Zarah Brown (left), Cassandra Lejoly (middle), and Shane Stone (right) at Sahuarita Middle School in the spring of 2019.

Beginning in 2018, the Planetary Sciences graduate students have been developing a partnership with Sahuarita Middle School in order to introduce planetary science topics to middle school math students. The goal of this partnership is to teach students that mathematics is important and applicable to many types of science and to communicate to young students the importance of studying advanced mathematics in high school. The graduate students have worked with approximately 300 students through repeat visits to ensure maximum information retention. This year, the graduate students will present four different activities at Sahuarita Middle School, including a Spacecraft to Mars building game and a scale of the Solar System project (in development).