Activities and Resources
The lessons in this package are designed to increase students' knowledge, awareness, and curiosity about the process of scientific exploration of Mars. As scientists look for evidence of life on Mars, they will focus much of their search in areas where volcanic heat and water interacted early in the geologic history of the planet. Two lessons in this packet on volcanoes and mapping river channels reinforce these basic geologic processes. These lessons lead directly to a set of simple activities that help students develop an understanding of the microbial life scientists will be searching for on Mars. The hands-on, interdisciplinary activities reinforce and extend important concepts within existing curricula.
- Front Cover and Acknowledgments
- Lesson 1. Getting There: Navigation and Trajectory
- Lesson 2. Tricky Terrain: Investigating Planetary Soils
- Lesson 3. Lava Layering: Making and Mapping a Volcano
- Lesson 4. Mapping Mars: Geologic Sequence of Craters and River Channels
- Lesson 5. Searching for Life on Mars
- Lesson 6. Why Do We Explore?
- Glossary, Mars Fact Sheet, Skills Standards, and Resources
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