Live From Mars was active July 1996-December 1997.
Teachers' Guide
Opening Activities
Countdown to Live From Mars
On the Project Launch Pad
Assuming that most of your students have not taken
this kind of electronic field trip before, you should introduce the
project's various multimedia components.
- Explain that Live From Mars is an interactive "electronic
field trip" in which students simulate real science, visit real locations,
interact with real scientists, in real time. This is achieved through live
television broadcasts, hands-on, in-class activities, and the use of the
Internet as a tool for collaboration, research and communication.
- Provide time for students to share their prior experiences with the
Internet, space exploration and Mars in particular, attitudes towards
science, science textbooks, and science television broadcasts in general.
- Share with students your anticipated implementation timeline for LFM.
Sharing this information with students as you begin validates their active
participation as Mission Planners.
Have students access information (via print or
on-line) on the history of Mars exploration and organize this information
into a timeline.
- There are different ways to organize this Activity. You might
assign the research as an independent assignment, or as a cooperative
project. It could be worked on during school hours or at home.
- This Activity is easily adapted up or down in grade level and
readily lends itself to an interdisciplinary organizational structure,
supported in Social Studies (use of timelines), Library Media Center
(research skills), Language Arts (preparing a written bibliography of
sources), Math (use of spatial measure to show chronological scale of
historical events) and Art (use of appropriate design elements for visual
displays).