ROADS From Earth to Venus
The ROADS From Earth to Venus Companion Course is organized around the guiding question, “How can we use experiments, models, and NASA data to help us better understand both Earth and Venus and to plan a successful mission to Venus?”. The course has three units, each with multiple lessons. Each unit and lesson have their own guiding question that will contribute to students’ understanding of the overall guiding question. The Table of Contents shows the guiding questions, the Mission Objective (MO) associated with each lesson, and the estimated number of instructional hours. MOs are explained in more detail in the manual found on the main Challenge page linked below.
Each lesson includes differentiation for upper elementary school (grades 3-5), middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). Lessons are estimated to take between 3 and 8.5 hours to complete and include suggestions for shortening activities if needed. The total time estimate to complete all lessons as written is 46.5 instructional hours. This estimate does not include the optional “Extend” portions of each lesson.
Our ROADS program (Rover Observation And Discoveries in Space) is a framework that allows students to explore STEM concepts through hands-on activities. ROADS takes inspiration from real NASA projects and guides students on space-related missions. Each year, we update ROADS to address different science and engineering problems and to explore various solar system bodies. For 2025-2026 we have developed eight Mission Objectives (MO) and Lessons inspired by potential missions to Venus.
To request Companion Course supply loans, you will need a NESSP Educator Account. Create an account or login here: https://nwessp.org/companion-course-supply-request/
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