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6th, 7th, 8th Grades  Project 2 weeks

Mission to Mars: Colony Quest

Yuan T
Updated
MS-ESS1-3
MS-ESS1-2
MS-ESS1-4
MS-ESS2-3
MS-ESS2-4
+ 37 more
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Purpose

Students investigate what a real off-Earth habitat must include for a small crew to live, work, and stay healthy on the Moon or Mars while working independently at home. They use solar system scale, gravity, hazard, and resource data to choose a colony site, test closed-loop systems like water recycling or solar power, and build a model that meets clear mission criteria, supported by a San Diego Air & Space Museum visit where they sketch one habitat or spacecraft feature, record scale observations, note three survival systems, compare hazard protections, and collect ideas for their own design. Through reflections, design revisions, and a final mission review, they explain how evidence shaped safer and more effective engineering choices. The work culminates in a public showcase with a physical colony, mission manual, QR-linked reflections, and a NASA-style video tour.

Learning goals

Students will analyze scale, gravity, distance, hazards, and resource data to choose a realistic Moon or Mars colony site and justify that choice with evidence. They will design, build, test, critique, and revise an individual physical habitat model with living, lab, energy, and food systems that recycle water, generate power, and protect crew health in an extreme environment. They will communicate their thinking through blueprint updates, daily audio reflections, a mission manual, and a NASA-style video tour that explains how revision improved the final design. During a visit to the San Diego Air & Space Museum, they will sketch or photograph one habitat or spacecraft design, note examples of life-support, shielding, scale, and power systems, record at least three ideas that could improve their colony, and complete a short reflection comparing museum exhibits to their own design choices.

Standards
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS1-3 - Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS1-2 - Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS1-4 - Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS2-3 - Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS2-4 - Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS2-5 - Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS3-4 - Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS3-2 - Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS3-1 - Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ETS1-2 - Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ETS1-1 - Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ETS1-3 - Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
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  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS1-2 - Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS1-3 - Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS1-4 - Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS2-3 - Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS2-4 - Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS2-5 - Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS3-4 - Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS3-2 - Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ESS3-1 - Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ETS1-2 - Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ETS1-1 - Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] MS-ETS1-3 - Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
  • [California] 8.4.1 - Describe the country's physical landscapes, political divisions, and territorial expansion during the terms of the first four presidents.
  • [California] 8.4.3 - Analyze the rise of capitalism and the economic problems and conflicts that accompanied it (e.g., Jackson's opposition to the National Bank; early decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that reinforced the sanctity of contracts and a capitalist economic system of law).
  • [California] 8.4.4 - Discuss daily life, including traditions in art, music, and literature, of early national America (e.g., through writings by Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper).
  • [California] 8.12.1 - Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets, and trade and locate such development on a map.
  • [California] 8.12.2 - Identify the reasons for the development of federal Indian policy and the wars with American Indians and their relationship to agricultural development and industrialization.
  • [California] 8.12.3 - Explain how states and the federal government encouraged business expansion through tariffs, banking, land grants, and subsidies.
  • [California] 8.12.4 - Discuss entrepreneurs, industrialists, and bankers in politics, commerce, and industry (e.g., Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford).
  • [California] 8.12.5 - Examine the location and effects of urbanization, renewed immigration, and industrialization (e.g., the effects on social fabric of cities, wealth and economic opportunity, the conservation movement).
  • [California] 8.12.6 - Discuss child labor, working conditions, and laissez-faire policies toward big business and examine the labor movement, including its leaders (e.g., Samuel Gompers), its demand for collective bargaining, and its strikes and protests over labor conditions.
  • [California] 8.12.7 - Identify the new sources of large-scale immigration and the contributions of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy; explain the ways in which new social and economic patterns encouraged assimilation of newcomers into the mainstream amidst growing cultural diversity; and discuss the new wave of nativism.
  • [California] 8.12.8 - Identify the characteristics and impact of Grangerism and Populism.
  • [California] 8.12.9 - Name the significant inventors and their inventions and identify how they improved the quality of life (e.g., Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright).
Competencies
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.

Products

Students create an individual research log with Need-to-Know questions, site-selection evidence, habitat criteria, and notes from a San Diego Air & Space Museum visit, including a checklist of exhibits to study for habitat scale, life-support systems, power sources, astronaut tools, and hazard protection ideas. They also produce a museum field note page or photo/sketch collection, a revised colony blueprint after the mid-project design check, daily audio reflections, and simple test records for one system such as water recycling or solar power. By the end, each student completes a 4-page mission manual, a physical space colony model with labeled living, lab, energy, and food modules, and a 3-minute NASA-style video tour. For the final showcase, each student prepares an individual display with a QR-linked design check, reflection, mission manual, and test evidence for guests to explore.

Launch

Begin with a Space Agency Briefing at home: the student opens a “mission file” from NASA, watches a short habitat video, and identifies one major hazard their Moon or Mars colony must survive. On the museum day, visit the San Diego Air & Space Museum and complete a mission checklist: find one exhibit that shows spacecraft or habitat design, record two details about life-support systems, sketch one feature that protects astronauts from hazards, note one example of scale or distance in space travel, and take voice notes comparing those ideas to the student’s own colony plan. After the visit, the student reviews notes and updates one early design choice for the blueprint based on evidence from the museum. End with a short audio reflection explaining one new idea learned, one remaining “Need to Know” question, and one feature the colony must include to keep a crew healthy and safe.

Exhibition

Host an individual Mission Control Showcase at home or online where each student premieres a 3-minute NASA-style video tour, displays the physical colony model and 4-page mission manual, and answers questions from family, homeschool peers, or a museum educator about scale, hazards, and life-support systems. Create a simple Habitat Expo station with the model, booklet, and a QR code linking to audio reflections, design checks, revision notes, and the final self-assessment video so guests can explore the full design process at their own pace. Include a San Diego Air & Space Museum visit during the first week, where students sketch one habitat or spacecraft feature, record examples of life-support or shielding systems, note evidence of scale and distance in exhibits, and collect at least three design ideas they can adapt for their colony. End the exhibition with a short mission review in which the student explains what changed after critique, demonstrates one tested system such as water recycling or solar power, and names one final improvement made before the video premiere.