Mars-Bound

Mars-Bound – Grant Proposal

Budget: $1969

Summary, Project Description, Rationale, Potential Impact, Evaluation Plan, Project Calendar, Budget

Project Summary

One-third to one-half of American children today fall below basic standards in both science and math.  Undergraduate and graduate enrollment in the United States has fallen fifteen to twenty percent in the last decade and forty percent of those enrolled in these programs are international students. The Mars-Bound project promotes the desire to learn, the ability to solve problems creatively, and the confidence to discover while increasing interest in the fields of science and math.

Students will be building a Mars Rover that is powered by three different energy types and will be able to pick a rock up for analysis.  This project brings together physics, math, and geology classes in an innovative hands-on exploration through physical manipulative and interactive software.  The knowledge gained through this project is invaluable as students experience the life of a NASA engineer.

The project aims to increase student competency in science and math while also increasing their interest in the subject matters. Furthermore, if the curriculum proves successful, the unit will be packaged and distributed to educators across Texas at JSC-sponsored teacher workshops. The project’s success will be evaluated through students’ performance on standardized tests and students’ responses to specially designed interviews.

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Project Description

This project is an exciting and collaborative project, which is used to tie together Physics, Pre-calculus, and Geology concepts.  It allows the students to experience the life of a NASA engineer as they design and implement a Mars Rover fueled on three different types of energy that can pick up a rock for analysis.

Students in the geology class will experience a wide variety of activities. Students will examine minerals and rocks first-hand and will also perform a balloon activity designed to represent the expanding universe and to help students understand Hubble’s Lab and Hubble’s constant.  They will also learn how to identify surface features such as volcanoes, craters, and a river channels on a topographic map of Earth and relate what they’ve learned to a Mars map.  Through geological principles such as Superposition, Horizontal Bedding, and Cross-Cutting Relationships, students will be able to tell a geological story of a given area on Earth and on Mars and then incorporate what they’ve learned when picking a Mars landing site.

Using these concepts they will design a mars land rover, present their proposals, and build and test their final and approved design.  They will also be expected to present proposals and give oral presentations about their robotic mission.  While working on their design they will become proficient in basic engineering and business software such as AutoCAD and Microsoft Power Point.  Through emails, telephone calls to an assigned engineer mentor and a "Digital Learning Network" teleconferencing program hosted by JSC, students will learn what it means to be a NASA engineer.  At the end of the project, students will demonstrate their Mars Rovers at a banquet opened to the community.

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Rationale

America, we have a problem. Currently 1/3 to 1/2 of our children fall below the basic standards in science and math. Undergraduate and graduate enrollment in science and engineering is down 15-20%, and 40% of those who are enrolling are international students. Furthermore, employment opportunities in science and technology are expected to increase at a rate almost 3x greater than all other occupations. Aware that the current pipeline will not meet this demand, President George W. Bush issued a challenge to the country stating, “When it comes to educating our children, failure is not an option,” and we agree.

In an attempt to meet this challenge, we have developed an exciting interdisciplinary project that brings together Physics, Pre-calculus and Geology concepts. Over the course of 5 weeks, students will design a Mars robotic mission. As a result, students will develop a deep level of understanding of concepts not easily attainable through traditional instruction.  During the course of the project, students will explore concepts using hands-on methods through physical manipulatives and interactive software. Moreover, each team will interact with engineers from Johnson Space Center through emails, telephone calls and a “Digital Learning Network” teleconferencing program hosted by JSC. Upon the project’s completion, students will demonstrate their rovers at a banquet opened to the community. Additionally, the curriculum, if successful, will be packaged and distributed to other Texas educators through JSC’s “Teacher Camp-Ins”.

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Potential Impact

In responding to the president’s challenge, NASA shifted its core mission to include, “inspiring the next generation of explorers…as only NASA can.” In doing so, they have worked to provide educators with a wealth of educational resources extrapolated from their unique missions such as the successful Mars Rover missions, Spirit and Opportunity. However, despite the plethora of rich resources, there is a lack of strong curriculum designed to effectively utilize the resources while cohesively connecting basic high-school concepts.

Hence, the overall mission for our Mars Rover project is to develop a strong, interdisciplinary curriculum that masterfully utilizes NASA-provided resources aimed at increasing student interest in science in math. Research has shown that students who are proficient in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are more likely to pursue related subjects in high school and college and in career fields. Thus, the highest priority of our project is to create an environment where students are able to achieve the needed skills in an exciting and engaging manner.

Three local teachers and thirty students will participate in the initial deployment of our newly designed curriculum. However, if we see strong results, JSC has agreed to package the curriculum and distribute it to approximately 150 educators across Texas at various JSC teacher workshops.

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Evaluation Plan

To fairly evaluate the impact of our Mars Robotic Mission project, we will be using two evaluation mechanisms. First, we will interview various students before and after the project. In the interviews, we will ask questions regarding their attitudes towards science and math, their confidence level on the materials, and their future career goals. If our project impacts the students in the manner in which we hope, we should see an increase in the students’ interest and confidence levels in science and mathematics.

Because our project is designed to increase the science and mathematics competency levels for high-school students, we plan to administer a standardized test relating to the concepts covered in the unit. While administrators in our districts will write the test, they will be modeled after national and statewide standardized tests such as the Texas Assessment of Skills and Knowledge and Advance Placement tests. The objectives addressed on our evaluation test will come from the National Standards for Science Education and the Principle and Standards for School Mathematics.

Both of the evaluation mechanisms described above will also be administered to students participating in traditional styled classrooms. The results for the two groups will be compared and analyzed.   

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Project Calendar

• May 1, 2004 – Contact JSC about “Distance Learning Network” event and engineering mentors
• Sept. 13, 2004 – Contact engineering mentors, explain project

• Sept. 20-24, 2004 – Initial interview of students

• Sept. 27- Oct 1, 2004 – Project begins – Week 1
  
  Physics – Show the anchor video and lead a discussion on the project; Force, Work, and Energy Labs
  Pre-Calculus –  Adding and multiplying matrices, quiz on matrices
  Geology – Introduction to Universe/Solar System/Earth formation, Earth structure, plate tectonics, Geological timescale, radioactive and relative dating, the Rock cycle and minerals.
• Oct.2 – 8, 2004 - Week 2
  Physics – Energy Lab and Energy Lab proposals and findings, Test on material covered in first two weeks, Design proposal overview
  
  Pre-Calculus – Inverse matrices, Solving matrices, Transformation Matrices, quiz on matrices
  Geology – General geology quiz, Mineral and Sedimentary Rocks labs

• Oct. 11 – 15, 2004 – Week 3
  Physics – Distance learning activity, Design Proposals and presentations
  Pre-Calculus – Distance learning activity, Geometric and Algebraic vectors, Parametric equations, quiz on vectors and parametric equations
  Geology – Distance learning activity, Mineral and Sedimentary Rocks quiz, Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks labs
• Oct. 18 – 22, 2004  - Week 4:
  
  Physics – Discuss proposal feedback, Build and test final design
  Pre-Calculus – Parallel and perpendicular vectors, dot product, quiz on parallel and perpendicular vectors
  Geology – Igneous and Metamorphic rocks quiz, Map Interpretations, pick a Mars landing site and give its geological history
• Oct. 25 – 29, 2004 - Week 5:
  Physics – Final paper, Final presentations, competition, award banquet
  Pre-Calculus – Dot product, vector cross product, matrices and vectors test
  Geology – Map Interpretation quiz, Shoal Creek Field Trip, guest lecture from NASA engineer
• Nov. 1 – 5, 2004 – Final interviews and tests for students
• Nov. 8 – 12, 2004 – Analyze results from student tests and interviews

• Dec. 2, 2004 – Present curriculum and impact results to JSC           

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Budget

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