Exploring the Solar System: Planet Webquest
photo: Jet Propulsion
Lab, NASA, http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/features/planets/planetsfeat.html
By:
Ms. Bernard
Introduction:
Since the beginning, man has
wondered what the bright stars are in the sky and wishing someday the
chance to visit these far off places.Your
mission is to travel to a planet in our Solar System.
We have gathered some of the best minds on Earth in helping
with finding out information on your planet.Each
team will be given a planet to explore and find out these essential
questions.
Can
we live on the planet?
What
would we need in order to survive on the planet?
How
far will you travel to get to your planet?
Whatís the atmosphere?
Are
there any moons?
and many more...
Task:
Each student will research a
planet in our Solar System and then create a PowerPoint Presentation
(their own, not in a group) that will be presented to the class.
Each student will meet with other
planet members to determine what will be needed at the new planet:
How far will you travel?,What
kind of conditions that you will face on your mission?Are there any moons orbiting your
planet? What are their names?
These questions and many more will be answered by researching and
meeting with your fellow astronauts.
This project will span
approximately 4 weeks (meeting every other day).
Process:
1. Your Teacher will assign
a planet to each student.
2. Students will research
that planet, placing all their information in a packet (everyone must
fill out a research packet). Please
use the resources found in the webquest.
The research
packet will be passed out to each student.
You will have three days to find information on your planet.You need to make sure that you cite
each source of information in your packet correctly (an example is
given in the research packet).You
will be graded on your packet for content information.See
evaluation.
3. Students will then meet
with other members going to their planet to discuss what provisions
will be needed for the voyage. You
need to discuss some of the obstacles you will face and possible
solutions. You will have two days to do this.
4. Each student will create
a PowerPoint presentation. The
teacher will instruct you how to create a PowerPoint presentation.This
will take two days.
5.
Students have to insert all their information from the packet
into their PowerPoint Presentation.
6.Each
day, students will learn something new to complete their
presentation:Background
schemes, Changing Fonts, Special effects and Transitions, Inserting
clipart and web images, citing of information etc. This will take
about 5-6 days.
7. Students will be graded
on their technical areas of their presentation-see evaluation
PowerPoint Mechanics.
8.
Students will then present their PowerPoint slideshows to the
class.In order to get an A in
the presentation, students need to give me more information about
your planet than what is in the slideshow. This will take about 2
days to present all presentations.
Resources:
The following websites are
to be used to research your planet:
Jet Propulsion Lab-NASA
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm
BBC-Space
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/index.shtml
National Geographic- Solar System
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/solarsystem/ax/high.html
National Air and Space Museum- Solar System
http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/etp.htm
NASA Solar System Simulator- actual photos from
spacecrafts
Space Sounds
Evaluation:
You will be graded in the following areas:
1. Your Research
Packet will be graded on completeness and content information.You need to have three facts per
slide and a Title.The credit
slide needs to be properly filled out per the examples given.Also,
you should provide information on the images you want to use in your
slideshow.
2. You will be given a grade
on PowerPoint Mechanics- all the technical information on how to
create a PowerPoint slideshow. See PowerPoint Mechanics Rubric.
3. You will be given a grade
for your Presentation to the class. In
order to get an ìAî, you need to give the audience more
information than whatís on your slides.
You can use a card or piece of paper to help with this
information.
Conclusion:
I hope you enjoyed your
mission to the planets in our Solar System.
You learned new and exciting facts about your planet.Back
on Earth, you can share your voyage with others.
Standards:
This
webquest addresses the following standards:
Massachusetts
Instructional Technology Standards:
Students will learn presentational software, research using the Internet, citing Internet and image sources, and placing images from the Internet into a presentation.
Massachusetts
Science Standards:
Students
learn about our Solar System.
Massachusetts
Language Arts Standards:
Students
will orally present information to communicate subject matter. Using the
Internet for researching.
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