Planet Exploration

Introduction

Congratulations! You and your classmates have just gotten jobs as NASA astronauts. Your first mission as an astronaut is a mission to another planet in our solar system. You will join a crew to gather information about the destination you are assigned to. When you become experts, you will voyage to this planet. After exploring it, you will contact Mission Control on earth to communicate all of your findings. 

Task

Locate information on the Internet about the planet your group has chosen to explore. You and a crew of astronauts will work as a team to collect information. Try to discover the following information:

  • Name: What planet are you exploring?
  • Namesake: Who is your planet named after?
  • Distance from the Sun: How many kilometers?
  • Distance from the Earth: How many kilometers?
  • Size: How big is your planet? Compare it to the size of Earth.
  • Period of revolution: How long is one year on your planet in Earth years?
  • Rotation period: One day on your planet equals how many hours/days on Earth?
  • Moons: How many? What are their names if there are any?
  • Atmosphere: What gases are in the atmosphere?
  • Temperature: How hot or cold is it?
  • Classify your planet: Is it an inner or outer planet?
  • Composition: What is your planet made of?
  • Other Interesting facts: Special features. Does it have volcanoes, craters, rings, valleys, water, etc?

After you have collected your information, create one of the following: a PowerPoint, a Book, or a Video to send to Mission Control. In the presentation, include all you have learned about your planet, explain what makes this planet unique, and be sure to include lots of visual aids.

 

 

Process

Your Journey: Starting Your Search

 

A. To get more information, visit these sites:

 

1) Kids’ Astronomy

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

2) StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/planets.html

3) Windows to the Universe

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/solar_system.html

4) All Aboard Astronomy for Kids

 http://www.frontiernet.net/~kidpower/planets.html

5) NASA: Solar System Exploration

 http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/

6)PebbleGo: Planets

 https://www.pebblego.com/

 

B) To get even more information; use these key words with search engines:

 

Astronomy

Mars

Mercury

Neptune

Pluto

Saturn

Solar System

The Planets

Uranus

Venus 

Evaluation

 

Project Rubric

Task

3

2

1

0

Researching

All questions have been researched and answered correctly.

Most questions have been researched and answered correctly.

Few questions have been researched and answered correctly.

No questions have been researched and answered correctly.

Presentation:

Research

Presentation includes all researched information.

Presentation includes most of the researched information.

Presentation includes little researched information.

Presentation includes no researched information.

Presentation:

Grammar

 

Presentation includes clear dialogue, or correct spelling.

Presentation includes fairly clear dialogue, or few spelling mistakes

Presentation includes rough dialogue, or several spelling mistakes

Presentation includes unclear dialogue, or incorrect spelling.

Presentation:

Visual Aids

Presentation includes lots of visual aids.

Presentation includes some of visual aids.

Presentation includes very few visual aids.

Presentation includes no visual aids.

 

 

Conclusion

Mission Complete! Your Team has successfully explored your planet. Now it is time to share your discoveries with Mission Control. 

Credits

Teacher Page

Grade 4

Georgia Standards

S4E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare and contrast the physical attributes of stars and planets

Take notes and categorize information from print and digital sources

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly

Paraphrase portions of information shared orally, visually, as text or quantitatively