Dragons regularly go out and about—after all, using the city as school is part of our innovative approach to learning. But usually, we can get there on shank’s mare or the TTC. But on Wednesday, April 16th, Dragons will be leaving the planet and heading out on a Mission to Mars. The launch site is the Ontario Science Centre, and we’ll be travelling in time as well as space, into the year 2076. Here’s the scenario.
Dragons will become a team of astronauts, sent to replace those Dragons who have been living on the Red Planet for the past two years. Those on Mars must guide the new crew through complex and perilous landing maneuvers. Both teams will be deep in complicated calculations—trajectories, landing path, guiding probes to the Martian moons. They face threats to health—radiation, confined spaces, just providing the basic necessities—challenge enough to our ingenuity. But wait! There’s a horrific dust storm on the horizon! Will they make it safely?
The innate drive to explore motivates much of what is best in education, and is the mainspring of human knowledge. Our species has spread from the Rift Valleys of Africa across the globe, creating ever more sophisticated technologies of transport and navigation. And as we have wandered the globe, we’ve been looking at the planets and stars, longing to see for ourselves what’s out there. The Science Centre offers our students a wonderful opportunity to experience and understand the challenges of exploration. What is it like to work in space? What are the dangers and benefits of living on another planet? How do we adapt and overcome? And what does this teach us about the privileges of living on earth, the stewardship we need to embrace to preserve our home?
Reaching across subject fields (including literature—our grade nines read C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet), Mission to Mars is Dragon’s kind of experiential learning, demanding research and communication skills, collaboration, critical thinking, and, as it raises social, political and environmental issues, fosters our commitment to social justice.
