Dr. Randy M. Russell

Congratulations to NASA for the first powered flight on another world! Explore the engineering and science behind the Ingenuity Mars helicopter in the Mars Helicopter Lesson Plan. The lesson, suitable for middle school and high school students (and probably some upper elementary classes as well), helps students explore the engineering design choices that went into creating the Mars Helicopter. In the lesson, students explore explore design features of Earthly rotorcraft with an eye towards which aspects could be modified to support flight in Mars’ thin atmosphere. Along the way, students learn about the differences between Earth and Mars, the structure of Earth’s atmosphere, and the history (and planned future) of flight on other planets.

Check out these helpful reviews of simulations and games for STEM education:

• Reviews of games, simulations, and virtual labs spanning topics across all STEM and science education disciplines. This is my largest and most comprehensive collection.
• Reviews of simulations and games about climate, weather, and other atmospheric science topics.
• Reviews of simulations and games about diseases and the medical responses to them.

Throughout 2020 I will be adding science education simulations and games that I have created to this web site.

A few of my most recent presentations, workshops and webinars are listed on my presentations page. My publications page lists some of the research articles and other publications I’ve authored or co-authored. More coming soon!

COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease

Simulations, models, and visualizations can help you understand the COVID disease and how it spreads. Check out this list of interactive simulations and educational games about infectious disease!