This module is about collaboration and communication strategies that are used during mission design. Learners will strengthen their understanding of and ability to use collaborative processes and communication practices to clarify, conceptualize,... (View More) and make decisions. Students will compare the risks of varying courses of action that confront scientists and engineers. After the risks are identified, they will gather and convey evidence supporting and refuting the viability of these actions, and reach consensus. The module strategies rely primarily on student investigation into the background information that is necessary to support arguments; make quantitative risk analyses; engage in debate, role-playing, and persuasive writing/communication processes; and practice group decision-making procedures. (View Less)

This is a lesson about the characteristics of planets, comets, asteroids, and trans-Neptunian objects. Learners will classify objects and then apply what they have learned by participating in a formal debate about a solar system object discovered by... (View More) the New Horizons spacecraft and by defining the term planet. (View Less)

This is an activity about the Earth's revolution as it relates to the zodiac. Learners will role-play, acting as the revolving Earth and Sun, while others will hold signs of the 12 zodiac constellation names to form a circle around the Earth-Sun... (View More) system. Then, they will model the motion of the Earth-Sun system during the year in order to visualize why the Sun appears to move into different constellations. This is Activity F-9 of Universe at Your Fingertips 2.0: A Collection of Activities and Resources for Teaching Astronomy DVD-ROM, which is available for purchase. (View Less)

This is an activity about lunar and terrestrial stratigraphy. Learners will design a development on the Moon that is suitable, feasible, and beneficial and present proposals for developments on the Moon in a competition for approval from a... (View More) student-staffed Lunar Council. This activity is in Unit 3 of the "Exploring the Moon" teachers guide, which is designed for use especially, but not exclusively, with the Lunar Sample Disk program. (View Less)

This is a lesson about near-miss meteorites. Learners will simulate possible responses to a meteorite impact, write newspaper articles, and role play as different professionals participating in a panel discussion. They will also evaluate the... (View More) implications of scientific principles and research findings. This is lesson 16 of 19 in Exploring Meteorite Mysteries. (View Less)