Part1: Colonize the Solar System
Solar System Project
It’s time to colonize the solar system! You are in charge of
designing a colony to support humans on your planet. If your planet
has moons, you may choose to design a colony for one of the moons of your planet.
There are three parts to this assignment.: research essay, power point, and model of your colony. The research essay and power point will be completed in school (if you use class time wisely!)
1. MODEL:The model will be homework. Your model should show what your colony looks like. It can be made of whatever materials you choose, but it must accurately depict your colony. You will need to prepare a 2-3 minute speech detailing how your colony will support human life. You must discuss the difficulties of supporting human life on your planet and the ways that your colony overcame those difficulties.
2. RESEARCH ESSAY:
The research essay will describe the planet and include the following:
.
Assignment #1: Research your planet
Your first step is to research your planet. Some things you will need to know are: temperature, gravity, surface, amount of light, length of day, length of year, and atmosphere. You will also need to think about what resources are available on your planet and what resources you will need to provide for the colonists. As you are learning about your planet, fill out the form labeled Assignment #1. This form is due on ______.
You may collaborate with other people when researching your planet, but everyone must do their own project. If you have access to the internet you may want to use it to research your planet or moon. Here are some useful links which will also be posted on Edmodo:
3. POWER POINT: Students will create a power point of 4-6 slides showing images of their planet and list the information from their research in bullet points.
.
Final Project Assignment #1
Name: ______
Planet: ______
Temperature range: ______
Gravity/Atmospheric pressure: ______
______
Surface: ______
______
Distance from Sun: ______
Amount of light______
______
Length of day: ______
Length of year: ______
Atmosphere: ______
Available resources: ______
______
______
______
Other: ______
Appendix
Standards Addressed
Benchmarks (Grades 3 through 5)
1B – Scientific Inquiry
Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what thingsare like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doingexperiments. Investigations can focus on physical, biological, and social questions.
3A – Technology and Society
Technology enables scientists and others to observe things that are too small or too faraway to be seen without them and to study the motion of objects that are moving veryrapidly or are hardly moving at all.
4A – The Universe
The earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and the moon orbits around theearth.
Benchmarks (Grades 6 through 8)
1B – Scientific Inquiry
Scientists differ greatly in what phenomena they study and how they go about their work.
Although there is no fixed set of steps that all scientists follow, scientific investigationsusually involve the collection of relevant evidence, the use of logical reasoning, and theapplication of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations to make sense of thecollected evidence.
1C – The Scientific Enterprise
Computers have become invaluable in science because they speed up and extend people'sability to collect, store, compile, and analyze data, prepare research reports, and sharedata and ideas with investigators all over the world.
3A – Technology and Society
Technology is essential to science for such purposes as access to outer space and otherremote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information.
4A – The Universe
Nine planets of very different size, composition, and surface features move around thesun in nearly circular orbits. Some planets have a great variety of moons and even flatrings of rock and ice particles orbiting around them. Some of these planets and moonsshow evidence of geologic activity. The earth is orbited by one moon, many artificialsatellites, and debris.
4B – The Earth
We live on a relatively small planet, the third from the sun in the only system of planetsdefinitely known to exist [sic] (although other, similar systems may be discovered in theuniverse).
4G – Forces of Nature
The sun's gravitational pull holds the earth and other planets in their orbits, just as theplanets' gravitational pull keeps their moons in orbit around them.
12D – Communication Skills
Locate information in reference books, back issues of newspapers and magazines,compact disks, and computer databases.
Benchmarks (Grades 9 through 12)
1B – Scientific Inquiry
Investigations are conducted for different reasons, including to explore new phenomena,to check on previous results, to test how well a theory predicts, and to compare differenttheories.
4A – The Universe
Increasingly sophisticated technology is used to learn about the universe. Visual, radio,and x-ray telescopes collect information from across the entire spectrum of electromagnetic waves; computers handle an avalanche of data and increasinglycomplicated computations to interpret them; space probes send back data and materialsfrom the remote parts of the solar system; and accelerators give subatomic particlesenergies that simulate conditions in the stars and in the early history of the universebefore stars formed.
National Standards (Grades 5-8)
Understandings about Scientific Inquiry
Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Someinvestigations involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; someinvolve collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve seeking moreinformation; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involvemaking models.
Earth in the Solar System
The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun,eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets.
The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
National Standards (Grades 9-12)
Understandings about Scientific Inquiry
Scientists rely on technology to enhance the gathering and manipulation of data. Newtechniques and tools provide new evidence to guide inquiry and new methods to gatherdata, thereby contributing to the advance of science. The accuracy and precision of thedata, and therefore the quality of the exploration, depends on the technology used.
Indiana Standards
Grade 5
English/Language Arts – Comprehension
5.2.1 – Use the features of informational texts, such as formats, graphics, diagrams,illustrations, charts, maps, and organization, to find information and supportunderstanding.
5.2.3 – Recognize main ideas presented in texts, identifying and assessing evidence thatsupports those ideas.
5.2.4 – Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and support themwith textual evidence and prior knowledge.
Process
5.4.4 – Use organizational features of printed text, such as citations, endnotes, andbibliographic references, to locate relevant information.
5.4.5 – Use note-taking skills.
Science – Technology and Science
5.1.4 – Give examples of technology, such as telescopes, microscopes, and cameras, thatenable scientists and others to observe things that are too small or too far away to beseen without them and to study the motion of objects that are moving very rapidly or arehardly moving.
The Universe
5.3.1 – Explain that telescopes are used to magnify distant objects in the sky, includingthe moon and the planets.
Grade 6
English/Language Arts – Word Recognition, Fluency, and VocabularyDevelopment
6.1.4 Understand unknown words in informational texts by using word, sentence, andparagraph clues to determine meaning.
Comprehension
6.2.1 – Identify the structural features of popular media (newspapers, magazines, onlineinformation) and use the features to obtain information.
6.2.3 – Connect and clarify main ideas by identifying their relationships to multiplesources and related topics.
6.2.4 – Clarify an understanding of texts by creating outlines, notes, diagrams, summaries, or reports.
6.2.7 – Make reasonable statements and conclusions about a text, supporting them withaccurate examples.
Process
6.4.1 – Discuss ideas for writing, keep a list or notebook of ideas, and use graphicorganizers to plan writing.
6.4.5 – Use note-taking skills.
6.4.6 – Use organizational features of electronic text (on computers), such as bulletinboards, databases, keyword searches, and e-mail addresses, to locate information.
Science – Technology and Science
6.1.7 – Explain that technology is essential to science for such purposes as access toouter space and other remote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement,data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information.
Scientific Thinking
6.2.6 – Read simple tables and graphs produced by others and describe in words whatthey show.
6.2.7 – Locate information in reference books, back issues of newspapers and magazines,CD-ROMs, and computer databases.
The Universe
6.3.1 – Compare and contrast the size, composition, and surface features of the planetsthat comprise the solar system, as well as the objects orbiting them. Explain that theplanets, except Pluto, move around the sun in nearly circular orbits
6.3.3 – Explain that Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and that the moon,as well as many artificial satellites and debris, orbit around Earth.
Grade 7
English/Language Arts – Comprehension
7.2.2 – Locate information by using a variety of consumer and public documents.
Process
7.4.1 – Discuss ideas for writing, keep a list or notebook of ideas, and use graphicorganizers to plan writing.
7.4.5 – Identify topics; ask and evaluate questions; and develop ideas leading to inquiry,investigation, and research
Grade 8
English/Language Arts – Comprehension
8.2.1 – Compare and contrast the features and elements of consumer materials to gainmeaning from documents.
8.2.5 – Use information from a variety of consumer and public documents to explain asituation or decision and to solve a problem.
Process
8.4.1 Discuss ideas for writing, keep a list or notebook of ideas, and use graphicorganizers to plan writing.
8.4.4 Plan and conduct multiple-step information searches using computer networks.
Earth and Space Science I – The Universe
ES.1.7 – Describe the characteristics and motions of the various kinds of objects in oursolar system, including planets, satellites, comets, and asteroids. Explain that Kepler’slaws determine the orbits of the planets.
Portions of this article were originally published by the Hoosier Science Teacher, 2004. Reprinted with permission.