Name: Due Date: ______
Your partner: Research Project
Travel Guide to the Solar System
Most work will be completed in school. We will use the school library, classroom library and the computer room for our research. Extra points will be given to students that continue research at home. Most of you will work alone, however if you are assigned a partner please indicate your partner’s name at the top.
Your task:
In a travel guide a person is provided with information about a place that they may visit. You are going to create a travel guide to one of the planets or moons in our solar system.
In making your travel guide you are to assume that it is the year 2098, and space travel is now very common. As an employee of the Galaxy Travel Agency you would like to get more people to use your agency to visit another world. To do this you have decided to create a travel guide to inform people about your planet. In addition to the travel guide, you will present your planet tour to the class.
Your brochure will be six pages long. The cover and back will be researched and created by you. If you have a partner each partner is individually responsible for the questions on two pages. The guide must contain at least 3 pictures.
Cover page: Below is the minimum information for that page. You may wish to include some interesting stories of how some ancient civilizations referred to your planet if a specific discoverer is not known.
v Name of Planet or Moon
v Picture of Planet or Moon
v How many kilometers from the earth (average distance)
v How many kilometers from the sun (average distance)
v Discovered by
v Discovered when ______
v Discovered how ______
Page 1
v Facts about the Planet
Ø Temperature
Ø Weather
Ø Length of each day (hours of sunlight)
Ø Length of each year
v Physical makeup of the Planet
Ø Atmosphere
Ø Gravity
Ø Density
Ø Any other additional facts you discovered
Page 2:
v Features (Sites to visit or observe)
Ø Mountains
Ø Craters
Ø Volcanoes
Ø Rings
Ø Moons
Ø Any other physical features that you discovered
Page 3:
v Use your Imagination
Ø How will you get there?
Ø Any other supplies necessary
Ø What type of clothing would a traveler need
Ø How long will the trip take at the speed light (actual calculation – see directions below) ** This is extra credit – to receive credit your calculations must be correct!
Page 4:
v Use your Imagination
Ø What life forms exist on this planet? (Use your knowledge of the planets resources to help figure out what type of life could survive with the planet’s resources.)
Ø Methods of transportation
Ø Recommended Dining (restaurants)
Ø Cost of the trip
Back Cover:
v Created by – Your Name
v References (All Citations must be included in proper citation format)
Step I - You are required to use at least three sources for your research and at least two of them must be books. You will have time in the school library for research. Notes must be shown to the teacher before moving on to step 2.
Step 2- Check out the sites listed in the hot list from the Internet before completing your research. You may also use your textbook as a reference.
Step 3 – Calculation of how long your trip will take at the speed of light – First you must know the distance in kilometers from your planet to Earth (on page 1). The speed of light is 9,460,000,000,000 km per year. You must now divide your distance by 9,460,000,000,000. You may come for extra help with this calculation – remember it is extra credit.
Step 4 – You will create your brochure using the Publisher 99 program in the computer room. You can use any pictures or information downloaded from the Internet. Downloading your pictures as the last step.
Step 5- Presentation to the class. You must have your completed brochure and a visual aide for your presentation. If you are working with a partner both of you must present your information. You may not read your information. Eye contact is important. You may use posters, dioramas, models, or PowerPoint as your visual. Remember you must have a visual aide.
Use the attached Rubric to determine your test grade. Grade yourself before handing in your finished project – this will help you determine if you are missing anything.
Name: ______Final Grade: ______
Little effort
(3) / Few details given
More effort needed (6) / Some details given
Good effort
Shown (8) / Great attention to details
(10)
Cover Page / Incomplete
Very poor work
(2) / Incomplete or Missing pictures
(5) / Complete
Could show more details
(8) / Excellent
Detailed cover page
(10)
Basic Facts
(Page 1) / Missing most info or incorrect
(2) / Some missing or incorrect info (8) / Complete
Could show more details
(12) / Excellent
Information
Presented
(15)
Planet Features
(Page(2) / Missing most info or incorrect
(2) / Some missing or incorrect info (8) / Complete
Could show more details
(12) / Excellent
Information
Presented
(15)
Fact Based Creativity
(Pages 3-4) / Missing most info or incorrect
(2) / Creative but not fact based
(8) / Complete
Could show more creativity (12) / Excellent Information and creativity presented
(15)
References / Missing all references
(0) / Missing some references
(4) / Complete references
Incorrect format (7) / All references correctly presented
(10)
Presentation / Little or no knowledge of subject area (3) / Missing knowledge poor presentation
Or No visual material (7) / Complete presentation
Poor/sloppy visual material
(12) / Excellent presentation
Excellent knowledge and great visuals (15)
Grammar/
Spelling / More than 6 grammar/
Spelling errors (1) / 4-6 grammar/
spelling errors (2) / 1-3 grammar/
spelling
errors (3) / Perfect – no errors
(5)
Timeliness / 2 or more days late (0) / 2 or more requirements not turned in on time (2) / One requirement not turned in on time (3) / Everything completed on time(5)
Planet Project
Grading Rubric for travel Guide
Any project more than one week late will receive a grade of zero.