Mars Activities
The lessons below are teacher-favorite lessons focused on the Red Planet. For more search options or to search by other science target, missions and other criteria, visit our Fast Lesson Finder. You can also search by curriculum standards on our popular Curriculum Standards Quilts.
Mars Lessons:
Mars Student Imaging Project
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Mars
Mission: Curiosity / MSL (Mars)
Short Description: Want the chance to make a new discovery through real Mars research of your own?
From around the nation, teams of students grade 5 -- college work with NASA scientists, mission planners, and educators to take their own picture of Mars and make discoveries. In this student-centered project, learners understand how science really works by being scientists and interacting with practicing scientist role models.
It's fun, free, and real-world science. It gives students an authentic experience of the scientific process and their own STEM-based capabilities. Along with learning the scientific process, students gain knowledge of Earth Science concepts using Mars as an analog. The chance to explore the Red Planet motivates students to engage in successful research experiences.
Mars Uncovered (Student Guide)
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Mars
Short Description: This activity guides students through an inquiry-based, critical thinking approach to studying the surface of Mars; students create a geologic map of part of Mars and use relative age dating techniques of craters to analyze the information and interpret the geologic history of the region.
Mars Uncovered (Teacher Guide)
Grade Level: 5-8, 9-12
Body: Mars
Short Description: This activity guides students through an inquiry-based, critical thinking approach to studying the surface of Mars; students create a geologic map of part of Mars and use relative age dating techniques of craters to analyze the information and interpret the geologic history of the region.
Marsbound! Mission to the Red Planet
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Mars
Short Description: By playing an interactive card game, students create a mission that balances science return with mission constraints.
Martian North Polar Layered Bean Dip
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8, 9-12
Body: Mars
Mission: Phoenix (Mars)
Short Description: Ingredients
1 pound cooked ground beef
(or 18 oz CHI-CHI'S® Restaurante Taco Tub ground beef or 1 can (15-ounce) refried beans)
2 jars of bean dip
2 cartons (16-ounce) sour cream
2 jars Salsa
¾ cup chopped green onion
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 can (2.25-ounce) sliced ripe black olives, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 package (.78-ounce) taco seasoning mix
3 bags Tostitos Scoop Tortilla Chips
A mixing bowl
A mixing spoon
Individual plates, one for each participant
Napkins
Measuring Solar Activity
Topic: Light and Spectra
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Short Description: Measuring Solar Activity is a multi-part exercise in math and physics for high school students and above. Students will learn graphing, pattern recognition by looking at satellite images and 250 years worth of data, making predictions, and recognizing spacial relationships.
Modeling the Solar System
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon
Short Description: This PDF contains four lessons:
1) Modeling Orbits in the Solar System. This lesson models the orbital distances between the planets and shows that the solar system is mostly empty space.
2) Modeling Sizes of Planets. This lesson compares the relative sizes of the planets to those of familiar fruits and vegetables. It also uses size to calculate density and planet composition.
3) Looking Inside Planets. This lesson involves modeling the interior structures of the planets and shows that the solid cores of the gas giants are similar in size to the Earth or Venus.
4) Search for A Habitable Planet. This lesson looks at the characteristics of planets that make them livable, their temperature, and compositions of atmosphere and surface instead of size
or orbit.
Mud Splat Craters
Topic: Planetary Surface Processes
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud, Earth's Moon, Pluto
Short Description: Observe crater formation in mud to introduce the idea of fluidized craters as seen on the surface of Mars.
Mystery Planet
Topic: Solar System Exploration
Grade Level: K-4, 5-8
Body: Mars
Short Description: In this activity, students step into the shoes of real planetary scientists and explore crustal samples from a "Mystery" planet. Using sorting/classification, students will interpret the geologic history of a region from which a sample has been collected and make inferences about past life or the potential for life on the "Mystery" planet.
Probing Below the Surface of Mars
Topic: Water in the Solar System
Grade Level: 5-8
Body: Mars
Mission: Mars Global Surveyor (Mars)
Short Description: Participants model the process used to test for water ice on Mars and examine how the ice content of the Martian soil will affect the rate at which a warm probe will cool.
