a) Target audience: 7^e – 5^e

b) Room: With the option to present it using a video projector.

c) Equipment required:

• free floorspace of 6 m2: 3 m x 2 m

In groups of 2 pupils:

• a laptop or PC with Windows or macOS
• an internet connection
• one available USB port
• mBlock software installed

The rest of the equipment is provided by ESERO (contact ESERO for this: contact@esero.lu or +352 621 96 90 19)

• A map of Mars
• The decoration equipment required for the challenges:
  • 3 photos for decoration
  • fixings to hold the photos
  • a cave
  • a soft toy tardigrade
  • a heat source
  • a Paxi soft toy, which is ESERO’s mascot
  • Paxi stickers
• 10 mBots fitted with all of the necessary sensors, for a class of 20 pupils maximum.

d) No prior programming knowledge is necessary.

e) Duration: 100 minutes – 2 hours of teaching or 200 minutes – 4 hours of teaching

In February 2020, the Ministry of Education, presented the “einfach digital – Zukunftskompetenze fir staark Kanner” [Simply digital – Future skills for strong children] strategy, the objective of which is to prepare children and adolescents for the demands of the future, to help them navigate their way through an increasingly digital world and to enable them to acquire the necessary skills to do so. The new subject Digital Sciences was introduced within the framework of this strategy. Digital Sciences fits in with the coding taught in primary schools and focuses on six main themes: algorithms, the Internet, computing language, games, robots and artificial intelligence (Ministry of Education, 2020).

The #Discover Life on Mars with a Rover module follows on from the emphasis placed on coding and includes it in the themes of Space Education and Educational Robotics. On the one hand, this makes it possible to maintain the learning environments introduced in primary education with the Kniwwelino® micro controller, the Ozobot® educational robot, or even the Lux-Robo Modikit: the mBot robot used in this PITT module has corresponding sensors and (like the Ozobot®) it can be controlled through a block-programming environment. This means the previously-acquired coding knowledge can be reactivated and adapted (Ministry of Education, 2021).

Furthermore, the practical application and the scientific contextualisation within the framework of learning about space, allow pupils to make a real-world connection. The didactic feedback loops encourage an independent approach to learning programming languages.

The function and use of the mBlock user interface are studied by pupils at home before the next double lesson. This “flipped classroom” approach leaves more time to achieve the individual missions during the phase in school, and allows pupils to gain practical experience of using block coding before the lesson.

The lesson begins by  a pilot training in pairs of pilots: at the start of the lesson, the pupils are divided into groups of two per prepared mBot kit. The pilot exercise is assigned and explained on a whiteboard and/or worksheets (in printed form or on tablets). Questions can be discussed, and responses given directly in group. As soon as all pupils have successfully completed their pilot training, the teacher can recap on the learning objectives of the pilots’ training then explain the next mission.

According to the level of knowledge, the group dynamic and the degree of internal differentiation required, it is possible to complete up to four missions per double lesson in the elaboration phase. It is equally possible to replace the last two missions with an assessment during which pupils will write a programme themselves, to achieve an objective they have thought up independently, using the mBot. If three to four lessons can be devoted to the module, there should be time to complete all of the missions and end them with an assessment.

All of the missions are constructed following the same blueprint and are explained in worksheets (in printed form or on tablets). For each mission you can download a sheet that contains part of the code. Consequently, pupils don’t have to program the entire mission, which allows those who are not familiar with Scratch to complete the module.

As soon as a mission has been completed, the next mission can be assigned. Take particular care to ensure that pupils comment on the codes used during the programming and experimentation with the mBot and reflect on their own work process.

Request a classroom intervention:

You can also contact us so that we can support you with this module in your class.

The option to graduate the missions individually allows for internal differentiation in the level of difficulty and performance. Each group determines the time it needs to complete the mission. Once a mission has been completed, they can move on to the next mission, which is more difficult. If more differentiation is required, teachers can allow pupils to program the missions from scratch. Instead of downloading the sheet that contains part of the solution, pupils can simply program on an empty sheet in mBlock.

1. The Luxembourgish context: the module is the result of a cooperation between ESERO Luxembourg (the European Space Education Research Office) and PITT. The learning objectives and target skills have been taken from the Media Compass and from axis 5 in the subject area of Digital Sciences.
2. Differentiation: self-directed learning as well as graduation of the preparatory tasks according to the level of difficulty allows for multiple levels of differentiation.
3. Media Compass: see the target learning objectives in the framework for education on media within the didactic transposition section in this document.
4. The 4Cs model: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Cooperation, Communication. The 4Cs model is taken into account in various ways through the different social forms and teaching activities.
5. Relation to current research: the design of rovers capable of navigating on the Moon or on Mars is a very current research subject in preparation for the next missions to the Moon and to Mars.
6. Relation to current research in Luxembourg: the space industry and research in the field of space are being developed in Luxembourg. The University of Luxembourg’s role in space research is mentioned in the interview with Miguel Olivares-Mendez. 

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