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Worksheet
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Curated OER

Mars

For Students 4th - 7th
After reading a short excerpt about the planet named after the Roman god of war, Mars, your class will answer four comprehension questions. The activity challenges them to fold over the paper and answer the questions without referring...
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

Are We Alone?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Find an answer to the age-old debate of whether life exists on Mars. Groups determine criteria to help look for signs of life on Mars. The activity has the class simulate testing Martian soil samples for signs of life before drawing...
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Manned Mission to Mars

For Teachers 6th - 8th
To go or to not to go — the question for a mission to Mars. This resource provides details for a possible manned mission to Mars. Details include a launch schedule, what life would be like on the surface, and how the astronauts would...
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

The Great Gravity Escape

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Groups simulate an orbit using a piece of string and a water balloon. Individuals spin in a circular path and calculate the balloon's velocity when the clothes pin can no longer hold onto the balloon.
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Come On Over Rover

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Introduce your class to the steps that occur in the manufacturing of parts, the assembly, and the testing of a Mars rover. Pupils learn about fabrication techniques and tolerances in the manufacturing process. 
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

Strong-Arm Tactics

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Experience collecting rock samples using a robotic arm with an activity that has pairs work together to operate a robotic arm. One pupil serves as the eyes and the other operates the controller. The objective is to be the fastest pair to...
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

The Amazing Red Planet

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Introduce your class to Mars with a resource that provides information about its size, location, length of day, length of year, number of moons, and average temperature. Also includes is information about the lans for past and future...
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Six Minutes of Terror

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

An Inflated Impression of Mars

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Help your class understand the magnitude of the distance between Earth and Mars with an activity that asks small groups to use balloons to create scale models of the Earth, Moon, and Mars. Class members figure out the distances between...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life on Mars

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars research the feasibility of life on Mars and debate what it would need in order to sustain life. They work in teams to predict, research, infer, and explain their theory using models they build.
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Get Me Off This Planet

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What do Newton's Laws have to do with getting from Earth to Mars?The activities in this resource show how Newton's Laws work with rockets to get them into space. Background information includes facts about orbits and how orbits are used...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Strange New Planet

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders gather data and simulate a Mars spacecraft mission using multi-sensory observations.
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PPT
Curated OER

Science Jeopardy - The Earth Sciences

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The earth sciences are the focus for this Jeopardy-style review game. Categories include geology, space, scientific investigation, meteorology, and oceanography. Diagrams and pictures are involved with most of the questions, making this...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interplanetary Travel Guide

For Teachers 4th - 6th
In groups of six, middle school space scientists create an imaginative travel brochure for attracting visitors to the planet Mars. Information must include surface features and atmospheric conditions. Although time-consuming, this is a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating Impact Craters

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders simulate the creation of impact craters on Mars.Through the creation of model surfaces, the effects of an impacting object's mass, velocity and size are determined, and the features of the resulting crater are identified.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Martian Colony Proposals

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders design a proposal for a Martian colony to be presented to a group of their peers. They review their knowledge of Mars. Students evaluate for themselves which of their classmates proposal best fits their criteria.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Can an Astronaut on Mars Distinguish Earth from its Moon?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the possibility of being on Mars and being able to identify the Earth.  In this space lesson students complete a set of calculations to see if this is possible. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Is There Liquid Water on Mars?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students assess whether there is liquid water on Mars by analyzing images and data.  In this planetary lesson plan students analyze temperature and pressure graphs and hypothesize about how water could have flowed on Mars.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Areology-The Study of Mars

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students examine core samples from Mars and discover what they can use it to tell the history of Mars.  In this core sample instructional activity students create and analyze their own core samples then eat them at the end.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Searching for life

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Learners explore the possibility of life on Mars and what that might look like.  For this planetary lesson students complete several activities on looking for life on Mars. 
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Avalanche on Mars!

For Students 8th - 11th
In this mars and scaling worksheet, learners use the given image to determine the dimensions of the image and the size of specific details on the image. They calculate the image scale in meters in order to determine specific measurements...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Compare and Contrast: Hershey and Mars

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders compare and contrast information from stories.  In this similarities and differences lesson, 12th graders read about Milton Hershey and Forrest S. Mars to learn about the lives of the two men.  Students complete a graphic...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spacesuit Design

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Learners analyze the conditions on Mars and design a spacesuit to help humans survive. In this space exploration instructional activity, students identify the inhospitable conditions on Mars. They work to design a spacesuit for a...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Having a Hot Time on Mars!

For Students 9th - 11th
In this cosmic radiation on Mars learning exercise, students study a radiation map of Mars taken by the MARIE instrument on the Odyssey spacecraft. Students answer 4 questions using the radiation map and they answer questions about the...