On November 26 NASA launched our next expedition to the Red Planet—the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) with its car-sized rover named Curiosity. The spacecraft is expected to land on Mars in August 2012 inside the Gale Crater (NASA’s projected landing location: lon/x 137.4, lat/y -4.5).
The mission is projected to last 23 months after touchdown with numerous scientific examinations of geology, atmosphere, and the local environment the craft will explore. The NASA press kit provides great detail about a variety of aspects of the mission including the goal of assessing the former habitability for Martian life in the geography Curiosity will travel.
In addition to the various NASA resources available to learn about Mars and the mission, a rich scientific data and map environment exists to explore the planet and some its attributes—the USGS’s PIGWAD (Planetary Interactive GIS on the Web Analyzable Database) site and viewer. As a key part of the USGS Astrogeology unit’s work in Flagstaff, Arizona, PIGWAD helps the team serve the science community with its expertise in the application of GIS to terrestrial and other planetary settings.
Given the primary audience for this set of resources is the science community, much of the content available via the map viewer carries with it nomenclature and acronyms not immediately known to the average person, but the site does provide pathways for learning more. Despite these snags, I was able to map and discover a number of things about the planet such as its topography, surface geology, and feature names, and pinpoint the intended landing location. Here are a couple of screenshots of my investigation.
What I’ve presented here is but a small sampling of what’s available. Exploration and some study of the many PIGWAD layers presented will help you and your students shed more light on a planetary neighbor well over 100 million miles away.
On a different note, the MSL rover has been christened with a great name—Curiosity—offered by a 14-year-old girl from Kansas. While its moniker seems to be in the same lineage as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, to me, Curiosity carries with it meaning and symbolism of something deeper and necessary, and so much a part of being human. Our inquisitive nature leads to discoveries and creations large and small. They have led to the creation of this mission and its attendant components, but it’s important to remember that Curiosity is simply a machine that will be guided by inquiring humans. And, when the craft sets off on its mission of discovery and research in an unknown world, it’s vital to recognize that we need to spark equal if not greater levels of curiosity here on our world, Earth.
For an added dose, here’s a link to an earlier blog post on why I am so passionate about curiosity and why I believe it is vital for our future.
- George Dailey, Co-Manager, Esri Education Program Manager
Hi George:
I enjoyed your blogs on curiosity – both the human type and the Mars rover type. I just had to weigh in on some thoughts and observations made over a 30 year teaching career.
I see curiosity in kids coming back. This is exciting. For quite awhile, curiosity wasn’t dead per se, but it wasn’t cool. Teens from 13 to 17 were too cool to be excited and curious about their world, and it was hard for teachers like me to get them interested in science happenings. I got pretty discouraged, wondering what was going to become of that generation – the ones whose kids I’m now seeing. But now there is reason to be encouraged. Several things have contributed to this turn around, I believe.
One factor is the computer and more specifically, the internet. Information now is dynamic – kids can see how stodgy old knowledge can be interactive, interesting, and yes, exciting when presented dynamically. GIS’s have been a real part of this information transformation. Being able to see my house, my school, my neighborhood from 5000′ above gives us a greater understanding of our surroundings and awareness that we share a lot of things in common with other people and the land around us. And it makes us curious – what are those buildings, those lines on the ground, where does that road go…?
Another thing I’ve noticed is that television and movies are now treating geeks more respectfully. No, they still don’t get the pretty girl in the end, but at least they aren’t stuffed in the locker or garbage can by the teen anti-hero. It’s OK to be geeky – to be smart and to ask questions. I am now acquainted with some of the smartest kids I’ve ever taught, and they are getting respect and acknowledgement from their peers. Even some of the girls are seeing that it’s OK to be smart – they still attract boys and get good grades. Hopefully our culture is shifting to be more honoring to the smart and curious kids.
I recall a visit to the Grand Canyon as an adult where I witnessed something that made a mark on me. I’ve visited the Canyon many times and worked there one summer, so I was familiar with the area – it was a bit commonplace for me. As I drove up to Mather Point on the South Rim and was looking for a parking place, getting irritated at all the tourists there, I saw a guy – a dad with his family in the car – jump out of his car and run towards the rim, whooping and hollering in excitement. “The Grand Canyon” he shouted, “we’re here! Come on, come on! Look at it, just look at it!” He was almost in tears because he had seen pictures all his life but had never really experienced the Grandest Canyon of all, and now that he was here his excitement boiled over. I decided that I wanted to be like that – excited by what others see as common place, and curious always about my surroundings…and I wouldn’t care how foolish or silly I might look to other people in the process!
So those are just some of the things that give me hope that curiosity is not passe. I think the new Mars rover is aptly named, and like all explorations, should raise more questions than it answers because everything it finds will make us just that more curious.
Keep up the good work. Happy holidays to Kate and others in the ESRI Education family.
Don Adams
Vail Academy and High School
Curiosity, much like critical thinking and analysis, is an elusive quality…tough to teach and challenging to elicit from teenagers. I’m not sure that curiosity became “less than cool,” or if we stopped allowing opportunities for it in our classrooms. Test-driven environments around the USA squashed many educators’ plans for creativity and enlightenment. Having taught in heavily scripted and monitored field, English Language Arts, I know that it’s a challenge to nurture curiosity and creativity when the “rules” seem so regimented. I found that exploring my creativity offered more curious moments which lead to the essential skills of critical thinking and analysis that we all seek.
Some suggestions to get you there:
1. Offer your students options. When students have more than one choice for assignments, they tend to engage more. They will be thinking about what they know and how to implement that knowledge…so sneaky of us educators!
2. Show your students another “side” of the issue. Perhaps you might look into something scientific in English class or do a bit of written explanation in Math class. Catch them off guard and present them with the unexpected…they’ll be curious! (Perhaps wondering what you were thinking…but curious!)
3. Get their ideas. Gather students before a unit begins and find out what they want to know, what they wish they could do instead and what they enjoy. Then take those suggestions and find the “interesting” moments in the curriculum to show them most of the world is connected.
Showing students connections is a powerful tool to teach them how to look for patterns, to communicate their ideas and to encourage them to explore beyond the boundaries of the textbook.
I played around with Mars data last year for an Analysis of Landscapes class, and wrote up a description of how to bring it in to ArcGIS 9, which was not straightforward. Things might have improved with 10, but in case it might still be useful for someone I’ve linked to it.
If someone can address any improvements in 10 that make this easier, I’d be “curious” to learn more about it!
– Andy
Yes,
I would have to agree, popular culture is celebrating the thoughtful and finding it engaging. The hero’s of television’s CIS, Bones, Numbers, Illusionists, or Myth Busters… shows are often the lab analyst or at least someone great at observations. Popular books are bringing the more heady crowd into the mix with books like the Poisoner’s Handbook, Death’s half Acre, the Disappearing Spoon, the Ghost Map, or any of Michael Crighton’s science extrapolated books… Even social events such as the science coffee house movement are looking to engage the public.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/science_lectures_draw_inquirin.html
If we want to win the masses it looks like we need to do it in places they want to meet… Coffe Houses, pubs, tv shows, popular books, interactive web sites, ends of class discussions, saturday morning geocache gatherings…
Whatever works, lets start making lists of books, movies, programs or lectures and pull them out when looking for something fun to do on the weekends! Who know’s, perhaps all the letterman jacket wearing popular students will be taking us up on our reading lists or analysis shows on Friday night TV leaving plenty of room for the next coffee house lecture for me and a few geeky friends!
George,
Enjoyed your blog and comments – and couldn’t agree more with want students to be more curious.
It is also a very timely blog – just discussed this topic in class yesterday – use of remote sensing in planetary exploration, and we discussed this newest exploration.
So glad to see use of more remote sensing in a GIS context! And so sad that some of NASA’s programs are in jeopardy due to funding.
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