Virtual Sojourner
Student Activity #1: Driving Blind
Teachers' Resources

Procedural Details--Step 5

Establish a schedule for teams and monitor their work. Adjust as necessary.

• Post a schedule indicating when the teams work.
• Monitor inner-group dynamics:

Make sure girls get plenty of opportunities to expand their experiences, employ their creativity, and use their intellect. Girls typically get shut out of many of the more "technical" aspects of this activity--driving the R/C car, constructing devices, developing experiments, etc.

 

Oversee the sharing of equipment. The Camera, Mapping, and Lander teams must share the camera. The Science, Engineering, and Navigation teams share the rover.

 

Facilitate cross-team communication to decrease conflicts.

• Help the Mapping team:

Advise them in making a sample map within the classroom using the camera and rocks. Use circular graph paper and locate the camera at the center. Measure to a rock only when the camera points directly at it and note the "heading" (how many degrees of rotation from a fixed reference point).

 

Check their measurements and compare with the sample rock field.

 

Confirm the scale they calculated for the map.

• Watch for "off-task" behavior:

The Engineering and Navigation teams have opportunities to "play" by merely driving the "rover" around rather than addressing their jobs.

 

The Lander and Publication teams often work without supervision and might be easily distracted.

 

The Science team has a difficult task in "creating" an experiment--they will find it easy to drift.

 

The Mission Operations team might be tempted to socialize rather than organize and direct.

 

The tasks for the Mapping and Camera teams are open-ended and may require occasional redirection.

• Adjust the work schedule to fit the flow of events while trying to hold to your "target date" for completing the activity.