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"Superdomes on Mars: The MFL (Mars Football League) is planning to build several superdomes. These domes will contain gravity adjustment kits, air conditioning, and many other attributes." "Sunday morning, on the Big Red Planet, the plates are on the table, and the silverware is set. Where is the food? IN TUBES!" So goes life on Mars. At least life on Mars as Glenn Rutland's 6th graders see it. Rutland's Earth and space science students supplemented their lab notebooks with reporter's pads as they strove to blend science with writing to paint a scientifically accurate picture of what life on Mars might be like. The NOVA program "MARS Dead or Alive" provided the inspiration for a project that allowed Rutland to meet both science and reading state standards at her school, Holley Navarre Middle School in Navarre, Florida. By researching and writing newspaper articles, students combined science content acquisition with valuable reading and comprehension skills. Rutland, who has been teaching for 23 years, often uses videos in her classroom. When showing a video during class, Rutland regularly pauses the video to discuss what is going on, draw students' attention to the screen, and reinforce science concepts. After students viewed the program, Rutland introduced the project and explained that the newspaper would be all about Mars, written from the perspective of people living there. Each student then selected a role (e.g. editor, reporter, cartoonist) and the class brainstormed ideas. Once ideas were generated, students selected the type of feature they wanted to develop, including articles, personal columns, letters to the editor, and cartoons. The first phase of the project focused on researching the science content knowledge needed to develop the story, a task that required students to read for both information and comprehension. Upon completing their research, students began drafting their articles. The writing process gave students an opportunity to show their creativity and abilities to communicate science. As Rutland insisted the stories be scientifically accurate, the articles were also a reflection of how well each student understood the scientific content and could be used as an assessment tool. Once students finished their work, Rutland compiled everything and readied the newspaper for printing, which she does on her classroom printer. Each student who participated in the program receives a copy. Rutland has distributed the newspaper different ways over the years, either by sending copies home or setting up a booth at Parent-Teacher Association events. This project supplemented Rutland's regular science curriculum. Over the span of a semester, students used class time (when they finished other work early) or an occasional lab period to work on the newspaper. For Rutland's students, the project represented an alternative to textbook learning. "This project made learning about Mars more fun that just facts from a book," one student noted. Added another: "It was an exciting new turn to science. ... Learning science through a book is not as exciting as the way we learned it through this project." For more information about Rutland's unit, you can e-mail her at: 
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