Book Study: The Martians in Your Classroom
This is a living resource and will be updated periodically. We would love to include your questions and prompts! Please send to rachael@teachliketed.org for consideration.
This is a living resource and will be updated periodically. We would love to include your questions and prompts! Please send to rachael@teachliketed.org for consideration.
Chapter 1: Teaching Martians
Chapter 2: Teaching Martians
Chapter 3: Forty-Five Years Later
1. Eleven years passed between the Wright Brother's first flight and the first commercial plane trip. Twelve years passed between the first rocket and the moon landing. As of December 2017, forty-five years have passed since the last human stepped foot on the moon. How might our world be different if we had not abandoned human Space exploration?
2. What impact has reusable spacecrafts and unmanned space probes had on the world around us, in addition to those mentioned in the book?
3. Politics played a role then as they do now in determining priorities in Space exploration. What is currently happening in the political arena that is impacting Space as a priority?
Chapter 4: Saving Humanity
Chapter 5: STEM: Why the Decline, Why it Matters
Chapter 6: Innovation and Inquiry in the Martian Classroom
Chapter 7: Hubble Huggers Save the Hubble!
Chapter 8: Student Voice in the Martian Classroom
Authors Note: Your classroom may never be a safe environment for some students. There are factors that we have no control over. If a student is not willing to speak in front of the class despite your attempts to prepare them and make them feel safe, SAVE THEM! Give them an out. Many adults are scared by public speaking experiences that happened as a child. Don't break your students. Every educator should live by the oath, "Do No Harm."
Chapter 9: Globalized Learning Spaces
2. Visit the Institute for The Future (IFTF) and explore the forecasted changes in the world around us. http://www.iftf.org/home/ What surprises you? What do you want to learn more about?
3. Meet Generation Transition: http://www.iftf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/downloads/tyf/2016_IFTF_TYF_Map-of-the-Decade.pdf What are your takeaways? Do you believe this is an accurate forecast?
4. Explore the tools for globalized learning spaces. The list of platforms shared in this chapter barely scrapes the surface of what is out there. What other tools do you recommend for global communication and collaboration? Share your ideas on social media using #MartianClassroom.
5. Set up a free Flipgrid account and try one of the six ideas below.
6. Invite a virtual guest speaker to your class using Skype, Google Meet, or another video collaboration tool.
Chapter 10: Spinoffs: There's More Space in Your Life Than You Realize!
Chapter 11: Rush Hour in Low Earth Orbit
Chapter 12: Aeronautics and the Elusive Flying Car
Chapter 13: Off World Mining
Chapter 14: You Don't Have to Be an Astronaut to Explore Space!
Chapter 15: Inspired By Space
1. What's out there? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6q68JTGjh4
2. Question 1 was a test to make sure you made it this far! Congrats!!! Let's move on.
3. Most space enthusiasts wish to inspire younger generations to go into Space. What are the benefits of passing the torch to the next generation?
4. Chapter 15 discusses the resemblance between virtual space and outer space. What additional entanglements are there between these spaces?
5. Are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg role models? Why or why not?
6. What careers will still require four year degrees in the decades to come? Are micro-credentials and certificate programs acceptable pathways to success? Explain.
Chapter 16: Space Entrepreneurship
Chapter 17: Red Alert! The Race to Space in Education
What's Next?
Create a project related to the book study that addresses the following:
Missions for the Martian Classroom
Are You Ready to Launch?
4. The raw material of the agricultural age was land. The raw materials of the industrial revolution were metals. Data is the raw material of the information age, and we are entering the space age, where ideas will be the raw material of what's to come, both on and off of planet earth. How do we better equip students for this Idea Economy?