Flashback: Going to Mars
This picture brings me so much joy.
A few years ago, I cofounded the non-profit STEMLY where our goal is to advocate for high quality STEM education. Through our work, we were presented an opportunity to do a half-day workshop to expose a group of students to STEM thinking.
This activity is called the Mars Challenge.
Using everyday materials, the kids had to build a “Mars Spacecarft” and then attempt to land it on Mars. In this situation, Mars was a one meter circle about 5 meters away from “Earth,” the starting line and the spacecraft was of their own design.
Here were the rules:
- The spacecraft can only be made of the materials given to each group.
- If the spacecraft lands on “Mars” it is considered a success.
- If spacecraft is touching any part of Mars, it counts.
- Spacecraft cannot land on the ground before it lands on “Mars”. It would be just lost in space.
- Students must start behind the specified line.
- Students cannot throw their spacecraft to start.
- Students can opt to stand on a chair to drop their spacecraft at the starting line.
What was critical was figuring out how to “launch” without throwing the spacecraft or rolling it on the ground to get to Mars.
This challenge turned out to be a ton of fun for everyone involved, both the kids and adults helping. We even upped the ante by challenging them to build a spacecraft that could land a human (an egg) on Mars using the same rules.
When I ran across this picture when I was organizing my photos, it reminded of the joy I felt sharing this experience with those present. Who knows, maybe this workshop got some of these kids interested in space, design, or engineering.
I hope so.
It was experiences like this that completely changed the trajectory of my life. It made STEM real and showed me that I could contribute in that space.