AUTHENTIC PLANETARY RESEARCH IN K-12 CLASSROOMS: USING IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES TO PREPARE THE NEXT GENERATION

It has long been recognized by master teachers that students best can learn and retain knowledge if they are actively involved and have ownership of their learning process. The learning of science is no exception and can be greatly enhanced by student's active participation. NASA's Mars Exploration Program and the Mars Public Engagement Team have laid out a 20 year plan through which they hope to engage and excite students into a higher realm of scientific literacy using the excitement of space exploration as their primary catalyst.

The Mars Program has launches planned every 26 months for the next decade and beyond, giving educators a sustained pipeline of current science that will be reoccurring during their years of teaching. Through long-term collaborations with Mars scientists, engineers, flight instrument principal investigators, and support personnel, the Mars Program is able to bring cutting-edge opportunities to classrooms around the country. Several programs have been launched during the last two missions (Mars Odyssey and Mars Exploration Rovers) that are setting the stage for future missions (2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2007 Phoenix Lander, and the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory). Through these unique partnerships that include science and educational professionals, students are and will be able to participate at a level during the mission that is unprecedented. Students as young as in the 5th grade can actually contribute to the knowledge of another world. The impact of this methodology is of great interest to educators and scientists and has brought much attention to those students and schools who have participated. By empowering the next generation of learners with the knowledge that they can be part of their future through such immersive experiences before they reach college, they will be ready to take on harder challenges that will reach higher towards new frontiers.