The following activity can be used as a means for introducing problem-based learning into the classroom. The students benefit from problem-based learning in that they learn to solve problems instead of learning the problem solving process, and engage in the problem situation and take on a loosely-structured problem-- turning the classroom into a tutorial process. The "Choose a Landing Site" activity can give students a real hands-on experience of choosing the Mars landing site, and all of the aspects that go into it. There are many roles the students can play in this: geologist, politician, technology specialist, engineers, educators, research specialist, and NASA official; allowing different view points to be covered, and giving everyone a role in the decision-making processs.
This activity should work well in conjunction with class work centered around the GEMS "Oobleck" Mars landing activity, the Challenger Center "Mars City Alpha" or "Marsville" projects, and the Planetary Society "Red Rover" project.
The Problem:
The Mars science community has been asked to help NASA pick a landing site for Mars Pathfinder, which will land on the Red Planet July 4, 1997. Launch is scheduled for December 1996, but NASA must have a landing site picked before launch. Your students will pick the site. They must consider all aspects of the mission-- the scientific and engineering objectives, the kind and capability of the science instruments, and the nature of questions that Mars scientists have about the Red Planet.
NASA engineers have given the Mars scientific community the following constraints on Mars Pathfinder's landing site:
This can be done as a role-playing activity, where students eventually write a report to NASA officials and present the report in a conference setting. The teacher has much latitude as to how the activity is actually carried out in the classroom.
We suggest that the teacher obtain a topographic map of Mars, listed below, and perhaps other maps (hardcopy or CD-ROM) of Mars between the equator and 30degreesN. Students can select the landing site using the information about Mars Pathfinder's capabilities outlined in another section of this Education Guide. Students might draw the landing ellipse in proper scale and orientation on a sheet of transparent plastic, and use it to place on maps to identify a landing site.
"Topographic Map of Mars," map number I-2179, 1:25,000,000 scale (c) 1991. This and all other Mars maps can be ordered from the U.S. Geological Survey, Map Distribution, Box 25286, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225, USA. K-12 educators should send their inquirieson school letterhead for a possible discount price.
Some Leading Questions (may require additonal library research):
Find the latitude and longitude of your chosen Mars Pathfinder landing site. Now imagine that the site is on Earth, and find that same latitude and longitude on Earth. Where is the site? Do library research about the site: it's geology, environment, animals, plants, people, etc. Is this location representative of the whole Earth? If you landed there, what would you find? Can you figure out everything there is to know about Earth if you go there? What things can you find out that would be true no matter where you go on Earth? Do you think the site you picked on Mars for Mars Pathfinder is representative of all of Mars? How will it compare with the Viking lander sites?
In this activity, students look at the actual site chosen for Mars Pathfinder and review the process by which the site was chosen to see if it is similar to their experience it Part 1.
The landing site for Mars Pathfinder was chosen at the end of a process that involved the entire Mars science community. Mars scientists from around the world were invited to a workshop held in Houston, Texas, in April 1994. There, they presented their ideas after having looked at the same landing constraints as your students did in Part 1.
The final decision on a landing site was made in June 1994. The enclosed 3-page letter from Matthew Golombek, Project Scientist for Mars Pathfinder, details how the landing site was chosen after the April 1994 workshop. The photograph which follows shows the selected site, on the floor of Ares Vallis.
This exercise has no structure, except to read the enclosed letter, discuss the questions below, and compare the process followed by NASA with what the students did in Part 1.
