Mars students learn with giant maps
ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School District students won't have to leave their school buildings to blast off into outer space.
Students at Mars Area Elementary School had the chance to explore newly acquired Giant Mars and Moon Maps from the Aldrin Family Foundation as part of their STEAM class curriculum on Monday during the school day.
The floor maps are made of vinyl and show the topography and surface of Mars and Earth's moon, along with scientific facts and education materials. The district has maps in the small (13.5 feet by 6 feet) and medium (23.5 feet by 10.5 feet) sizes. The larger maps are big enough that they are spread out on the gym floor in the school.
The maps were sponsored by Armco Federal Credit Union and the Mars Planet Foundation.
Todd Lape, Mars Area Elementary School principal, was excited to see the maps incorporated in to the STEAM curriculum.“We're very fortunate to have this here,” he said. “I came down here last Thursday when we were setting up, and said 'wow!' I had no idea what these maps looked like — this is pretty neat. I would have loved this type of stuff (as a kid).”STEAM teacher Colleen Hinrichsen invited students in second and fourth grades to explore the maps with her Monday and work on science, technology, engineering, art and math related activities.
The second-grade class made stop-motion videos using iPads and pipe cleaner figurines on the floor maps, and the fourth-grade class came up with ideas and created models with Legos and Cubelets robots that could help a future Mars or moon city survive in space.Fourth-grader Mary Rhenish worked with her classmates to build a contraption out of multiple parts on the Mars map.“I was looking around the map to see what kind of landforms there were to know what to make,” Mary said. “We saw a small crater, and so we decided to make a train that delivers food, water and planks to make shelters, so that people who can't get those things in the communities around those harsh areas could have those things.”Hinrichsen wanted to emphasize creativity and hands-on learning for the students' first time using the maps in class. During the lesson, she encouraged students to explore the areas on the map and point out landforms that looked interesting.“The first time we went on the maps, I wanted them to be in charge of it somewhat, like they are the first pioneers somewhere. We were doing what we already do in class, and they were on this new land,” she said. “The fact that they're just looking at it because they want to know about it, I feel like that's where these (maps) made a big difference.”
Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung visited Hinrichsen's class Monday to see the maps in action. Hartung and the Mars Borough Council were major players in getting the maps to the district as part of the Mars Exploration Celebration festival in the summer.“This is fantastic,” Hartung said. “I was talking about it last July, and now (we get) to see the reality of it and see it come out of an event we had here in the community of Mars, and how we can fashion things and work together with the school districts and with other groups to be able to do things with advancing kids and their careers and education.”Hartung said he was excited by how hands-on the maps are for students, and by how many different subjects can be connected to them.“The idea is not that the maps just talk about space and living on planets, but they also talk about elevation, which is a thing you learn about on Earth as well,” he said. “That's a thing that Colleen is able to add in from other topics and subject matter, math and geography and everything. Eventually, it might even be about how we live together on different planets.”
