It’s amazing how even the littlest things become hard work when you are working on the surface of another planet! Collecting soil samples, talking and even just bending over become irritating, hot and sweaty tasks when you have to wear a heavy, awkward space suit with an uncooperative radio head set. And don’t even start me on the fact that my support crew made my life difficult by not checking that I had all my research equipment before I went out the airlock. Ducking back inside quickly to get the missing equipment isn’t an option if you don’t want to die of the ‘Bends’. Mars is such an unforgiving place.
And just for the record, I really did go to Mars. Well, sort of. In April this year, I was given the opportunity to visit the Victorian Space Science Education Centre (VSSEC) located at Strathmore College (www.vssec.vic.edu.au) by my employer. The centre is one of six specialist education centres set up by the Victorian government to support Victorian teachers and students in the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The VSSEC uses the ‘…context of space to engage teachers and students in the teaching and learning of science’ (from the VSSEC website). They offer a variety of programs for year’s 5 – 12 students with what I would describe as their flagship programs being focused on using a very realistic Martian surface to undertake either a robotic rover or an astronaut exploration of Mars.
During my two day visit to the VSSEC, I met with the staff that manage the centre, took part in a range of activities that are offered to upper primary and secondary students from across Australia and internationally and heard about the educational rational behind the centre and the activities conducted there. Sadly the centre is not open to the general public. As a personal comment, I was happy to have the opportunity to visit the centre. By sheer coincidence, twelve years earlier I happened to be at Strathmore College for a space education conference, when the then Minister for Education announced that the VSSEC was to be constructed. It was fantastic to be able to go back to Strathmore to see the centre in action.
VSSEC workshop sessions
The two day visit to the VSSEC started with a welcome from the centre’s director Mr Michael Pakakis. Following the welcome, we then spent the remainder of the morning being lead through a range of computer software and websites that students use to develop their understanding of a variety of astronomy and space concepts. This included the Atlas of the Universe website (http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/) and the VSSEC online game Star Search. In the Star Search game, students fly a virtual spaceship to nearby stars to gather data from stars and construct a Hertzsprung Russell diagram using this data. They can then use this diagram to develop an understanding of the origins and the life cycles of the stars. We also looked at a new program called Time Search which is still under development. It aims to expand students understanding of the human aspect of science through focusing on the history of astronomy through time. The hooker for students is that they have to travel through time looking for clues to solve a puzzle and along the way learn about famous or infamous astronomers.
After morning tea, we had a chance to complete the Astronaut Fitness Testing program. We spent 45 minutes undertaking a range of self administered tests which recorded various aspects of our human physiology such as body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and visual acuity. The VSSEC staff commented that the level of concentration and (voluntary) sharing of results by the body conscious year 9 and 10 students who completed this program had to be seen to be believed.
After completing our fitness testing program we moved onto have a brief look at the Year 9 and 10 Mission to the Orbiting Space Laboratory program. In this program, students work in a laboratory space fitted out to look like the International Space Station and undertake an experimental program which includes biotechnology, robotics, fuel cell technology, astrophysics, plant growth, space weather, ecology, biochemistry and electronics. Picture very small work spaces with sophisticated equipment for students to engage with.
One of the highlights of the two day visit for me came when we got to take part in a shortened version of the Mission to Mars program for Year 9 and 10 students. In this program, students experience both being in mission control being in charge of astronauts on the surface of Mars, as well as being an astronaut taking part in collecting a range of data on the surface of Mars (such as rock samples and conducting temperature measurements).
The design of the Mission to Mars program is clearly thought through and has been based on intensive research and consultation with the European Space Agency. Custom written software is used to run mission control. This ensures that every student has a task they are responsible for (such as monitoring the radiation levels on the Martian surface) and so that they experience a range of problems which they have to work through as a team. Failure to communicate and work as a team can result in the ‘death’ of an astronaut on the Martian surface from exposure to a solar storm.
We then got to have the fun of pretending to be a year 9 or 10 student walking on Mars. This involved first watching an introductory video about Mars. This included an actor talking to us as if we were astronauts going on a real flight to Mars. Once that was finished we walked to the spacesuit storage area where we got to suit up. This involved finding an appropriately sized suit, a backpack with a battery powered fan and then some distinctly unfashionable over boots. The finishing touches included a radio headset and space helmet with a light at the top.
We were then split into pairs and allocated tasks to do on the Martian surface (in my case chemistry related). Entry to the Martian surface was through a pretend airlock (complete with decompression sounds) four astronauts at a time. Stepping onto the Martian surface was impressive. The surface was modelled on a real Martian crater and looked like many images I have seen beamed back from the real Mars. The effect of being on Mars was dramatically increased by the fact that the simulated Martian surface was inside a large inflatable dome. Banks of unseen florescent correctly coloured (red!) lights cast a reddish glow through the translucent dome material reinforcing the effect that we were on another planet.
It was on ‘Mars’ that some experiential learning took place. Firstly, I thought that I didn’t have some of the equipment I needed to complete my allocated sample collection tasks. Some of it was really missing (a lesson for a real astronaut that couldn’t just jump back into the spacecraft to get the equipment without having to go through the decompression process to avoid getting the bends) but the remainder was actually in bags hanging around my waist! A real astronaut would have checked before stepping out of the airlock.
It was about this time that the magic of role based learning kicked in. I had a look at the task checklist then looked down at the equipment and the equipment checklist I had on my belt. I can remember consciously thinking what it would really be like to be an astronaut on Mars. From that point on, I became an astronaut on Mars. It turns out it is really hard. A really basic task of helping my fellow chemist collect a tiny soil sample was quite frankly a pain in the backside. Wearing a noisy spacesuit, bulky gloves and a radio headset with a built in delay and that didn’t always work meant that lots of yelling took place and we couldn’t complete all our allocated tasks before a solar storm forced us back into the airlock.
Had we been real year 9 or 10 students undertaking the Mission to Mars program, we would have then swapped with the mission control team and guided them on their explorations on the surface of Mars. For me, it was fantastic to be able to take off the hot spacesuit helmet and breathe some cool air. Taking off the rest of the spacesuit was even better!
The second day at the Victorian Space Science Education Centre was just as busy. The morning was spent discussing the educational design of the programs offered at the centre. At face value, the programs seem to be just plain fun. The director lead us through the process of how the programs are designed to maximise student outcomes. One aspect of his talk which really struck a chord with me was one Powerpoint slide which summarised research shows that secondary students would do as well with a text book as with a teacher. The next slide then covered strategies which you could explicitly teach students that would dramatically improve student learning outcomes beyond this level. The VSSEC includes these strategies in its programs as well as the extensive preparation material provided to schools before they visit the centre.
Following the Directors talk, we were then lead through a problem solving activity where students had to decide which rocks the rover could drive between using basic year 9 or 10 trigonometry. The staff member leading the activity commented that it was yet again another activity where students often overcomplicated the problem and failed to arrive at a correct answer. To me this reinforced once of the reasons that students should experience a program at the VSSEC. That is that there is a significant difference between book knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge in the real world. Given that students are now studying material at senior high school level that used to be studied only at University, this ability is even more important.
Following a morning break, we then launched into the Robotic Mission to Mars program (pun intended). We were then taken into the theatre for a brief film setting the scene for the rover mission to Mars program. It was explained that students would watch this film showing the launch of a hypothetical rocket to Mars containing a rover. The film included an actor talking about the launch of an Australian rover followed by an animation of the rocket taking off. The film consisted of a combination of NASA animations of current rover missions on Mars and of the landing of the Curiosity rover which is currently on its way to Mars. After watching the film, we then had the opportunity to walk once more on the surface of Mars (minus the spacesuits) this time to look at the Martian rover which they have painstakingly developed. It was explained that students would not have the opportunity to do this. The only time that they would see the rover would be via a network camera installed in the top of the Mars dome. After that the view was from the navigation cameras on the rover.
As part of the Robotic Mission to Mars program, we were then led through a site selection process to decide where the rover would land. This involved extensive reading of detailed information about the potential landing sites plus what evidence would be required to decide if there had been life on Mars. If we were real high school students, this research would have occurred in a six week period before the visit to the centre followed by a class discussion and selection process for the landing site. We then took part as part of a mission team and drove the rover on the simulated Martian surface. As per the Mission to Mars program, each person was allocated an aspect of the rover mission (mine was heat and cooling management) and we had to communicate and work as a team to solve problems that occurred during the mission (such as solar flares, battery charge and communication dropouts).
The final afternoon was spent in the VSSEC’s impressive chemistry laboratory. Students taking part in a proper program would spend the entire day here using a variety of university level equipment. In the short time we had in the laboratory, we worked in small groups looking for evidence of calcium carbonate in rock samples. This involved carefully preparing rock samples and then testing them in an atomic absorption spectrometer. We then were lead through an interpretation of the results and how these results might support the theory that there was life on Mars.
Personal and professional reflections
At the risk of sounding like a geek, I think it is pretty cool to be able to tell my friends that I got to put on a space suit and walk on Mars. I have them respond with “What!?” and “That’s cool!” There is a down side though. I think I have decided to hang up my spacesuit. Like quite a few people I have always had a dream of becoming an astronaut. It turns out it is really hard work! While I did have a great time ‘walking’ on Mars, it was really hard work for even just half an hour. I don’t know if I would really want to spend a year and a half travelling to Mars and back in a small tin can let alone have constantly do cleaning so that my spacecraft doesn’t get eaten by glass and metal etching moulds!
Professionally, I have learnt a lot from my visit to the VSSEC. If I had to sum that up in one sentence, it would be that providing access to such a centre provides students with opportunities to experience what would be described as ‘peak learning experiences’.
Facilitating these peak learning experiences are achieved at the VSSEC through a number of key ways. The first is access to expert staff that are able to interact with students in a manner that is non-threatening, encouraging and able to provide expert level information in a manner that students easily understand. The second key requirement is that students can access university level equipment (such as the atomic spectrometer in the chemistry lab) or custom software that facilitates games or roll plays. Thirdly the realism of the spacesuits, the Martian surface and the mission control software (including deliberate problems built in) at the VSSEC allow the participants to easily take on the roles that they have been allocated and maximise the learning that takes place. Finally, the use of ‘roll play’ or drama causes students to focus incredibly intently on conducting ‘experiments’ at a level that would rarely happy in a school setting.
Roll play has never really been a professional interest of mine. I have read about how powerful it can be and have been involved in it through first aid training but it has never really ‘grabbed’ me as such. I realise now that it is because I have never taken part in a roll play situation that has been done so well that I have found myself slipping endlessly into a roll. From a technical viewpoint, the use of drama is where you ask students to ‘suspend their disbelief’ and take on a roll.
The strength of how well it is done at the VSSEC is that it provides an educator with an opportunity to place their students in a totally unfamiliar but unthreatening world (literally) where they have to apply their previously mastered mathematical, literacy, and mathematical skills and apply them to problems presented to them at various stages throughout the Mars mission simulations. Problems which they could quickly solve in a text book become challenging when presented in a ‘real life’ role play situation – such as a broken wire on a spacesuit or the threat of a solar storm (both used at the VSSEC). This to me is the value of the VSSEC role play based programs. Aside from quickly absorbing or being introduced to new scientific knowledge and skills, they gain experience in applying these in the real world to solve problems. Based on my experience and the comments of the VSSEC staff, students also have a lot of fun (and apparently more than a few arguments in mission control) while they are doing so!
