Lessons Presented by Teachers at the Arizona Mars K-12 Educator Workshop on August 12, 1995.
Having been introduced to the Mars City Alpha kit at ASU's "A Day in Space" workshop in Feb. 1995, we were very excited about implementing the unit with our sixth graders at Luke Elementarty School. We were graciously supplied with a kit by the Sun City Engineers and thrilled as we viewed the materials and realized the simplicity of the format, thoroughness of plans and tremendous potential for creative, hands-on experiential learning for our students.
The kit proposes different time lines for the project, and we chose the 3-4 week plan as our time at the end of the year would be limited. A week before we began the Mars City Alpha project, Dr. Ken Edgett visited our students and shared a wealth of information to whet their appetites for exploring this proposed community on Mars. Total class instruction was given initially to explain our mission, the format of the unit, individual duties, class and unit objectives and general guidelines.
We then created a survey using the objectives from each of the 5 units and we had each student mark subjects that interested them. We compiled the results and from them established teams, ensuring grouping by interest. We copied the mission log and mission booklets and bound them to preserve our original kit. We reproduced and laminated the badges for all team members (these were kept in ziploc bags with straight pins and attached to the mission booklets). Each team's materials support member was responsible for returning them to a specified spot at the close of the session each day as well as collecting them the following day.
For time's sake, we made an executive decision and selected 1 inch styrofoam to base our units. Teams chose the materials they would use to build the individual facilities in their respective units. Students used both materials in the classroom and things from home.
Our classes worked 1-1/2 hours a day for the entire four weeks on this project. At the close of the unit, we invited parents and guests to join us in a grand presentation. We chose to have both classes present together (one unit at a time) so that we could all compare the similarities and differences with which each class constructed their units. There was incredible teamwork and a refreshing sense of accomplishment in the students! We were very pleased with the success of our Mars City Alpha project and learned volumes ourselves.
We would heartilly encourage you to make use of this wonderful kit. We found the kit to be extremely well organized, very "teacher friendly" as well as interesting for the students. As with any first encounter, there are learning experiences galore, and we indeed had our share! Some tips we might offer to others excited to try this kit are:
We are anxious to go the second round with the Mars City Alpha kit and would love to hear from any of you who have worked with these materials. Your experiences and ideas would be invaluable to us. If you would like to contact us, our address is:
Laurie Little or Patti Buck Luke Elementary School 7300 N. Dysart Rd. Glendale, AZ 85307 602-935-3808
For information contact:
The Challenger Center
1029 North Royal St., Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
phone: (703) 683-9740
fax: (703) 683-7546