Christine Hartland’s gifted/self-contained classroom of fifth-graders has been working on a hypothesis about global warming on Mars since the school year began.
As the only class at Kyrene Monte Vista Elementary, and likely the district, in the Mars Student Imaging Program, the students have been doing work that is usually reserved for high school students.
The class came up with their own questions, narrowed them down to one, and began working on collecting real data about pit-like surface holes on Mars’ ground.
November 6th, 2012
Monte Vista classroom contributing to Mars Student Imaging Program East Valley Tribune
June 25th, 2003
Mars invades E.V. telescope sales East Valley Tribune
For people interested in seeing Mars up close, Aug. 26 and 27 present an opportunity rarer than once in a lifetime. On those dates, the Red Planet will be the closest it has been to Earth in 50,000 to 70,000 years, depending on the computer model. The enthusiasm, stoked by Saturday’s scheduled launch of a second land rover to Mars, has sparked telescope sales at shops such as Photon Instruments in Mesa. Elsewhere in the Valley and the state, stores and observatories are gearing up for what is called the Mars opposition.