The grant purchased 7 Mars globes, 7 'magnaprobes' (3-D magnetic field probes), and a number of small rare earth magnets. We used these materials to develop a lesson that introduced 5th grade science students to magnetic fields, Martian geography, and Martian exploration. The rare earth magnets were coated with glue and dropped into a small polar hole in the globes. The magnetic field part of the lesson consisted of the students attempting to locate the magnet inside the Martian globe using the magnetic field probe. This experiment served as a tool to introduce the ideas of magnetic poles and lines of force. At the time of the lesson, the students were engaged in a 'Magnets and Motors' science unit so the magnets also served as a bridge to this unit. And finally, it provided an introduction to the strongly magnetic Martian crust, recently discovered by Mars Global Surveyor.
The Martian geography and exploration part of the lesson extended the student's knowledge of terrestrial latitudes and longitudes to Mars where they were introduced to, and asked to locate, some prominent Martian features. The exploration effort, including the Viking Landers, Mars Global Surveyor, and the two newly launched Martian spacecraft was introduced at this point because the location of the Viking landers is indicated on the globes. A comparison and contrast of Mars and the Earth followed, including such items as length of day, year, temperature, craters, volcanoes, valleys, water, life, and the atmosphere and polar caps. An andesite from Mount Hood with a Si composition similar to that of rocks at the Pathfinder site was passed around the classroom. This focused a discussion about contrasting types of volcanism and the uncertainties in our knowledge about rocks at the Mars surface.
The lesson ended by suggesting several ways that the students could become involved in space-related activities. One suggestion was that students might wish to develop a Mars globe that better reflects some of Mars' most important features. Albedo variations dominated the globe that was used for the lesson. The National Space Club, active in several Montgomery County High Schools, was also mentioned in this context.
The lesson was presented to 4 classes by the scientist. Subsequently the teachers presented the material to several additional classes. The students in three of the classes sent thank you notes, which also reflected what they had learned. Nouns and phrases included: Mars, magnetic 'wand', rock, Space club, longitude, latitude 'I've been to Greenwich, England and I got to be in 2 hemispheres at once!', globe, atmosphere, dark and light areas, valleys, canyons, hidden magnets, life on Mars, frozen water, dust, 'Last year my class went on the internet and signed up for our names to go on one of the robots that was going to Mars.' Mercury, Mercury rock, ice caps, magnet stick, 'only about 400,000 miles away', volcanoes.
Except for the students who thought we were talking about Mercury, and the one who thought Mars was only 400,000 miles away, their comments reflect what was taught!
1) Mars globes, Keeper and Sol Publishing, P.O. Box 4434, Glen Allen, VA 23058. http://www.keepernsol.com/products.html 10 cm diameter globes for about $15.
2) Magnetic field probes (magnaprobe). Probe has a tiny, sensitive, color-coded bar magnet which pivots on a rotatable bearing. It is free to rotate about 3 axes. Sargent-Welch, P.O. Box 5229, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 http://www.sargentwelch.com/html/ezchem.html Product #WL1820C About $13. each
3) Rare earth magnets. Radio Shack. Catalog # 64-1895. About $2 for 2 magnets
Michael E. Purucker, Geodynamics Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD 20771 purucker@geomag.gsfc.nasa.gov 301-614-6473
Karen Radcliffe, Magnet Coordinator, Piney Branch Elementary School,
510 Maple Av, Takoma Park, Maryland, Montgomery County Public Schools
Wendy Ridgway, Science Resource Teacher, Piney Branch Elementary
School, Takoma Park, Maryland
The presentation will focus on two topics:
1) Explaining the fascinating magnetic results from Mars Global Surveyor. I will use (and distribute) two recent articles: 'Exploration Geophysics on Mars: Lessons from Magnetics', in press for 'The Leading Edge', by M. Purucker and D. Clark. 'Global distribution of crustal magnetization discovered by the Mars Global Surveyor MAG/ER experiment', Science, Acuna et al, 30 April 1999, p.790-793.
2) A Mars lesson that was developed with the help of a Scientist-Teacher Cooperation grant from the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Further information on these small ($300) grants can be found at: http://ilewg.jsc.nasa.gov/education/EPO/teachergrants.html The grant purchased 7 Mars globes, 7 'magnaprobes' (3-D magnetic field probes), and a number of small rare earth magnets. We used these materials to develop a lesson that introduced 5th-6th grade science students to magnetic fields, Martian geography, and Martian exploration. The rare earth magnets were coated with glue and dropped into a small polar hole in the globes. The magnetic field part of the lesson consisted of the students attempting to locate the magnet inside the Martian globe using the magnetic field probe. This experiment served as a tool to introduce the ideas of magnetic poles and lines of force. It also provided an introduction to the strongly magnetic Martian crust, recently discovered by Mars Global Surveyor.
The Martian geography and exploration part of the lesson extended the student's knowledge of terrestrial latitudes and longitudes to Mars where they were introduced to, and asked to locate, some prominent Martian features. The exploration effort, including the Viking Landers, Mars Global Surveyor, and the two newly launched Martian spacecraft was introduced at this point because the location of the Viking landers is indicated on the globes. A comparison and contrast of Mars and the Earth followed, including such items as length of day, year, temperature, craters, volcanoes, valleys, water, life, and the atmosphere and polar caps. An andesite from Mount Hood with a Si composition similar to that of rocks at the Pathfinder site was passed around the classroom. This focused a discussion about contrasting types of volcanism and the uncertainties in our knowledge about rocks at the Mars surface.
The lesson ended by suggesting several ways that the students could become involved in space-related activities. One suggestion was that students might wish to develop a Mars globe that better reflects some of Mars' most important features. Albedo variations dominated the globe that was used for the lesson. The National Space Club, active in several Montgomery County High Schools, was also mentioned in this context.
1) Mars globes, Keeper and Sol Publishing, P.O. Box 4434, Glen Allen, VA 23058. http://www.keepernsol.com/products.html 10 cm diameter globes for about $15.
2) Magnetic field probes (magnaprobe). Probe has a tiny, sensitive, color-coded bar magnet which pivots on a rotatable bearing. It is free to rotate about 3 axes. Sargent-Welch, P.O. Box 5229, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 http://www.sargentwelch.com/html/ezchem.html Product #WL1820C About $13. each
3) Rare earth magnets. Radio Shack. Catalog # 64-1895. About $2 for 2 magnets
Michael E. Purucker, Code 921,Geodynamics Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD 20771 purucker@geomag.gsfc.nasa.gov 301-614-6473
