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Overview:
This activity introduces students to the basic features of the Mars landscape. Students will compare the landscapes of Mars and Earth and create mobiles showcasing some of the features of the Martian landscape.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, earth and space science
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 1: "How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Writing and drawing materials
- Scissors
- String
- Hole punch
Objectives:
Students will
- locate the planets of the solar system on a diagram;
- look at pictures of Mars and describe the Martian landscape;
- describe features of Earth's landscape, and compare those features to the ones on Mars; and
- make mobiles showing features of the Martian landscape.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Show students a map of the solar system and point out the planets. Make sure they can locate Earth and Mars. Ask them to state which planet, Earth or Mars, they think would be colder.
Development:
Have students look at pictures of the Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner rover at the Return to Mars site, and explain that this equipment was used to explore the surface of Mars. The Pathfinder traveled to Mars from Earth, landed on the planet, and released Sojourner, which moved a short distance around the planet''s surface.
Have students look at the pictures of the Martian landscape (click on "Peer across the dusty Martian surface"). As they look, ask them to describe the landscape features they see. Do they notice rocks, sand, or mountains? List their responses on the board.
Ask students to look out the classroom window and describe some of the natural features they see. They might notice trees, rocks, grass, or birds. Ask them to state which of these features are alive and which are not.
Closing:
Ask students to compare and contrast the things they see out the window with the landscape of Mars. What do they notice on Earth but not on Mars? Inform them that Mars does not have any of the living things they have seen outside but does have some nonliving landscape features with which they are probably familiar.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have students make "Mars mobiles" to hang around the classroom or in their homes. The mobiles should show some of the features of the Martian landscape and can also include pictures of Pathfinder, Sojourner, or other equipment students have seen in the lesson. Have them draw pictures on construction paper, cut the pictures out, punch holes in them, and connect the pictures with string.
Extending the Lesson:
- Have kids do the Red Album activity on the Xpeditions site. Be sure to explore the xtras, interactive features, and links on the left side of the page.
- Have students practice their alphabet and vocabulary by looking at some pictures of Mars and saying aloud simple Mars-related words such as "rock," "hill," and "dust." Ask students to state the letter that each word begins with, and have them write the letter on a blank piece of paper. Ask them to draw a picture of the item the letter stands for. More advanced students should write out the entire word and write sentences that use that word; they can then draw pictures illustrating their sentences.
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