Engaging Schools with InSight Data

After a 6-month flight to Mars and a successful landing, InSight has deployed SEIS … its seismometer designed to sit on the Martian surface. The goal of this mission is to investigate the dynamics of Martian seismic activity and understand the processes that shaped the Red Planet.

SEIS InSight has engaged a generation of school kids, teens and students which, like scientists, follow the mission live. The data from InSight offers a chance to leverage existing Seismometers in Schools networks to allow a large and growing number of students to interact with seismic data recorded on Mars as soon as it is available on Earth.  Students in these international networks have experience with seismic data and software and are primed to engage with this NASA Discovery mission.

Seismic data in the classroom has provided both a hook for inquiry with real data as well as a common language for international collaboration.

These resources input innovative educational strategies acculturating pupils in the acquisition, processing, display and exploration of seismic and weather data.

A very large school network (middle and high schools) share resources and activities using InSight data. Networks are preparing lessons, software, web tools, data viewers, and other resources to allow students to explore and interrogate shaking on Mars to better understand the heart of the planet.

In this presentation, we will show all the practical activities and all the different tools created for the kids, teens and students. This work has been developed by teachers, educators, and scientists in international cooperation, and can be found on dedicated websites.