Page 8 - ShareSpace's Mars Map Teacher's Guide - Sept 2016

LESSONS

SECTION 1 — GETTING FAMILIAR WITH MARS

Students will engage in a series of three lessons designed to provide familiarity with the
planet Mars. They will explore the surface of Mars in Lesson 1, compare the Earth and
Mars in Lesson 2, and map the geological features of Mars in Lesson 3.

SECTION 2 — WHAT HAVE WE DONE ON MARS?

Dig deeper into the work that we have conducted on Mars, and begin to understand the
reasons we travel in space! In this three-part series, students will examine the history of Mars
exploration in Lesson 4, understand how we approach strange new planets in Lesson 5,
and learn more about why we explore space in Lesson 6.

SECTION 3 — PLANNING OUR VISIT TO MARS

Students are thrust into learning important details necessary for planning a potential visit to
Mars by thoroughly investigating major geological characteristics and natural resources that
could potentially be used to support a human settlement. Students will discover the
environmental characteristics of Mars in Lesson 7, learn how to identify its landforms in
Lesson 8, examine what is needed to survive there in Lesson 9, plan for landing a
spacecraft safely on Mars in Lesson 10, and learn how to operate a Mars rover Lesson
11.

SECTION 4 — MISSION TO MARS

In this section, the curriculum capstone, student teams will conduct a virtual mission to Mars—
including the development of a mission plan and a mission debriefing. Students will build a
prototype of a Mars rover and a draft mission plan in Lesson 12, then will create
advertisements encouraging travel to Mars and settlement bases in Lesson 13.

SUPPLEMENTS

A — CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
B — LESSON CREDITS
C — LESSON STANDARDS
D — MARS QUICK FACTS
E — MARS GLOSSARY
F — MARS EXPLORATION CHART