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How Would Life Adapt to Survive on Another Planet?Kristina Duncan (Castro Valley HS), Elaine Gardner (Castro Valley HS), Steve Holcombe (San Leandro HS)
Essential Question/ProblemStudents will be given a space colonization scenario in which
they will design the organism that they think will best survive the conditions of their planet.
Case is designed to be used at the end of a unit on Evolution
Introduces extremophiles as examples of organisms with unique adaptations to extreme environments on Earth.
Students will use this information to answer the question: How would life adapt to survive on another planet?
Applied NASA ResourcesArticle Extremophile Hunt Begins
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/07feb_cloroxlake/
Activities from Life on Earth…and Elsewhere? NASA’s Astrobiology in the Classroom Institute. http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/library/downloads/Astrobiology-Educator-Guide-2007.pdf
Photo Images of Extremophiles from [email protected]
Learning ObjectivesBiology Content Standards
Students apply the principles natural selection in determining the differential survival of groups of organisms
Students will also consider and apply the principles of genetic variation, genetic drift, and speciation.
21st Century SkillsCreativity, innovation,
critical thinking, collaboration communication, responsibility
Key Lessons and ActivitiesENGAGE: Series of extremophile video clipsEXPLORE:
Card Game: Students match extremophile adaptations to appropriate environments
Students explore habitability requirements of planets through a lab station activity that uses graphic organizers for data collectionEXPLAIN:
Article: Extremophile Hunt Begins utilizing reading literacy strategies
Students collect data on the different adaptations of extremophiles on EarthEXTEND: Students will plan and design adaptations that will allow human colonists to survive on a fictitious planet.EVALUATE: •Formative: Scaffolded class discussions, Collaboration Skills Checklist•Poster: “SpaceBook Intergalactica Profile” page will illustrate the organism’s adaptations•Narrative story: Individual reflective writing containing evolution content that utilizes structured story frames.
Research-Based StrategiesVocabulary scaffolds and graphic
organizerMultimoldal presentation of
content Graphic organizer to facilitate
data collectionStructured story frames and
sentence startersReading scaffolds: anticipation
guide, text annotation during reading, post reading discussion
Collaborative teams with a skills checklist to monitor group work
21st century skills promoted with creativity and collaborative aspects of the project.
Image Creditshttp://www.thelivingmoon.com/41pegasus/04images/General/
extremophiles_2.jpghttp://www.sicanstudios.com/images/digitalart/
planet_hollywood_terragen_creation_by_sicanstudios.com.jpghttp://www.casca.ca/ecass/issues/2007-ve/classroom/dyer/5-
ExtremophileCartoon.jpghttp://www.wearesuperfamous.com/tag/space/http://cms7.blogia.com/blogs/c/ci/cie/cienciaycultura/upload/
20080127213714-d-radiodurans.jpg
