Laura McShane

Red Rover Curiosity on Mars

60 min.

0  Educators like this

Wonder of the Day #629

Do Robots Wonder?

Objective

Understand factors that make life on Earth possible

Big Idea

Problem solving on Mars can help us to solve problems here on Earth

1 Warm Up/Anticipatory

20 min.

Shared reading of Red Rover Curiosity on Mars

Red Rover

Written by Richard Ho and illustrated by Katherine Roy

2 Investigation and New Learning

20 min.

From the book- look for clues:

Did life ever exist on Mars?
Compare the climate on Mars to the Earth's climate- how are they different?
What rocks and minerals do you find on Mars?
Are you ready to explore Mars?

After reading the book, ask students to redesign Curiosity. Encourage kids to draw the perfect rover for the Mars landscape.

Students in Cleveland, Ohio can follow-up with a visit to the Great Lakes Science Center, an NASA affiliate museum.

CAMP CURIOSITY: WINTER BREAK CAMPS 2019-2020

Kicking off on Thursday, December 26, The Science Center has six different themes for kids in kindergarten through eighth grade to choose from, featuring everything from engineering to chemistry, and physics to robots! Camps run December 26, 27, 30, 31 and January 2-3.

See also :

https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/home/

3 Review & Check for Understanding

20 min.

Discussion of the four main science goals for Mars Exploration:

  1. Determine whether life ever arose on Mars
  2. Characterize the climate of Mars
  3. Characterize the geology of Mars
  4. Prepare for human exploration


Note:

NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab held a contest to name the next Mars Rover expected to launch July-August 2020 with an expected landing of February 2021