From: DragonFun@aol.com
Subject: Mars Colony Course
Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 15:11:50 -0400 (EDT)
Dear Live from Mars Adventurers, I think that Kim Stanley Robinson's trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars are the best science fiction books about a realizable fantasy, the colonization and terraforming of Mars, the first great adventure of Gaia's children moving out from Mother Earth to survive and thrive on another planet. These books have great plots, believable characters well developed (they live!), and are based on good science, good technology, good psychology, good everything. * They are very well-written, good models for students in communication skills courses. * They have one of the greatest blends of disciplines of any book I know, science fiction or other genre. They are based on well researched and implemented science, technology, social studies, humanities, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Richard Zimmer is Professor of Anthropology, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California. He is designing a new interdisciplinary course called *Mars Colony* and will teach it during the 1997-1998 academic year. Most students who take this course intend to become teachers. Robinson's book *Red Mars* will be a major source of information and inspiration in Richard's course. Eric Burgess and I are working with Richard Zimmer to design his Mars Colony course and develop related instructional materials for both elementary and secondary school grade levels, including stuff related to *Red Mars*. We intend to make some of these instructional material available free some time in the future. Eric Burgess is author of 20+ science and space books including official NASA publications on the results of missions to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, as well as hundreds of science articles. Eric's books include *To the Red Planet* and *Return to the Red Planet*. He wrote many of the earliest articles, books, and technical reviews on astronautics. Eric is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and the Royal Astronomical Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is currently developing a CD-ROM containing a comprehensive history of space exploration. If any of you are interested in receiving progress reports as this course is designed and taught, please send email to me and request to be put on the Mars Colony list. My email address is DragonFun@aol.com Cheers, Bob Albrecht DragonFun@aol.com