NASA is inviting K-12 students in U.S. public, private, and home schools to enter the Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest.
NASA’s Name the Rover contest asks students from kindergarten through 12th grade across the United States to send short essays with their best name ideas.
The contest started on August 27 and runs until November 1, 2019.
What's Mars 2020:
The Mars 2020 rover is a 2,300-pound robotic scientist that will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
The Mars 2020 rover is a 2,300-pound robotic scientist that will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
- Aims:
The Name the Rover contest is part of NASA's efforts to engage students in the STEM enterprise behind Mars exploration and inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
STEM concepts are ripe with opportunity for English language, Arts (ELA) integration. So, an interesting cross-curricular contest!
"This naming contest is a wonderful opportunity for our nation’s youth to get involved with NASA’s Moon to Mars missions,” (...) "It is an exciting way to engage with a rover that will likely serve as the first leg of a Mars Sample return campaign, collecting and caching core samples from the Martian surface for scientists here on Earth to study for the first time.”
Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator
By participating in the essay contest, students will:
- Learn about real NASA missions
- Apply their critical thinking skills
- Learn something new, and form questions about a place they may never have heard of
- Conduct research using NASA websites
- Applying their writing skills
- So what makes a good name?
There are lots of ways to become inspired, but students should start by learning about the rover as well as the Red Planet and why NASA explores it.
But they shouldn’t stop there. There are many ways to spark ideas from students, including writing planetary poetry (Languages curriculum), making cosmic art (Arts & Media curricula), and having them build rovers of their own (STEM curricula).
Get students thinking and writing creatively, and encourage them to submit their essay!
Get students thinking and writing creatively, and encourage them to submit their essay!
credits: Adolie Day
- How to participate:
To enter the contest, students must submit by Nov. 1 their proposed rover name and a short essay, no more than 150 words, explaining why their proposed name should be chosen.
The essays will be divided into three groups by grade level:
- K-4,
- K-5-8,
- K-9-12.
Judge & vote:
The essays will be judged appropriateness, significance and originality of their proposed name, and the originality and quality of their essay, and/or finalist interview presentation.
Fifty-two semifinalists will be selected per group, each representing their respective state or U.S. territory.
Three finalists then will be selected from each group to advance to the final round.
Three finalists then will be selected from each group to advance to the final round.
As part of the final selection process, the public will have an opportunity to vote online on the nine finalists in January 2020.
NASA plans to announce the selected name on Feb. 18, 2020 – exactly one year before the rover will land on the surface of Mars.
- Registration:
Register, learn more, and submit entries using the link below:
Registration here
- Prize:
One grand prize winner will name the rover and be invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
- Volunteer to judge:
If you’re a U.S. resident over 18 years old, you can volunteer to help judge the thousands of contest entries that NASA expects to pour in from around the country.
Mars 2020
Education:
A contest to engage students in a cross-curricular activity: the STEM behind Mars exploration and to inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Of course, STEM concepts are ripe with opportunity for English language and Arts (ELA) integration.
Of course, STEM concepts are ripe with opportunity for English language and Arts (ELA) integration.
Contests are always welcome activities in school curriculum. Students are encouraged to show their inner creativity and develop competences and skills.
Of course a national contest, in this case, in a big country as the US, kids and teens have the unique opportunity to reach an interesting prestige in their schools and in the all country.
It's fhe big moment to share new ideas, common interests and gain experience in a contest that involves such an important award! An invitation to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Wow!
“Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference.”
Joel Barker
Joel Barker
G-Souto
08.09.2019
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Schools : NASA Contest : Mars Rover : your best name ideas ! by GinaSouto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
