One primary focus of the Mars Education Program is advanced and comprehensive professional development training for K-12 science and math educators across the nation. The program offers professional development workshops for educators on-site at the ASU campus, virtually through Blackboard Collaborate, and other locations through one of our regional partners. Through these comprehensive training workshops we train educators on Mars education curriculum content for classroom instruction and engagement. Tried and tested for over 20 years Mars education lesson plans have been in development and are continually changing with the Next Generation Science Education Standards. Professional-development conferences help train teachers how they can use the creativity of space exploration while integrating STEM themes (science, technology, engineering, and math) and inquiry-based learning into the curriculum. Mars workshops aim to provide teachers with the resources and knowledge they need to be confident about bringing NASA content into their classrooms.
Curriculum Development
With over 20 years experience in developing classroom curriculum and Mars related lessons the Mars Education program seeks to continually develop and deliver outstanding authentic and engaging science activities and STEM related resources for students through grades K-12. Mars curriculum has been developed to support the teachers increasing needs and responsibilities in the classroom. Each lesson contains comprehensive explanations and alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards Anderson and Krathwohl’s Taxonomy for Learning, and Instructional Objectives and Learning Outcomes. Assessments and rubrics are embedded and aligned to learning outcomes, along with enrichment sheets and answer keys. Teachers can also find that the lessons support the essential 21st Century Skills Development, along with Common Core, 5-E Inquiry Cycle, and National Technology Education Standards. Mars Education curriculum engages students in ways that go beyond that of traditional science to cultivate critical thinking and problem solving skills.
In the Classroom
As the formal education arm of the NASA JPL Mars Exploration Program, a primary focus of Mars Education has always been to develop classroom designed lessons and activities that can be utilized by educators in traditional classroom settings that accommodate any schools needs and resources. Our creed with classroom lessons has always been, “high tech, low tech and no tech”. Meaning no matter the technological resources of your classroom we can put together a highly comprehensive and engaging lesson related to the Mars missions that will develop student’s scientific learning beyond regular instruction. Projects like the Mars Student Imaging Project, allow students the opportunity to learn the importance of the research process as it relates to the scientific model using relative real world NASA science data collected from the Mars Exploration missions. Learn about and download our classroom activities today and take your learning to a whole new level.