What's going on in Mr. Solarz' Class?

15 - Mars Videos You Can Enjoy!!!

5/2/2014

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14 - Revise & Improve Constitution, Preamble, and Bill of Rights

5/1/2014

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13 - Skyping with Pascal Lee - the author of our book & NASA scientist!

4/29/2014

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In an environment as hostile as Mars (before terra-forming changes things down the road, if ever), should a society consider having not just a Bill of Rights, but also a "Bill of Duty", and/or a "Code of Conduct"? What must we do? How should we behave?

What are the ethics of colonizing Mars? Especially if we were to discover indigenous (alien) life there; not little green men of course, but microbes. Would/should we grant them rights? Should there be a "Bill of Rights" for Martian Life too? Why or why not?

Let's also talk about the problems we prepared for and how we solved them. Let's see how scientists might have solved the same problems.

Credit: http://seticon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/PascalLeeMugshot2011.jpg

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12 - Creating Our Government - Writing Our Bill of Rights

4/29/2014

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The final step for us in creating our government is telling our citizens what rights they have! So far, our constitution only tells people what the government does, but it doesn't tell us what the benefits of being a Martian citizen is!

A Bill of Rights are amendments to the Constitution that guarantee certain personal freedoms, limit the government's power, and reserve some powers for the states and the public (Source: Wikipedia).

Read the U.S. Bill of Rights below (or the student-friendly versions linked at the bottom of this page), and determine if any of the existing rights should be borrowed for our Martian Bill of Rights.

Brainstorm other rights that you feel citizens of Mars should have (only real ones - don't be silly please) and type them onto this shared Google Doc.

Credit: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pNp3ySou5TI/UY5BUxx-wnI/AAAAAAAAgaw/QaUFpeJoXDc/s1600/billofrights.gif

This Bill of Rights will represent the first amendments to our Constitution!!!

Credit: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/files/entryimages/121512-bill-of-rights2.jpg

If that one is too complicated, here are some that are student-friendly:

Class of 2014's Bill of Rights:

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11 - Creating Our Government - Writing the Constitution

4/29/2014

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Last period, we created our Preamble to our Constitution, but that was just an "Introduction Paragraph" to our essay explaining the purpose of our government and telling people of its powers and limits. A constitution explains how a country's government is run.

We will be writing our constitution today!

We need to decide if we want to copy a certain country's system of government (e.g. the United States divides its power among three branches and allows each branch to have power over the others), or if we want to create our own from scratch.

Either way, we will be creating a page on our Mars Constitution for each branch of power and dividing up into groups to determine how each branch will work and what its responsibilities will be.

We will have at least one liaison that will go between their assigned group and one of the other groups to make sure that there is no overlapping ideas. They will help each group find solutions to the problems that come up, and will also recommend ways that each branch can oversee the other so no one branch gets too powerful!

Finally, we will need to decide if we will have a direct democracy (where everyone votes on everything) or if we want to have elections for representatives who will do our voting for us. If we want representatives, we will need to have an election to determine those positions.

Credit: http://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/jaye.ramseysutter/Organizational%20Charts/branches.jpg/image_preview

Credit: http://www.law.ufl.edu/flalaw/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/8886-20000715.jpg

Credit: http://frenchrevolutionbales.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/7/5/13759502/9634261_orig.jpg

Credit: http://mrberlin.com/images/products/detail/Sep_of_Powers_thumb.1.png

Credit: http://redmillennial.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/checks_and_balances.jpg

Class of 2014's Constitution:

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10 - Creating Our Government - Writing Our Preamble

4/20/2014

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So, it has become apparent that even though we all get along well in our Mars group, it is important that we create some guidelines that we all agree to for the safety and security of all members of our colony.

We have some basic beliefs about personal property and natural rights that must be protected, and we think that the best way to do that is by writing a constitution for our colony.

Before we begin, let's learn about our Preamble by reading this website carefully.

Just like the U.S. Constitution, we will write a preamble that is a brief introductory statement of our Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. It will be stated in general terms, and will allow our courts to refer to it as reliable evidence of our intentions regarding the Constitution's meaning and what we hoped the Constitution would achieve. (Credit: Wikipedia)

We will do this collaboratively by:

Looking at the preambles of various countries and organizations (I've assigned one to each of you - you get the country that is in your row),
Reading each preamble carefully and looking up words we don't know,
Copying and pasting words and phrases that we want to have in our Preamble (because we believe in those words) onto our shared Google Doc,
Clustering them together based on their meaning as a whole class, and
Writing our own Preamble in an understandable way using the words and phrases that we like on our shared Google Doc.

Credit: http://mercuryonewaco.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/constitution2.jpg

Credit: http://www.smrepublicans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/U.S.-Constitution-Preamble-3.jpg

Class of 2014's Preamble:

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9 - Preparing for Landing

4/16/2014

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Source: http://media01.bigblackbag.net/39126/portfolio_media/lwsm_cam-2-cd_9448.jpg

Day 1:

What do we need to do when we land?

Brainstorm a list here. Write in your row only. (Number 1 goes to row 28.)

Be ready for some interruptions. There has been some trouble happening!!!

Of the ideas you came up with, what should we do first?

If you think we should build something on Mars first, go to the coat rack side of the classroom.

If you think we should do something else, go to the windows side of the classroom.

Break into smaller groups based on your beliefs about what we should do first, explain why and how, and get ready to explain it to the whole group.

Day 2:

Continue your discussions in committees about what we should do once we arrive on Mars.

Be ready to explain your ideas, as well as your plan for making it happen to the whole group. If it is different from what we already have, create a new blog entry on our Colonizing Mars blog ("Claiming Mars for Ourselves") that explains what your plan is and how you expect to get it done.

Be ready for some interruptions. There has been more trouble happening!!! Should we just let this trouble continue, or should we do something about it?

Put your group's idea here with an explanation why and how you will get it done.

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8 - Who Owns Mars?

4/11/2014

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Click on image to go to its source.

We're going to Mars to create a new colony for the future of civilization and we're all from different countries? Which country should claim Mars for themselves? How do we decide?

Wait! I have an idea...

Read pages 4-10 together as a whole class.

Learn about the tasks we need to complete and break up into committees for pages 11-15 and 26-28.

Post all of your completed products on our Claiming Mars For Ourselves blog page. Directions:

Make your title the name of the section in the book that you are responsible for.
Include an explanation of what your product is, and
Why you made it.

Geography
People & Culture
Government & Economy
History & Future Plans
Climate

When we are finished, we will finish "solving" all of our other problems. Then, we will come together and vote on possible solutions.

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7 - Committee Work - Round 1

4/10/2014

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Committee Work

How will we solve the problems read about in Pascal Lee's book, "Mission: Mars?"
- Who should be in charge of each problem?

What do we need to do once on Mars? Create a brainstorm list here.

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6 - What is Mars Like?

4/2/2014

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Read and discuss "Phase 1" of "Mission: Mars" by Pascal Lee.

As you read, keep track of all the problems that we can prepare for on this Google Doc.

How do we prepare for all of these problems? Who is an expert at all of these things? Use our spreadsheet to remember all of our professions.

Make a plan for colonizing Mars.

Break up into committees. Do committee work and present ideas to the whole group.

Once you've read "Phase 1" create a blog entry entitled, "Colonizing Mars Lesson 6: Potential Problems"

Write a journal entry about what you learned from the perspective of your persona. Be "in character" while writing and express some of your concerns & worries in your writing.

Include some of the other personas in your writing to make it feel more real. Publish live and then comment on others' writing.

Credit: http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Mars-Pascal-Lee/dp/0545565324/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395073445&sr=1-1&keywords=mission+mars

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5 - What should we bring? What will we make when we get there?

3/20/2014

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Every person is allowed to bring 50 pounds of personal supplies. They must fit everything into a large suitcase on wheels.

Brainstorm a list of things you think you would like to bring and prioritize them. Determine which things you can fit into your suitcase & whether or not they would be heavier than the 50 pound limit. Eliminate things you don't HAVE to have, or won't fit due to size or weight.

Create a Google Spreadsheet and list everything you plan to bring. When you are done, take a screen shot (or multiple screen shots) of your list and put them onto a blog entry you entitle, "The Supplies I Get to Take With Me to Mars!"

The following items are taken care of for you by NASA:

Clothes
Personal Hygiene items (toothbrush/toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.)
Food and water
A laptop computer

Credit: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/nasa-inventions-1.jpg

It's a 6 month journey to Mars with little to do. Bring enough stuff to keep you busy and happy on your trip and once you get there!

Next, decide what materials you will need to do your job successfully. Add it to our Google Spreadsheet, one supply per cell. I will demonstrate.

Finally, let's make a list of everything that is provided for all of us on the space ship here.

Credit: "Mars Colony" by Tim Koppang

Credit for Images above: https://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/trs/_techrep/TM-2015-218564.pdf

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4 - Create Personas on Voki

3/20/2014

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Create personas on Voki. Your avatar needs to be of your persona representing the country you are from. The background image should suit our simulation well. Everything needs to be very appropriate!

Your avatar needs to speak about the following:

Your name (search http://www.behindthename.com/ to find yours)
Your country of origin
Your profession
Why it's important to have your profession in our Mars group
Why you are excited to be going to Mars

Embed your Voki on your blog above the "Author Information" section on your ePortfolio.

See mine on this blog.
Go to "Publish Your Voki" and copy the embed code.
Paste it into an "embed code" and change ALL the widths from 200 to 175 within the code. There are probably more than one!!!

It won't show up until I "Publish" the site, so don't worry!

To sign into Voki, use the following:

Email: _________________________

Password: ______________________

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3 - Who Gets to Go to Mars?

3/17/2014

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Research and List Professions on our Google Doc.

It starts as a brainstorm list.
We will narrow it down to just one profession for each of us.
Finally, we will choose professions by picking sticks.

Research and List Countries:

See slide show below of countries visiting our website.
Which countries have the most English speaking residents?
Find out which countries can afford to contribute to this project. In order to be able to afford participating, their country needs to have a GDP of US $100,000,000,000 or more (use the column headings on the wikipedia page to help you make the coversion).
As a class, choose your country of residence (doesn't have to be English-speaking), and put final information on this spreadsheet.

Credit: http://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/late-spring-on-mars.jpg

Find out which countries can afford to contribute to this project:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

In order to be able to afford participating, their country needs to have a GDP of US $100,000,000,000 or more (use the column headings on the wikipedia page to help you make the coversion).

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2 - What do you already know about Mars?

3/12/2014

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Directions:

Write a new blog entry entitled, "What I Think I Know About Mars." Drag in a "Text" so you can answer some questions while you watch a video.
Sign in to Google.
Click on this link to go to Discovery Education.
It will ask you if you want Discovery Education to have access to your Google account - please give it permission!
Click on this link to get to the video I want you to watch today ("Destination: Mars").
Click on the PLAY button near the top of the page.

Put your headphones on. As you watch, Destination Mars, be prepared to answer the following questions:

Answer the following questions WHILE you watch:

What do you know about NASA's plans to visit Mars?
How long will the trip take?
What supplies and equipment will the astronauts need to survive there?
What do you think are the risks of traveling to such a distant planet?
What would you want to bring with you?

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1 - Introduce the Simulation

3/10/2014

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Read "If the World Were a Village" by David J. Smith.

Transport to the year 2150. Technology is better, but our earth is overcrowded & struggling to support its population.

Write a blog entry called, "If the World Were a Village" and write about the following in paragraph format. (Don't respond to these questions individually. Incorporate them all into a paragraph.)

Explain what surprised you about the statistics of our world.
What upset you? What do you wish were different?
What made you want to do something to improve a situation?
Can you do anything to help? If so, what?

Also, include an appropriate image of some sort that goes with what you are saying (and give credit).:

Credit: http://www.amazon.com/If-World-Were-Village-CitizenKid/dp/1554535956

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15 - Mars Videos You Can Enjoy!!!

14 - Revise & Improve Constitution, Preamble, and Bill of Rights

13 - Skyping with Pascal Lee - the author of our book & NASA scientist!

12 - Creating Our Government - Writing Our Bill of Rights

11 - Creating Our Government - Writing the Constitution

10 - Creating Our Government - Writing Our Preamble

9 - Preparing for Landing

8 - Who Owns Mars?

7 - Committee Work - Round 1

6 - What is Mars Like?

5 - What should we bring? What will we make when we get there?

4 - Create Personas on Voki

3 - Who Gets to Go to Mars?

2 - What do you already know about Mars?

1 - Introduce the Simulation

Robert Gagne

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