“Imagine having to survive on another planet: Mars! Students design a sustainable community, considering criteria and constraints in an engineering and design process, learning Earth science concepts along the way. Human discovery and innovation often depend on our curiosity about science, technology, and society and ways to improve our lives and on our interactions with the natural world. Students build on their prior knowledge of communities on Earth and design their model for a community on Mars.”
(https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/marsforeducators/soi/)
More Lessons from the Sky is pleased to spotlight this comprehensive set of standards-based lesson materials from NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Complete lesson plans are available with links to all needed supporting materials. Fourteen lessons are offered in five lesson groups: [1] Reflect on your community, [2] Discover information about Mars, [3] Imagine your community on Mars, [4] Create your community on Mars, [5] Share.
All lesson documents and support materials are accessed from https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/participate/marsforeducators/soi/.
| Relevant Disciplines: | Earth & Space Science, Engineering & Technology |
| Grade Level: | K-12 (varies with lesson) |
| Adaptable to Other Grades: | Depends on the lesson |
| Time Required (class periods): | 1-3 (varies with lesson) |
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Additional Resources Available: | Yes |
Next Generation Science Standards addressed in this lesson:
Listed separately for each lesson in the sequence