• Observing
• Communicating
• Comparing

• Critical thinking

• Zip-lock bag container for kit
• Food source: Snack size candy bar (Milky Way!)
• Recreation: Playing card
• Temperature control/energy source: Match
• Transportation: Small piece of a road map
• Waste management: Square of toilet paper
• Liquid: Straw
• Air: Balloon
• Materials for pressurespacesuit/habitat: Piece of cloth

1. Ask the group to image what the world will be like in the year 2030. How old will they be? What do they think they will be doing?
2. Go around the room and ask each youth to tell their name and one thing about what the earth will be like in 2030 or what they think they will be doing in 2030. Inform the youth that they have been selected as the first crew of humans to inhabit Mars.
3. Form the youth into teams by birthdays, ages, or other method.
4. As the youth, "If you are going to Mars, what types of things will you need to be able to survive while you are on Mars?"
5. Give a survival kit to each team. Ask them, "How long would this kit keep your group alive?"
6. Ask each team to use their thinking skills to determine what type of life support each of the items in their kit might represent. (See answers above in materials list.)
7. Discuss what team's think each item represents.
8. Allow the next 5-10 minutes for each team to rank the systems in their order of priority. Give the following oral directions: "Suppose that you have just landed on the surface of Mars. Your first job is to prepare systems that will sustain the life of the crew. Not all of the systems can be set up simultaneously. In what order should they be built?" Your task is to rank order the survival systems; first individually, then as a team.
9. Discuss each teams' ranking of the systems.

• How would you like to be a member of the first human team to go to Mars?
• In what ways do you think Mars is different from Earth?
• What type of planning would you need to do before making the trip?
• How did your team come to a group decision about the survival kit contents and ranking of the systems for survival?
• How could you improve your team's skills in decision making?

Continue with activities on the Mission to Mars page.