Mission to Mars — Concept and Implementation of a Design-Based (Hands-On) Smartphone Experiment Helping Students Understand the Effects Caused by Differences in Air Pressure

Abstract

Physics is not a very popular subject at German schools, and several studies indicate that girls are less interested than boys in the traditional physics curriculum. To address this problem, physics education should be up to date, context oriented, interesting for girls and boys, and emerge from their everyday life. The ROSE study shows that astronomy, human biology, and space are interesting for boys and girls and therefore a suitable context for physics lessons. In the field of astronomy and space exploration, the research is both highly current and part of the students’ life, as they hear about discoveries and missions in the news. One possible future space mission is the human exploration of Mars. Such a trip is not easy; various factors have to be considered and risks must be minimized. One risk is the vacuum in space while there is higher air pressure in the spaceship itself. This aspect must be taken into account when designing a spaceship, for example, the “Crew Dragon” by Space X.