Virtual Sojourner
Student Activity #1: Driving Blind

Team Description
Mission Operations

Responsibility: to facilitate communication between all teams and keeping the mission moving forward.

Specialty: organization and coordination.

Limitations: giving directions to the teams without bullying people.

Procedure:

• Learn the responsibilities of the other teams.
  
• Read all parts of this activity.
  
• Assign class members to teams.
  
• Determine a time-line for the project.
  
• Lead the discussion to gain consensus on the mission and experiment. Note: the Lander team must not know the mission objective (which rock to visit) and may not be part of this meeting.
  
• Consult with the Publications team regarding status reports during the project.
  
• Keep all teams on-task and working toward the goal of the project. Use diplomacy rather than power.
  
• Supervise during rover deployment.
  
• Report your observations to the Publications team at the conclusion of the mission. Outline the procedure you used to assign people to teams, how well the teams worked, whether you think the mission was successful, how you contributed to the mission, and how your work related to the science experiment. Include a discussion what you thought the experiment was, whether it was deployed properly, if you think the data is reliable, and if you think the Science team's conclusion is justified.
  
• Prepare a poster of your report to discuss and present to your classmates.
  
• Organize the presentation of final reports from each team. Coordinate this with your teacher.
  
• Lead the class in a discussion on the answers to the questions related to publishing your mission report to the Web. Take good notes of the discussion and input the report.

Hints:

• Keep it simple--delegate work diplomatically.
  
• Facilitate communication between groups.
  
• Ask for advice from your teacher and classmates.
  
• Remain flexible!