Create a Rover: Planet Research Project

Create a Rover STEM Planet Research Project

Okay, let's be honest here. I love my subject area, that's one of the many reasons I teach sixth-grade. However, I HATED the traditional planet research project. There is a reason for every project, every activity, and every lab and I understand that, BUT learning about our solar system should be so much more fun! That's when I created the rover component and it was such a hit with my students. They were so much more engaged and dedicated to this project. 

When I first had the idea, it was very different from the final product, and I was sure to let my students know that. We discussed, at length, the difficulties that can arise when we create something from scratch. I loosely modeled our process after the LAUNCH Cycle. Read more about it here! I read this book last summer and teaching the design process seemed less complicated and fun!

PROJECT OVERVIEW: Students will still complete the traditional planet research with an end goal of designing a rover for scientific research. Students are challenged to become experts on their planet so their rover can be unique for the planet's characteristics. I did limit the planet choices to not include the gas giants but included Ceres and Pluto!

My students worked in groups of 3-4 and we spent the first day introducing the project and discussing group and individual expectations. We set "deadlines" for portions of the project to be completed.

Deadline #1: Complete Research (2 days to complete) - I provided my students with various websites they could use but they were responsible for finding the information and citing the source.

Deadline #2: Rover Prototype (1 day to complete) - Students reviewed their research, determined what their research goal was/the goal of the rover's mission, what scientific instruments needed to on onboard, summarized the planet's terrain, and made a quickly drawn prototype design of their rover. 

Deadline #3: Prototype Feedback and Response (1 day) - All groups provided feedback to their classmates' designs. Then, each group read all of the feedback and wrote a response. This response included things they planned to change about their design and why, along with what feedback they did not apply and why. This helped students to really think about providing useful feedback to their classmates! I had many students say "I didn't even think about that!" "That's an awesome idea." "It will work so much better if we add..." (this may have been my favorite part- it definitely made this teacher's heart happy)

Deadline #4: Final Draft of Rover Design (1 day) - Students essentially re-did the steps from the prototype drawing with the necessary edits.

For the final product, my students designed posters with all of their information typed, pictures of their planet, citations, and pictures of their prototype and final rover designs! For extra fun, I let my students name their rovers, and they were so creative! Names ranged from previous rover missions to Spongebob characters and Disney characters.

To take this project further into the design process and STEM world, have your students actually construct the rover! We have a GlowForge at my school so my students drew each piece of their design and we used the GlowForge to cut the pieces out of wood. This can be easily done with cardboard or even paper! If you have the time, I fully encourage you to include the rover construction in your class!

Find this project in my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE! In this download, you will find instructions for your students to complete this project through various formats including virtually!