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Mars Exploration,
Grades 5-8
Project Description:
NASA is planning its Mars-Nerva mission for the 22nd century, but your students can prepare to colonize Mars now. They’ll get to construct a stable landing structure, operate a simulation of the Rover, and examine geological specimens to determine if Mars is suitable for human life.
Vocabulary:
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Mars |
control |
remote-controlled |
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experiment |
contamination |
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Possible Class Activities:
- View 3-D slides of Mars.
- Construct landing structures of wooden sticks and test them outdoors.
- Set up a base camp with real radio communicators.
- Operate a remote-controlled, camera-equipped Rover to find a suitable dig site.
- Use construction equipment to move specimens to the lab.
- Examine and classify crystal formation under magnification.
Pre-Visit Activities (in your classroom):
- Discuss NASA’s past missions to Mars.
- Review NASA’s upcoming missions to Mars.
- Explain crystal formation.
- Diagram each possible crystalline formation.
Post-Visit Activities:
- Design your own mission to Mars.
- Make a list of survival equipment for an Earth mission.
Related Web Sites:
The Nine Planets: A multimedia tour of the Solar System – by Bill Arnett
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html
Planetary Data System
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/
Welcome to the Planets
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/
Size Comparisons between Earth and other Planets
http://ic-www.arc.nasa.gov/ic/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/size/Earth/
Exploring Planets in the Classroom - Hands on activities
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/spacegrant/class_acts/index.html
State of California Science Standards met in this class:
Grade 5
Earth Science
5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the sun in predictable paths. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. the sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
b. the solar system includes the Earth, moon, sun, eight other planets and their satellites, and smaller objects such as asteroids and comets.
c. the path of a planet around the sun is due to the gravitational attraction between the sun and the planet.
Grade 8
Motion
1. The velocity of an object is the rate of change of its position. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. position is defined relative to some choice of standard reference point and a set of reference
directions.
b. average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed. The speed of an object along the path traveled can vary.
c. how to solve problems involving distance, time, and average speed.
d. to describe the velocity of an object one must specify both direction and speed.
e. changes in velocity can be changes in speed, direction, or both.
f. how to interpret graphs of position versus time and speed versus time for motion in a single direction.
Forces
2. Unbalanced forces cause changes in velocity. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. a force has both direction and magnitude.
b. when an object is subject to two or more forces at once, the effect is the cumulative effect of all the forces.
c. when the forces on an object are balanced, the motion of the object does not change.
d. how to identify separately two or more forces acting on a single static object, including gravity, elastic forces due to tension or compression in matter, and friction.
e. when the forces on an object are unbalanced the object will change its motion (that is, it will speed up, slow down, or change direction).
f. the greater the mass of an object the more force is needed to achieve the same change in motion.
Earth in the Solar System (Earth Science)
4. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from the study of stars and galaxies, and their evolution. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. galaxies are clusters of billions of stars, and may have different shapes.
b. the sun is one of many stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.
c. how to use astronomical units and light years as measures of distance between the sun, stars, and Earth.
d. stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space. The moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight, not by their own light.
e. the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the solar system, including planets, planetary satellites, comets, and asteroids.
Density and Buoyancy
8. All objects experience a buoyant force when immersed in a fluid. As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. density is mass per unit volume.
b. how to calculate the density of substances (regular and irregular solids, and liquids) from measurements of mass and volume.
c. the buoyant force on an object in a fluid is an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid it has displaced.
d. how to predict whether an object will float or sink.
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