Introduction

It is the year 2023. Your high school's spaceship just made a textbook perfect landing on Mars.

A small typing error allowed your teacher's spaceship to make a similarly impressive landing, but on the Moon instead.

You are stuck on Mars with the following:

- 500 kilograms of 10 different research chemicals
- 150 pieces of low-tech building Supplies
- 20 pieces high- tech science research equipment
- 50 kilograms of 5 different live plants

Unfortunately all the life support equipment were on the teacher's spacechip.

There is no hope of rescue from Earth for at least 18 months.

You are unable to immediately return to Earth because the spaceships that landed a year before you did, has not finished making all the fuel you need for your return yourney at this point.

You can't stay inside the spaceship for the year - the spaceship and its resources must be saved for your 18 month long return journey.

The Task

Figure out in teams how to stay alive at Mars with only a random selection of scientific research equipment.

The Process and Resources

Team Phobos

Make a detailed inventory of what Team Deimos has available as specified above.

Team Deimos

Make a detailed inventory of what Team Phobos has available as specified above.

Each team:

Discuss how to use your inventory to survive for the next year.

Major catch:

Also discuss how to use the inventory you compiled for the other team to survive.

Team Mars:

You are the judges. You allocate points (number of days they survived) for each team based on their scientifically correct suggestions.

You have to develop a scoring sheet for the efforts of these teams on Mars

Here are suggestions for the categories of your scoring sheet:

You should modify this list as you see fit.

• The scientifically correct logical reasoning power of the team
• Keeping the team on Mars mentally healthy for a year
• Keeping the team on Mars physically healthy for a year
• Prevent life-threatening social conflict between the team members on Mars
• How to keep the teams productive (scientifically) for a year
• The team's understanding of the interdependencies of life (and how they use this knowledge to ensure their survival)
• How these teams use cycles on nature (for example: the planet Mars has seasons)
• How well these teams understand what humans need to survive in extreme conditions
• Keeping the team on the planet Mars mentally healthy for a year

Each team gets two turns to prove their survival skills. (Once with the inventory the other team gave them, and once with the inventory they drew up for the other team.)

The team with the highest average score as determined by Team Mars wins.

Alternative approach:

The whole classroom contributes towards inventory suggestions. These suggestions are written on the blackboard.

The classroom gets divided into several smaller teams that competes against each other to see which team can survive the longest.

Standards Addressed

Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy

Bloom's taxonomy of higher level thinking skills

Synthesis

Apply your science knowledge in a unique way to ensure your survival.

Conclusion

During this WebQuest you learned:

• How to survive using higher level thinking skills.

This WebQuest can be assessed using teamwork and thinking skills rubrics.

Here is a list of assessment rubrics

	Copyright Thralow, Inc, 2003.