Joan Labay-Marquez Gifted and Talented Facilitator at Curington Elementary taught her 5th grade students about a proposed NASA mission that will send a satellite to explore Jupiter and its moons to search for signs of life.
To deepen their understanding of what constitutes “life” in our universe, and NASA’s plans to find it on other planets, students viewed the NASA Now video called “The Search for Life”. Students also viewed the archived NASA Explorer Schools chat of Dr. Joel S. Levine about the proposed ARES mission to Mars and its search for the presence of life on Mars.
Labay-Marquez commented, “This activity fit into our GT instruction because these students have been studying about finding life on Mars in preparation for a Mars Rover competition later this year.”
This activity also inspired her students to create projects using the theme: Finding Life on Mars. They continued their roles as astrobiologists and used Legos and art/craft supplies to design and construct models of exploration vehicles and instruments looking for signs of life on Mars.
For more detail about how to integrate these NES resources into your classroom, log into NEON and find the full write-up here: http://neon.intronetworks.com/#Forum/forum/2/1335/183/719
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.