Game Info for Teachers

​

 

This game will develop science skills/practices using the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) framework. Developing science skills is a strong component of the NGSS, especially as outlined in Science and Engineering practices, https://ngss.nsta.org/PracticesFull.aspx

 

Mars is the subject, JMARS is the tool, but the goal is to develop student’s inquiry practices.

 

Mars is a good subject because

1. Use Prior knowledge: Most all science concepts that students have learned up to this point can used to inquiry about this very similar and very different place, while challenging students to consider how the processes on Earth would operate differently on Mars.

 

1. Copy and paste difficult: “Googling” the answer may yield background knowledge but it will not give them the evidence from the JMARS data they need to back up their claim. It is also not possible to “Google” reasoning that uses their evidence that backs up their claim.

 

1. New information: Although there is an ever-increasing MARS body of knowledge, it often supports a slightly different claim. For example the some features which were originally labeled craters, were suspect to be super volcanoes in 2013, and now believed to be super volcanoes.

 

1. Mars is fascinating, especially up close.

 

JMARS is a professional tool, yet can be used by middle and high school students as well as by the top scientists. Go beyond Wikipedia and Google Mars!

 

The game is open ended so that it can be modified by the teacher as needed. General modifiable directions and rubric for gaming points is provided. The goal is to stimulate students’ curiosity and provide a structure to build science knowledge and skill from that curiosity. The game may be better played in teams.

 

If you are not too familiar with the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning framework, these two short videos by Paul Andersen, bozemanscience.com will inspire you and answer your questions.

Asking Scientific Questions (11 min),   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKsLuRPsvU

Claim Evidence Reasoning (8 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKsLuRPsvU 

 

Starting with a well-defined simple question/phenomenon is critical. You may want to provide a question.  Below are a few examples of general questions that can be made into even better questions. These questions do need to be “framed” (terms defined, assumptions stated, question clarified) as described in Paul Andersen’s videos. For example, the first question could be framed this way: A “crater” is defined/used here as a circular depression with a raised rim. “Evenly distributed” will be determined by counting craters in several locations. Craters are good first features to explore.

1. Are craters evenly distributed on Mars?

2. Is there anything similar to Mars feature [(lat, long or image provided)____] on Earth?

3. Is there any evidence that processes that develop features on Earth operated on Mars?

4. If there was water on Mars, where would it have collected.

5. Are all the craters on Mars similar?

6. Is the depth to diameter ratio (d/D) larger in simple craters than in complex craters?

7. Does the depth to diameter ratio (d/D) in simple craters differ by geologic unit?

8. Is there a typical ratio of the center peak diameter to the crater width?

9. Is there a typical ratio of the center pit diameter to the crater width?

10. Is there a typical ratio of the ejecta diameter to the crater diameter?

11. Are craters with rampart ejecta clustered in areas on Mars?

12. Are craters with radial “star” ejecta clustered in areas on Mars?

13. Do craters with rampart ejecta and craters with radial star ejecta found in the same area?

14. Which of 3 locations would be best to start a human colony on Mars?

​