Name:  Janet Holloway                       
District:  Hammonton
E-mail:  enrich6@yahoo.com

Goals and Objectives of Lesson: 

NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards addressed:

Science

           

5.2:  All students will develop problem-solving, decision-making and inquiry skills, reflected by formulating usable questions and hypotheses, planning experiments, conducting systematic observations, interpreting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communication results.

           

5.4:  All students will develop an understanding of technology as an application of scientific principles.

           

5.8:  All students will gain an understanding of the structure and behavior of matter.

           

5.12: All students will develop an understanding of the environment as a system of interdependent components affected

by human activity and natural phenomena.

           

           

Language Arts

3.3:  All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes.

3.4:  All students will read various materials and texts with comprehension and critical analysis

3.5:  All students will view, understand, and use nontextual visual  information.

           

Cross-Content Workplace Readiness

Standard 2:  All students will use technology, information and other tools.

Standard 3:  All students will use critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.

Summary:

           

Through the use of  various reading materials and the Internet, students will use telecommunications to gain knowledge, share ideas, and design a toy to be used on a Mars colony in the near future. Students will write a brief abstract or summary describing the rationale of using this toy and predicting its performance on Mars.

Equipment, materials and other technology needed:
Computers with Internet capability

E-mail address
Internet sites for researching including a scavenger hunt handout that was emailed to participants

Activities/articles dealing with Toys in Space  (Kessler, J.H. and Bennett, A.T. Best of Wonder Science 1^st Edition. 1997.  pp.65-72.)  copyright permission was purchased

Details of Activities:

“Let’s Play on Mars” was posted on the Internet so other educators throughout the world could choose to participate. Education Place <http://www.eduplace.com> sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Co., Global SchoolNet Foundation <http://www.gsn.org>, and Apple Learning Interchange <http://ali.apple.com> all posted the project on their sites. The teacher must complete this part of the project and specific directions for participation were stated.

Each class that registered by November 1, 1999, would receive a confirmation via e-mail with an attached file containing a brief questionnaire and scavenger hunt of Web sites guiding their research of Mars. As other schools registered for our telecommunications project, our 16 sixth grade students were also visiting the Web sites  to successfully complete the scavenger hunt. Our student answers needed to be perfect. As schools from around the world submitted their answers via e-mail, our students would email the results and track the geographical location of the school on a map stationed on a bulletin board. All completed scavenger hunt entries needed to be submitted by December 1, 1999.

Our next step required our students to write business letters providing information with our suggested activities for Best Wonder Science. We snail mailed this packet of information to those schools who had successfully completed the scavenger hunts. The activities involved critical thinking skills. Our objective was to guide our participants in their futuristic creations and help them solve the challenge of toy performance on Mars.  

By March 1, 2000, all participating schools needed to submit photographs or drawing of their best toys for Mars. A brief abstract or summary describing the rationale of using this toy as it relates to scientific principles was included. We provided guidelines for this abstract.
By April 5, 2000, our students designed, completed, and mailed official certificates to all participating classes. An appropriate business letter was included.

Currently, we are utilizing the photographs or drawings along with the abstracts to develop the Toys for Mars Museum booklet. A copy of this publication will be shared with participants.

Five schools from various locations in the United States (California, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Illinois) shared their work with our students. A total of 112 students successfully completed the mission.

Student Feedback and Assessment:
student participation

teacher observation
various pieces of writing  exchanged with students all over the world

toy inventions/innovations and scientific evaluation

portfolio entries

Additional comments & suggestions:

Schools are welcome to join our class in this educational experience during the 2000-2001 school year.

If anyone is interested in guidance in starting and implementing a telecommunications project,  please contact us at