Pioneering a New Planet

Activity List

The following is a list of activities designed to provide teachers with a comprehensive, standards-aligned, literacy & technology-infused curriculum for this unit.  Feel free to add your own elements, skip activities, or modify the unit to work best for you and your students. This unit will last approximately 20 days depending on the selection of optional activities.
Intended Learning

Students will learn to:

• Use the internet to conduct research and gather data to increase knowledge of the solar system.
• Apply knowledge acquired in research to compare and contrast the characteristics that make planets inhabitable.
• Demonstrate team solution in a presentation format of their choice.
• Develop a persuasive writing piece (letter) to convince people to relocate from earth to another planet based on the team solution.
• Communicate a finished project through an oral, written, and graphic presentation.

Unit Activities

1. Introduction
2. Big Question to Guide Research
3. key words for research
4. Note-taking
5. how to evaluate web sites
6. Site websites for research
7. On-line research techniques
8. Persuasive letter writing
9. Team work to create a presentation

All the lessons in this unit are designed to provide you with content and strategies to implement the activities.  Please feel free to use your professional discretion as to sequence and content.