Space - Mission To Mars Cooperative Simulation 2-Month Unit - PBL friendly

This is an extended cooperative simulation unit for teams of 3-6 students. They will need to work together to make decisions about their mission to Mars. There are 13 lessons, 12 of which have corresponding Mission Log pages where they will be writing and reflecting on the content of each lesson. This unit comprises science, math, art, engineering, writing, collaboration, reading, and critical thinking. Students will have fun working in teams to put together their mission crew, recruit new astronauts, learn about the challenges of eating in microgravity, design an invention for eating in space, take core samples, build structures, decide what to plant on Mars, and ultimately decide if they would like to be part of a permanent settlement on Mars, and co-construct some rules and systems. This simulation can be done over 25 class periods- doing the lessons and the writing on different days. Students will be very engaged in this hands-on simulation and can extend it even further into project-based learning.