tech, and Louis Friedman, got together and formed a non-profit organization to show that there is indeed public support for the exploration of the Solar System. This organization is called The Planetary Society and it is based in Pasadena, California, home of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where most U.S. planetary missions are conducted.
To bring the experience of the
Mars Observer
mission into the classroom, the Planetary Society began a program called MarsLink. This project takes real data from the Viking and Mars Observer Mars missions and turns them into useful and instructive classroom exercises.The pilot MarsLink packet was distributed in February 1993. It contained real data from the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper (a predecessor of the Mars Observer TES). Enclosed on the following pages [in the hardcopy only] are the introductory materials from the pilot MarsLink packet. This information describes the purpose of MarsLink.
Carol Stadum, [1992-1994] Director of Education for the Planetary Society, came to our first Educators' Workshop on 20 February 1993, to demonstrate the MarsLink pilot packet. Indeed, attendees at the 20 February Workshop were among the first teachers in the world to see this new material.
While MarsLink is geared toward middle- and high- school students, teachers around the country working with students in the primary grades have found ways to adapt the material to their class. For example, the pilot packet dealt with the temperature and climate of Mars. A fifth-grade class in Pennsylvania adapted this material to ask the question, "What will I wear on Mars?" Using the Viking data in the packet, the students determined what the daily temperatures were like, and from there determined what one would need to wear to keep warm. Of course, they also had to consider the composition and pressure of the atmosphere in designing their apparel.
The first MarsLink packet for the 1993-94 school year will be out sometime in September 1993. It is our pleasure to have Granville Yoshina and Cheryl Weber of Imperial Middle School (Orange County, California) present to our workshop the material that will be included in this first '93-'94 packet.
Educators interested in following the Mars Observer mission should get their names on the MarsLink packet distribution list. Four to five different packets will be produced during each of the following school years: 1993-94, 1994-95, and 1995-96. These will follow the progress of Mars Observer, document its discoveries, and provide students the opportunity to make discoveries of their own. It will also be a great way to get pictures and maps generated by the Mars Observer project.
For further information about MarsLink, contact:
MarsLink, Education Office The Planetary Society 65 North Catalina Avenue Pasadena, California 91106 (818) 793-5100