No Markers, Map Colors, or Crayons Here

6th grade science students at Wilson Middle School were given the opportunity to not only read about Mars, but experience it visually through creation. Mr. Jason Deardorff and Mrs. Lindsey Warren challenged students to build a civilization on Mars digitally. Their final product had to solve at least 2 of the problems below and demonstrate solutions to the problems both of which strengthens the critical thinking skills. Students were given the Product Rubric at the beginning of the project to set the expectations high.

Topics of Choice:

1. How can humans live on Mars with the atmosphere? How can you change the atmosphere to be more like Earth’s? How can you invent a way that we can breathe the air on Mars?
2. What kind of accommodations would a vehicle need to be able to provide transportation on Mars with its terrain and gravity? Can you design a vehicle with the necessary components to navigate the surface of Mars safely and efficiently?
3. How can you provide food for your colony? Will you be able to grow food as in vegetables and other edible animals? How will you accommodate for the differences in the weather, minerals, atmosphere, soil quality, irrigation?
4. How will you stay safe on Mars? What will your shelter need to provide in order to protect your colony from the harsh conditions of Mars? (atmosphere, weather, terrain)
5. What is the difference in gravity between Earth and Mars? What are the effects of the different amount gravity on the human body? How will you design a way to cope with the different amount of gravity?


Several students chose the website www.thinglink.com which made this learning fun and interactive while allowing for collaboration and sharing of ideas while on the new school issued Dell Chromebook. Callie, Christopher, and Natalie not only created great products, but came away from the lesson with a deep knowledge of how to create an atmosphere that would provide living on another planet such as Mars. Click on the picture below to view their projects.



https://www.thinglink.com/scene/830842384693592064

Ava, Maggie, and Emma stated, “We were given a PBA to civilize Mars. We then had to pick to real problems astronauts would have to face when going on Mars which is normal food and shelter. Our project shows how we solved this problem with an audio recording, a video, 4 images, 1 video, and lots of text boxes.” Check out their product below.



https://www.thinglink.com/scene/830867904558792705

To showcase the student products, the teachers created a GALAXY WALK in order for students to visually interact and with each group product in one class period.



During the walk students would leave reflective feedback posts at each station. All of the students stated how much they enjoyed learning about Mars this way.