Project Description:
Students will design a utopian society on the surface of Mars. To do this, students must understand the wide range of choices and decisions that must be made when any community develops as well as the accompanying responsibilities of making a decision. Working in groups of 3-4, students will produce a multimedia presentation describing and justifying the choices and decisions which they made in developing their own community on Mars.
The project has incorporated the California Frameworks, California State Standards, SCANS 2000 recommendations and the I-Poly Standards from each discipline.
Project Components
1. Conceptual Study Paper: Student groups will generate a matrix and a flowchart starting to make important decisions about colonizing Mars by comparing / contrasting the environment present on Earth and Mars. In addition, students will research the feasibility of their community concept in the career field they have chosen and write a paper.
2. Analyzation: Students will present a hierachy chart, a matrix, and a self-generated diagram of what career filed will be responsible for in their community and how those careers integrate. Students will use the programs Sim City to explore the dynamics of city planning and building. Students will explore comparative models by using a Venn diagram to show how the Martian colony is modeled from an American city.
3. Utopian Literature Paper: Students will read a utopian / dystopian literature novel and write a compare/contrast paper looking at the social problems/issue faced in the novel, current American event and their Mars community.
4. City Model: Students must know how the initial conceptual study, design and analyzation led to a final design and product. Students will design and build their Martian city scape and the structure that encompasses the city. Student will explore the process of terraforming Mars.
5. Disaster Recovery Plan: Upon completion of the Mars community, groups will be given a disaster of natural, economic or political nature. Groups must evaluate how their community responds to that disaster in a paper and presentation.
6. Travel Brochure: Student groups will develop a brochure
guide to their Mars community in English and either Spanish or French.