The Davis Creek Elementary
Mars Site is part of the NASA K12 Mars Red Rover Outreach Project awarded
to Mrs. Linda Hamilton in cooperation with Davis Creek Elementary's fifth
grade classroom. The Mars site, situated at Davis Creek Elementary's
computer lab, houses the Red Rover Robot in a Marscape, complete with rocks
and surrounding terrain. The students in the Pea Ridge after school
program LEGO
class meet each Wednesday in October to drive the DC Red Rover and visit
Mars. The Pea Ridge site is the Earth Site and depicts a space mission.
The two planetary sites meet over the internet via the Planetary Society's
Earth Site software that allows connections through the internet.
The software is similar to the control programs used by planetary scientists
to explore other worlds. The remote Red Rover software is a computer
communications program. The camera on the Red Rover allows students
at both sites to use problem solving to find an acceptable route to exploration
and discovery, as well as communicating and providing feedback to both
sites. The delay between sending a remote command to the robot and
actual movement approximates the delay in remote exploration facing scientists.
The students of the Earth Site at Pea Ridge drive the robotic Red Rover
at Davis Creek Elementary by clicking on buttons pictured with the software.
In response, the Red Rover at Davis Creek moves in the direction sent over
the internet. The students at Davis Creek provide pictures, questions,
terrain, and experiences for the students at Pea Ridge to see. The
Davis Creek fifth grade students must research to be ready with questions,
answers, pictures, and other stimuli for their Earth Bound friends across
town. The software allows communication between Earth and Mars by
typing messages to send. These messages are similar to real space
missions that reflect on the job solutions to problems as they develop.
