The University of Texas at Austin
Mission to Mars

Starter Unit

Previous to the Starter Unit, students were shown the Mission to Mars video and immediately began the unit. While we never experienced any problems with this procedure, it became clear to one of our teachers, Jeff Swink of Nashville, that the students were not having as much ownership over their investigations and choice of planet as might be possible. Jeff thought it a great idea to begin the Mission to Mars unit with a solar system search mini-unit. This unit generally lasts about 2-4 days and serves a number of useful purposes.

One of the main objectives of the Mini-unit is that it allows the students to come to understand THE BASIC MODEL which will be the instructional model that will guide the entire Mission to Mars Unit. The way the Starter Unit has been used in the classroom follows:

 1) The teacher presents a dilemma to the class...essentially, what planet would be best suited for human exploration. Generally, the individual teacher can define "best suited" for their own class. In the past, we have used criteria generated in whole class discussion. Topics that usually arise are:
 

  • temperature range
  • atmosphere composition
  • anticipated trip duration
  • scientific interest
  • radiation consideration
  • surface composition of planet
 To follow THE BASIC MODEL, this step best maps over to the Problem Generation phase of the unit. Teachers can also use a short video here if that's possible or a newspaper/magazine clipping to serve as an initial anchor. In the full scale Mission to Mars unit, this is the step where we show our 7 minute video to help student generate their own problems. For the Starter Unit however, most of the students are truly "novices" and a basic understanding of both the Solar System as well as the instructional features of the unit are really crucial.

 2) Once the criteria are set, small student groups of 2-3 students get assigned a planet to research. Research could last for a couple of days. This step best maps onto the Cooperative Teams component of THE BASIC MODEL.

 3) For the Starter Unit, we generally do not model the Distributed Expertise Phase due to time considerations.

 4) After a few days of research, the Planet Groups make a short (5-8 minute) presentation to the entire class briefing the class on the feasibility of a human expedition to the selected planet. This step best maps onto the Consequential Task phase of THE BASIC MODEL. In fact, by giving a briefing on the feasibility, the students are taking part in a public display of their knowledge.

 It's important at this point to establish with the students that this is not a "win/lose" situation. Their purpose is not to convince the class that their planet is the best for human expedition. Rather, it should be made clear that the class will decide on what planet to visit, and that these presentations are to best inform the entire class of the decision they are about to make collectively (in this matter, we model the Distributed Expertise phase slightly) based on criteria they all agreed to previously as being important (see Step 1).

 5) Once presentations are concluded, the class should have arrived at the conclusion that Mars is the only planet that is really feasible for human exploration. While there are any number of reasons for this...a quick summary follows.

Planet Limitations for Human Exploration (brief)
Mercury No atmosphere, daily temperature range from 800F during daylight to -300F at night. Radiation would be a very serious problem as well.
Venus Due to extreme greenhouse effect of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, the temperature on the surface of Venus is hotter than Mercury. Recent research indicates a surface temperature of 880F. Also, because of the thick atmosphere, the atmospheric pressure on Venus is the equivalent of being over 300 feet under water on earth. Radiation would be high as one gets closer to Venus
Jupiter Jupiter is composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium (with some methane and ammonia) gases. There is no solid surface on Jupiter to walk upon.Distance is also a consideration with Jupiter and the remaining planets for any human exploration.
Saturn Another gas giant, Saturn is a cold surfaceless planet very far from the planet Earth.
Uranus Yet another gas giant, Uranus is a cold surfaceless planet very far from the planet Earth.
Neptune The last of the gas giants, Neptune is a cold surfaceless planet very far from the planet Earth.
Pluto Pluto's orbit brings it at times closer to the Sun than Neptune (this ends in 1999) but most times 1,000 million miles further out. Extreme distance makes Pluto unfeasible for human exploration.
moons In general, there are some moons that appear to be suitable for human exploration, of special note is one of Jupiter's moons, Europa. But, in general, we have left human exploration at the planet level only. Certainly, opening up the Starter Unit to moons will take more time but may be of greater interest to older students.
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