Explore and create: Deep-dive Creation lab 
Preregistration Required
Scratch is a programming language with an accessible entry point -- making it great for beginning programmers – and a high ceiling that allows for program complexity to grow as student ability increases.
By attending this session, participants will gain a basic understanding of Mars exploration operations and learn how students can use Scratch coding to create a Mars exploration game that simulates aspects of actual mission planning. This will include making a Mars landscape in Scratch, identifying geological hazards, and learning to command the movement of a rover. From there, attendees will learn different strategies for coding science targets and navigational hazards into the landscape. Last, they will learn how to code additional features into the game that will make it more exciting to play, but also more like the work done by NASA’s mission planning teams.
See Outline and Learner Outcomes for specific skills to be introduced and practiced and what participants will learn and be able to do as a result of participation.
This session is based on the following lessons and student activities: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/explore-mars-with-scratch/ and https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/code-a-mars-helicopter-video-game/
Presenter: Introduction/welcome
Participants: Listening
Time: 2 minutes
Presenter: Intro to Scratch/visual programming, pre-assessment of audience (grade level, subject(s), programming/Scratch experience).
Participants: Listening, responding to question prompts, sharing comfort level in programming with other attendee(s).
Time: 3 minutes
Presenter: Intro to Mars science operations.
Participants: Listening, responding to questions, asking questions.
Time: 5 minutes
Presenter: Discussing connections between Mars science planning, ISTE standards, NGSS, programming in the Scratch language.
Participants: Listening, responding to discussion points, making connections.
Time: 5 minutes
Presenter: Modeling creation of Scratch account, Scratch classroom, circulating to assist/ensure successful creation of accounts/classroom. Circulate to ensure understanding, provide assistance and answer questions.
Participants: Observing, creating Scratch accounts/classrooms, assisting others when finished or if they already have an account/classroom.
Time: 5 minutes
Presenter: Begin lesson section 1: changing background image to Mars surface image, discussing geologic features, importing rover sprite, circulating to ensure understanding. Circulate to ensure understanding, provide assistance and answer questions.
Participants: Observing, changing background, sharing insights and observations about surface images, importing rover sprite, assisting seat neighbors if finished early.
Time: 10 minutes
Presenter: Continue lesson section 1: model different ways to program the rover to move. Circulate to ensure understanding. Survey audience for methods they used for coding rover movement. Circulate to ensure understanding, provide assistance and answer questions.
Participants: Explore ways of creating code to make the rover move. Discuss/share with others the code used. Allow another participant to drive the rover as programmed.
Time: 10 minutes
Presenter: Begin lesson section 2: lead discussion/explanation of science targets, identify target areas on surface, place science target icon on surface. Circulate to ensure understanding, provide assistance and answer questions.
Participants: Make and share observations of surface images. Identify areas of interest on their surface images. Place science targets on surface. Assist seat neighbors if finished early.
Time: 10 minutes
Presenter: Continue demo of section 2: programming science targets to respond to acquisition. Circulate to ensure understanding, provide assistance and answer questions.
Participants: Explore ways to create code that causes science targets to respond to acquisition by the rover. Share their results with nearby participants. Allow another participant to drive the rover to a science target to see how the game responds.
Time: 10 minutes
Presenter: Discuss engineering constraints faced by rovers and rover planning teams. Share how those are exemplified in sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the lesson. Allow participants to choose which constraint to program into their game, and whether they want to attempt developing their code independently or use lesson guides. Circulate to ensure understanding, provide assistance and answer questions.
Participants: Participate in discussion. Choose which constraint they want to program into their rover game. Develop code independently or use guides from lesson. Discuss and share their ideas with each other. Allow another participant to play the game with the newly coded constraint. Improve code based on feedback.
Time: 10 minutes
Presenter: Provide option for participants: continue working to refine code on the current engineering constraint, or finish section and choose another constraint to build into the game.
Participants: Continue working on current section of code, or create code for a new constraint, either independently or with lesson guide. Allow another participant to play their game with the newly coded constraint. Improve code based on feedback.
Time: 10 minutes
Presenter: Facilitating discussion, answering questions
Participants: Discussing uses in class, extension ideas, asking questions.
Time: 10 minutes
In what way can technology enhance student learning? : A preliminary study of Technology Supported learning in Mathematics - https://www.learntechlib.org/p/48061/
The Remixing Dilemma: The Trade-Off Between Generativity and Originality - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002764212469359
Coding at a Crossroads - https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2020/11/248219-coding-at-a-crossroads/fulltext
Use of Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/statistics/
Return
Trips and Tours