The Martian

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Log a Science Fiction Experiment”

In this activity, students will create log entries about the planning and outcome of a fictional experiment using limited resources.

For this exercise, pretend that you are confined to your space (classroom or home) and must carry out an experiment using only the materials on hand.

• Invent a reason for your isolation—perhaps you are in a spaceship or a bomb shelter or sheltering from some threat outdoors (e.g., toxic fumes, etc.).
• Invent a problem—maybe you are running out of air, water, or food, or the structure is endangered.
• Make up a plan to save yourself, using only the materials you have on hand in your space.
• Devise an experiment to see if your plan will work. Create a written plan for the experiment; include images or diagrams.
• Use a recording device to create an audio log describing the fix you’re in, your possible solution, and the test you plan to run to check it.
• Transcribe your log entry.
• Imagine that you’ve conducted the experiment and, based on your knowledge or online research, guess at the outcome.
• Record a second audio log explaining what happened.
• Transcribe your log entry.

After sharing your recorded entries with the group and listening to the entries of several peers, discuss in a brief paragraph in your notes or reading journal the ways in which events and outcomes in these recorded entries compare to Watney’s documentation and overall experience.

Teaching Suggestion: Students might get inspiration from examples of DIY science experiments that can be carried out with readily available materials (e.g., “High School Science Experiments”)

Differentiation Suggestion: Students might also watch a science experiment video connected to the idea they have and then retell it in their own words, as though they conducted the experiment themselves. They can then write a “before” log entry describing in their own language what they plan to do and what they expect to be the outcome. Then, they can write an “after” log entry describing what actually happened.