Authors: SERGİN ŞAHİNOĞULLARIGİL and HATİCE GERGİN

The eTwinning project for Astro-Stem was carried out to promote astronomy and space sciences. This was done through the deeply-rooted work of the students, who learnt with fun and discovered the mystery of the universe.

With the AstroStem project, astronauts will get accurate information about the history of astronomy, constellations and mythological stories, and try to get to know the universe.

The teams worked collaboratively in the AstroStem project. One of these activities, “MaStem”, is the work dedicated for the 2020 STEM Discovery Campaign. Thus, we are participating in the 2020 STEM Discovery Campaign, with “The ADVENTURE OF STEM with Mars”, the joint STEM work of our project.

The project has 24 partners, 24 teachers and 24 schools coming from Turkey and from Europe. In total, 170 students were involved in the project.

In the “ADVENTURE OF Mars with STEM” event, we tried to explain how a team planning to travel to Mars manages this process through the distribution of tasks.

The work to be done by the teams was divided into 12 parts:

Mars through the eyes of an astronaut.	Team 1
What do people need to know to live on Mars?	Team 2
Space home design for those who dream of livings on Mars.	Team 3
Repairing a system damaged by sandstorms on Mars.	Team 4
Elimination of psychological and social adaptation problem to Mars.	Team 5
What are the contributıons of asteroid mınıng or space mining to the World?	Team 6
What are the characteristics of vehicles sent into space?	Team 7
How does an astronaut prepare for space travel?	Team 8
Solving the problem of food under Martian conditions.	Team 9
What are the things you should take wıth you on your way to Mars?	Team 10
Finding a solution to the water problem in Mars conditions.	Team 11
What are the characteristics of an astronaut suitable for Martian conditions?	Team 12

We worked as part of a team commissioned by NASA to do work on Mars.

STEM / MA-STEM AND MARS ADVENTURE as a Team.

An effective poster was the task for our team. We had to do research on the world economy in terms of space and asteroid mining. Poster presentation and design of educational games with web 2.0 tools were also among our tasks.

Before starting a Mars mission, our students firstly cooperated. What are the contributions of asteroid mining and space mining to the world economy? They research some resources to find the answer to the question.

They examined the articles on the subject. They collected the relevant documents. They made a poster using this information (you can see it below).

During the project, our students were involved online as the distance learning started on 13 March due to Covid-19 outbreak. Support was received from parents in this process.

Team teachers Hatice Gergin and Sergin Sahinogullarigil informed students online about the sources and use of space mining.

Students familiar with mining resources and their use became mine detectives at home and informed their families about space mining.

Students hung informational posters all over their home.

They prepared the posters used in the story we created together. The first four posters prepared by the students were selected by voting.

This part of our project took 3 weeks to complete. The research-based activity plan flow was very useful for learning the subject. They learned by living and having fun.

In the first 2 weeks, they did research to find answers to the questions.

Work was done to promote space mining.

Students were informed about space technology vehicles, space shuttles, artificial satellites and space stations.

Information was given about the importance of separating solid wastes for recycling and their contribution to the world economy.

They first researched and discussed the conditions in space and Mars, which led them to draw a plan.

The students presented their work in the third week of the design phase.

We will continue our ‘MASTEM’ project with a spaceship, so we started watching videos and researching on Mars. One day, these students will complete their missions on Mars in the best possible way.

In the second part of our “Mission to Mars” event, our team designed the explanatory games for the development of asteroid mining and space mining with the Web 2.0 Wordwall Tool.