The Mars Project: Transforming Learning Through Andy Weir's The Martian
My students need engaging and relevant reading that brings together science, technology, engineering, and math in a fun way; we are seeking 65 copies (2 class sets) of "The Martian: Classroom Edition."
$962 goal
This project expired on March 31, 2017.
This project expired on March 31, 2017.
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
As a small charter school servicing a diverse community, students chose to attend our school due to our hands-on, student-centered approach to learning. Our students are future engineers, designers, architects, and job site leaders. They want to learn, especially when the work allows for discussion, movement, and creative input. Like most of us, they don't want to sit in a chair for hours on end, passively receiving information. The more they can DO, the better they can show what they know.
When students experience concepts through real-world scenarios requiring critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, they are not only engaged, they naturally want to deepen their understanding.
Our goal is to provide every student the opportunity to find connections to their learning, not just in other classes, but in the world around them, and to help foster a desire for life-long learning.
My Project
When I was in school, despite being a big reader, I often dreaded reading assignments; the books chosen were dull, old, and often difficult to relate to. It is time to transform education through a project-based, cross-curricular approach to learning.
Both our Freshmen and Sophomores will be embarking on a journey to Mars, not only in their English classes, but also in science, math, engineering, technology, and construction classes.
Students will be solving many of the challenges faced by Mark Watney and NASA throughout the book.
In science and engineering classes, they will be researching, designing, and creating landers for both supplies and living creatures, exploring the different constraints in trying to get different payloads to a surface safely.
In math, they will research and determine the trajectories, time windows, and other factors faced by NASA when launching a mission to another planet. In architecture and construction, they will plan and create scale models of collapsible structures that and both withstand high winds and be easily assembled by robots. Finally, our robotics team will test the structures.
By creating a truly cross-curricular, real-world, hands-on experience, our students will gain valuable teamwork and practical skills, as well as finding a way to easily engage in classwork in all subjects.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Selle and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
