Thompson Honors Math Students Blast Off To Mars

Photos: Thompson Junior High School’s sixth grade honors math students took a trip to the Challenger Learning Center where they applied their math brilliance to planning a trip to Mars.

Sixth-grade honors math students fromThompson Junior High School had the field trip of a lifetime at the Challenger Learning Center in Woodstock Illinois for its “Mission to Mars” trip.

Students prepared for the trip by spending some extra extra time learning about Mars and Earth and how to work in teams to solve problems.

They used their knowledge on the day of the trip when they were able to simulate building a rocket to launch to Mars. Students used iPads to build the rockets and FaceTime with students from another school who were working on the same problems.

Thompson students worked really hard and were able to successfully launch their rockets, said teacher David Desiderio.

At the end of the trip, students had the opportunity to teleconference with NASA experts and ask them questions and advice.