Curriculum Innovations/STEM

Mission to Mars

Seventy five of our year 8 Students attend the Victorian Space Science Education Centre over a 3-day period, where they worked in teams and using their problem-solving skills to successfully complete a geological survey of the simulated Mars surface. Students wear specially-designed spacesuits and act as astronauts, mission controllers and research scientists. Mission Control officers communicate via radio to the astronauts on the surface and are responsible for their safety and the success of the scientific mission.

Astronauts collect their equipment, de-pressurise in the airlock, and step out onto the Martian surface to collect real soil and rock samples, drill an ice core, conduct a thermal survey and measure seismic activity.

The program involves a real-life simulation that tests the capacity of the teams to response to looming Mars based threat, with each of our teams successfully returning from their missions.

After returning to earth, students analyse their samples and undertake further scientific investigations in the laboratory.

Glen Cowan