This is an activity about planning a planetary mission. Learners will play a card game to design a mission to Mars. This game will allow them to experience the fundamentals of the engineering design process as they use collaboration and... (View More) problem-solving skills to develop a mission that meets constraints (budget, mass, power) and criteria (significant science return). This activity can introduce many activities in technology education, including robotics and rocketry. The lesson models scientific inquiry using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes, vocabulary, student journal and reading. (View Less)

This activity is about planetary rovers. Learners will simulate the challenges in communications that engineers face when driving a rover on Mars. They will particpate as part of a rover team to design and execute a series of commands that will... (View More) guide a rover made of people through an obstacle course simulating the Martian surface. Students will learn the limitations of operating a planetary rover and problem solving solutions by using this simulation. The lesson models the engineering design process using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes, vocabulary, student journal and reading. (View Less)

This is a lesson about scientific and enginering investigation. Learners will review what they have learned, construct a valid scientific question that can be answered by data and/or modeling, and choose an appropriate mission for their rover that... (View More) will answer their scientific question. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes : TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, four Vocabulary Cards, and supplements on Writing a Scientific Question and Mission Choices. This is lesson 5 as part of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

This is a lesson about how to answer a scientific or engineering question. Learners will refine the scientific question they generated in Lesson 5 so that it can be answered by data and/or modeling, brainstorm possible solutions for the scientific... (View More) question chosen, determine reasonableness of solutions, use concept maps to enhance meaningful learning. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, two Vocabulary Cards, and a concept map supplement. This is lesson 6 as part of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

This is a lesson plan about generating a skit. Learners will brainstorm ideas to be developed into a team skit, work cooperatively to assign duties and write a team skit, collaborate with team members to complete the Mars Rover Manual. The lesson... (View More) uses the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, three Vocabulary Cards, the Manual Template, and a presentation writing Mini-Lesson. This is lesson 13 as part of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

This is a lesson about mission presentation. Learners will brainstorm ideas to be developed into a team skit, work cooperatively to assign duties and write a team skit, collaborate with team members to complete the Mars Rover Manual. The lesson uses... (View More) the 5E instructional model and includes: TEKS Details (Texas Standards alignment), Essential Question, Science Notebook, Vocabulary Definitions for Students, Vocabulary Definitions for Teachers, three Vocabulary Cards, the Manual Template, and a presentation writing Mini-Lesson. This is lesson 13 as part of the Mars Rover Celebration Unit, a six week long curriculum. (View Less)

This is a math-science integrated unit about spectrographs. Learners will find and calculate the angle that light is transmitted through a holographic diffraction grating using trigonometry. After finding this angle, the students will build their... (View More) own spectrographs in groups and research and design a ground or space-based mission using their creation. After the project is complete, student groups will present to the class on their trials, tribulations, and findings during this process. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a set of four activities about spacecraft design. Learners will use the information learned in previous lessons, combined with their own creativity and problem-solving skills, to design and test a parachuting probe that will withstand a fall... (View More) from a high point, land intact, be able to descend slowly, float in liquid, and cost the least to launch into space. Includes a glossary, information for families, and guidance for deepening the science. This is lesson 7 of 8 in the Jewel of the Solar System: From Out-of-School to Outer Space an adaptation for afterschool programs of the Cassini-Huygens educational product Reading, Writing, and Rings. (View Less)

This is a set of four activities about spacecraft design. Learners will think like engineers as they design, peer review, and then construct and present their spacecraft to travel to Saturn. Includes a glossary, information for families, and... (View More) guidance for deepening the science. This is lesson 5 of 8 in the Jewel of the Solar System: From Out-of-School to Outer Space an adaptation for afterschool programs of the Cassini-Huygens educational product Reading, Writing, and Rings. (View Less)

This is a lesson about the role of computers in space exploration. Learners will investigate various ways to improve mission design to maximize the scientific return. In the first activity, the students examine how the use of flowcharts can help... (View More) make computer programs error-free and efficient, in this way making the spacecraft more reliable. In the second activity, the students investigate how data can be compressed for transmission over limited bandwidth. By the end of the lesson, the students come to realize that the wealth of data gathered by spacecraft is useless if it cannot be transmitted safely and efficiently to the scientists on the Earth. (View Less)