Students were overwhelmed with the open ended research phase, they were missing a lot of cool NASA technologies, and I ended up having to heavily guide their efforts to keep solutions based in reality.
My middle school students doing “research” was Google images or Wikipedia. Warning: Students don’t know how to research! I know this is shocking to hear. I have developed a project guide taking students through the engineering design process to brainstorm and design solutions in the following areas: Food, Water, Air, Energy, Transportation, Entertainment, Government, and Homesickness. How can you prevent mental health problems on Mars? What current or new technology will keep humans alive on Mars? Research and brainstorming solutions centers around two questions:
Now that students have a basic understanding of Mars, they need to start planning their colony design to keep humans alive and happy. And Vivify has a big announcement coming soon on a national level space colony competition open to all schools!Ĭlick the video for a preview of this project, or better yet, here is feedback from a teacher who used this project in her classroom:
Our curriculum is the basis for a city-wide STEM competition in San Antonio, Texas, but you can easily use this guide for your own classroom or program showcase. The Mars Colony is the capstone project for my STEM program, and I have been tweaking and improving it over the last five years. How will colonists get food? What is the Martian environment like? What happens during a dust storm? How will colonists stay entertained? This is the perfect way to take your STEM or STEAM program to the next level with a project-based STEM challenge! Now updated for distance learning!ĭesigning a Mars Colony is a real multidisciplinary project as students consider both keeping humans alive and happy. We are excited to share our popular Stage 3 STEM project: designing a colony on Mars! Students learn about Mars, brainstorm and research design solutions for food, water, energy, and other critical systems, and build a colony model from recycled materials.
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