Activities and Products

Table of Contents

ActivitiesVisits to primary schoolsContest

ProductsPosters & BrochuresArt galleryWebsiteTheater PlayMagazineStory

• One major aspect of the project relies on drawing the attention of the young public.

• Mars Society Deutschland members familiarized them with simple notions related to space with an emphasis on the importance of studying this planet.

Visits to primary schools

Activities

• Attractive brochures were handed to them, with pictures and brief information on Mars (presented in a way suitable to their age group).

• Children who showed greater interest were put in contact with a Workshop member, so as to receive additional information from their “Martian” friends; the goal was to encourage interest in science.

Visits to primary schools

• Using all the pieces of information given at the first workshop we involved the participants by creating a model of Mars, out of plaster, which has given them the opportunity to practically discover physical aspects of the planet (shape, size, outlook, proportion).

Visits to primary schools

On the funnier side of life, they came up with Mars money (coins and bills), some tried to dress as little Martians and also... baked a little Mars (a red bread with the features of the planet)

Visits to primary schools

• This task required an involvement from different pupils (aged 11-16), because of the complexity of the workshop and the wide range of activities that were done.

Contest

At the end of the workshop, we organized a competition for the participants and the lucky winner received a Mars bar chocolate.The questions were based on information that was presented to them during the workshop.

power point presentations made by children separated in smaller teams;

Mars-related posters;

a magazine (with their own essays, drawings and poems about Mars, in German, English, French, Italian and Romanian);

different ways of portraying the Solar System, with an emphasis on Mars (including cubes with pictures of planets on each side and models of the planets);

a theatre play.

Products

Products

• Within this project, we have also developed our artistic side. We tried to valorize the pictures of planet Mars that we received from Mars Express by making a gallery of posters and wallpapers.

Posters

Posters

• They were both eye-catching and contained useful information. We reached this purpose by editing pictures of Mars with the help of image processing techniques, such as Adobe Photoshop.

Posters

• Furthermore, we organized an exhibition with these posters and wallpapers within the “National College”, as well as posting them on the website and using them during the workshops.

• Attractive brochures with the pictures were distributed to pupils.

Website

We have created a website about our activities and our progress regarding the targets that we have set.

In a special section of the website we intend to present information about each photo, along with a short story about planet Mars.

• The real Mars pictures taken by the VMC on board Mars Express were edited to make wallpapers and well-designed photos for the website.

The website displays a series of sections, each of them giving information (in terms of text or/and images) about a different chapter of the project.

Website

Our aims and objectives can be found in the “Objectives” section, the course of our work in “Activities”, the final products are enumerated in “Products” and there are also sections for feedback and, of course, a gallery with the original Mars photographs provided by the VMC and also the modified pictures that have been created by the participants.

Credits: ESA

Story

As part of our educational programme, we wrote a short story aimed at children aged 5-10. The adventures of the little bug “Marti”, as he travels to Mars, are supposed to provide young children with interesting information about space.

•The story will be translated in several languages (French, English, German, Italian and Spanish) and then posted on our webpage.

The main target of our project was to offer the public the chance to know more about the Red Planet.

The pictures provided by the Mars Express Team were extremely valuable for the success of the project, as we aimed to offer a realistic image of Mars.

The project had the desired impact upon the public and can be used as a model for similar activities in other countries as well.

Conclusion

Thank You, Mars Express !!!