Project
AstroBio
University of
Washington
The intent and function of this annotated activities
list is
to provide educators with a variety of resources for teaching and guiding
classroom and education outreach lessons in astrobiology. As a result, it
contains teaching material that is either entirely computer based
(internet
and/or cd), entirely hands-on with tactile materials (that can be either
made,
purchased or downloaded) or a mixture of the two resources. As members of the Project ASTRO
community, which advocates using hands-on materials, especially for
younger
students, we have focused our comments on the latter types of
activities. But education is a
multi-dimensional
process, and many teachers and students (especially older students) will
gain
greatly from the use of the computer-based resources listed. We recommend browsing and
searching all
the material listed below. It
is
all well researched, well reasoned, and applicable for many levels of
classroom
activities. For teachers
seeking a
full curriculum in astrobiology, we recommend the cd-rom based set of
lessons
from SETI called Voyages Through Time;
the TERC textbook and teacher guide called Astrobiology: An Integrated Science
Approach; and the four part PBS television series
Origins
with accompanying educational
outreach
materials from the Pacific Science Center (Seattle, Washington). Please see below for
details.
Note: This list of resources is as current as possible (July, 2006). Thus many of the web sites may include more hands-on activities to augment the computer-based ones, and new resources are likely to be available as well. We advise checking back with these websites periodically.
To guide you through the list, please note that
web
links are bold italics,
annotation
comments are in (parentheses)
and
italics, and recommended hands-on
activities are in indicated as Recommended in bold red italics.
We are interested in your comments and experiences with
these resources! Brief
comments
can be sent to:
lkhandro@gmail.com.
A.
Activities created by PAB members, or adapted from public domain
materials:
(may be downloaded as pdf files attached)
1. Sunlight and Habitable Zone (middle-high school), Diane Nielsen
(needs some revision for easier classroom
utility)
2. Looking for Life (all grades), Debby Salter
( classroom tested and ready, good level of
investigation) Recommended
3. Evolution of Life Geologic Time Line (all grades), Linda Khandro
(works well with older students, younger grades will
need
a less detailed geologic time line) Recommended
4. The Winogradsky Column (all grades), John Leigh
(works well with all grades, good level of
investigation)
Recommended
B. FREE
Activities, downloadable from web sites, or available ONLY on
line:
1. Center for Educational Resources (CERES), NASA funded activities from Montana State University.
Broad categories include:
Structure
& Evolution of the Universe, Exploration of the Solar
System,
Search for Origins, Sun-Earth
Connections. (All are desk activities, probably good for group
work
but none are particularly
hands-on. Only activities within topics
within
categories for grades younger
than nine are listed below.
Exploration of the Solar System:
Who Can Live Here - Life in Extreme Environments (3 activities, grades 5-8)
Why Do They Live There: Compare ecologies for 8 different animals
Who Lives Where: Match 3 hypothetical bacteria with 3 hypothetical environments
Who Can Live Here: Design life that can live on 5 non-Earth solar system bodies
Search for Origins:
Interstellar Real Estate - Defining the Habitable Zone (7 activities, grades 5-8)
Goldilocks Principle: Goldilocks story
Why Is There Abundant Life on Earth: basic characteristics of Venus, Earth, Mars
Defining the Habitable Zone: using distances to the sun
The Sun is a Star: comparing our sun to other stars
Size & Mass Are Important: searching for life on hypothetical planets around other stars
Recently Discovered Planets: can they support Earth-like life?
Marketing New Extra-Solar Planets: hypothetical planets around real extra solar stars, make a brochure
A Case of the Wobbles - Finding Extrasolar Planets (3 activities, grades 9-12)
Sun-Earth Connections:
The Rare Earth - How Rare is Earth-Like Life? (3 activities, grades 9-12)
2. Thursday s Classroom, NASA sponsored lesson plans and educational activities. Archived by year
of release, examples below mostly pertain to Mars, no grade levels given.
Making a Splash on Mars: desk/group investigation of phases of water as found on Mars
How Hot is Boiling Water: change of boiling point with pressure
States of Matter: sorting body parts by states of matter
Mars Geography Concentration: card game of Martian geography
3. NASA
Astrobiology Institute (NAI), NASA sponsored activities called
Teaching
Astrobiology
.
(this is a good list of NAI supported teacher-education
opportunities,
some of which include hands
on activities to download) Recommended
http://nai.nasa.gov/teachers/index.cfm#messenger
4. NAI
Team
Home Pages and Education/Public Outreach (EPO) Reports (use
this NAI Home Page to
link to various Team Pages.
Go to Education/Public Outreach (EPO) for the teams
yearly EPO
reports. Some hands on
activities found in workshop materials) Recommended
5. JPL/Galileo sponsored activities (web-based materials)
www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo/education/plansat
6. Astrocapella: activities related to Astrocapella singing group s Cosmic Radio Show
7. JPL/Cassini and Jupiter flyby
sponsored
activities (web-based materials)
8. Space Adventure activities, sponsored by Michigan State University (web-based materials)
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/zsmain.html
9. JPL/NASA classroom teachers
activities
(web-based materials)
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom/teachers
10. NASA Office of Space Science, The Night Sky Network: Planet Quest; the Search for Another Earth
(web-based
materials)
11. NAI/ARC NASA Astro-Venture activities (computer-based materials)
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/astrobiology/astroventure/avhome.html
12. After School Activities (these
are
set up for after school time
and
events, but are applicable in
regular
classroom) Recommended
http://nai.nasa.gov/library/downloads/AMNHafterschool.pdf
13. Microbial Life Educational
Resources (Hands
on activities; go to Living in an Alkaline
Environment for
a 3
part hands on and web-based lesson on Mono Lake, California. Recommended
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/k12/index.html
14. Arizona State University (Some
web
based, some hands on
see the latter for gravity and tidal
flexing) Recommended
http://europa.la.asu.edu/education/activities/
15. Yahoo
Directory of Astrobiology sites (not investigated, but NAI and other
sites
with hands on
activities are referenced)
http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Biology/Astrobiology/?o=a
16.
Fingerprints of Life?
Johnson Space Center:
(this
is an extensive collection of activities in
downloadable pdf format.
Many are desk and paper activities, and may be more appropriate for
middle to high school students)
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/Websites/AstrobiologyEducation/classact.htm
17 Seeing the Invisible: A Lesson Giving Students and Opportunity to Discover Ultraviolet and Infrared
Radiation Coming from the Sun, by Sallie M. Smith, Howard B. Owens Science Center for the ISTP
Mission (hands on activities on the sun-earth connection
appropriate
for many grade levels)
Recommended
http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach/student_booklet.pdf
18. Exploring the Solar
System: Activity List for
Formal
and Informal Educators, 3/04
(this list
has no source reference, but includes
many
activities in other aspects of astronomy and geology,
besides many listed that are
appropriate
for astrobiology. As much as
possible, activities or resources
that are already referenced above have not been included below) Recommended
a.
Kinesthetic Astronomy Lesson 1:
Sky Time
http://www.spacescience.org/Education/ResourcesForEducators/CurriculumMaterials
b. Changes Inside Planets (Differentiation and Breakup) from Exploring Meteorite Mysteries
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/Activities/ExpMetMys/ExpmetMys.htm
c. Searching for Meteorites: Exploring Meteorite Mysteries
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/Activities/ExpMetMys/ExpmetMys.htm
d. Making and Mapping Volcanoes: Destination Mars!
http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/activities/destmars/destmars.htm
e. Cake Batter Lava (Viscosity): Exploring Planets in the Classroom-Hands on Activities, Hawai i
Space Grant College
http://www.spacegrant.Hawaii.edu/class_acts/CakeLavaTe.html
f. Mud Splat Craters: Mars Activity Book: K-12 Classroom Activities
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom
g. Gelatin Volcanoes: Exploring Planets in the Classroom-Hands on Activities, Hawai i Space Grant
College
http://www.spacegrant.Hawaii.edu/class_acts/GelVolTe.html
h. How Does Flowing Water Shape a Planet s Surface? The Great Martian Floods and the Pathfinder
Landing Site
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/education/modules/webpages/activity5.htm
i. Mars Pathfinder: Egg Drop and Landing: Mars Activity Book: K-12 Classroom Activities
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/classrooom
j. Aerogello: part 3 of Technology for Studying Comets activities collection
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom/activities/6-stardst-ch05.pdf
k. Venus Topography Box (Edible Asteroid Mining): Exploring Meteorite Mysteries
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/educators/venus_t.html
C. Purchasable: Activities from Wards
Geology (None of these are listed
as
astrobiology activities,but
they present investigations and
conclusions germane to astrobiology, depending on the direction taken
by
the
teacher) www.wardsci.com
1. Exploring the Red Planet: grow radish seeds in topsoil and in simulated Martian soil
(introduces soil fertility, pH etc. Good long-term project, maybe best for younger grades.
Kit
cost =
$80 for 10 soil tests and one demo planting. Some materials can be re-stocked)
2. Find a Fossil: using naked eye and hand lens (plus microscope if available) to pick, identify and
classify marine fossil fragments out of 200+ million year old sand and gravel
(could be messy, good for classification activities, easy to
expand
into topics about processes of
fossilization, evolution of life, etc.. Cost per kit, good for 1-4 students = $20. Cost for 5 kits, good for
5-20 students, =
$70. Replacement gravel available) Recommended
3. The Season Cycler: tracks earth s rotation and revolution
(not tested here, could be appropriate for all grades, one reusable
kit
for 30 students = $60)
4. Half-life Property of a Radioactive Element: statistical methods to simulate the processes and
rates of radioactive decay
(there are easier, and perhaps better ways to experience
radioactive
decay than this kit.
Definitely
for
high school only. One kit for 15 lab groups =
$36)
5. Heat Absorption: compare heat absorption properties of rock and water
(not tested here, could be appropriate for all grades, could follow
the
Sunlight and Habitable Zone
activity and/or the Season Cycler activity. Single kit = $29.
Kits for 10 lab groups = $189)
6. Discovering Stromatolites: studying growth pattern and life cycle of cyanobacteria as stromatolites.
(did not seem very engaging, plus the inclusion of a polished
fossilized stromatolite pushes the cost up.
Hard to know how many kits needed, cost per kit =
$24.)
7. Far Flung Fossils, Plate Tectonic Activity: uses maps of southern hemisphere continents to
experience fossil similarities and plate motions of the past 200 million years.
(very engaging, likely to be very enjoyable and educational,
expansion activities could include aspects
of mass extinctions, evolution, etc. Classroom kit = $28.
Laminating 8 large sheets of construction
paper suggested before cutting out continents) Recommended
D. Purchasable: Curriculum from
SETI: Voyages Through Time 6 cd set
(although the VTT
lesson
material
is
largely computer-based with web resources and videos that come with the
modules, many
of the
actual
activities have hands on components or content. The content varies in how appropriate it
would be for younger grades, but is excellent for high school)
http://www.voyagesthroughtime.org Recommended
E.
Purchasable: Life on Earth
and Elsewhere? Astrobiology in Your Classroom. TERC (curriculum
guide
examines 5 key questions:
What is
life? What does life
require? Which planets and moons might be
habitable? How do Earth
s
extremophiles support the idea of extraterrestrial life? What are the possibilities for
life
elsewhere in our solar system?
(Though
not derived from Internet sources, the activities in this guide are
desk-type
lessons. Some require more
than 1
day to complete)
(the initial TERC booklet described in E above was
an
introduction to this newly published curriculum text and teacher
guide. It is a tour de force of
astrobiology
lesson material, including detailed lesson plans, black line masters,
evaluation and assessment tools, and the textbook itself contains high
quality
color photographs. Many of
the
activities do have a hands on component, but like the other full length
productions mentioned on this
list
(Voyages Through Time, and Origins), these are embedded in the context of
a
full course. This is not to
say
that we recommend either the entire curriculum or nothing, but a teacher
will
need to first scan the entire text and accompanying guide, then select
appropriate activities. Thus we have not listed and commented on the
individual
activities. Recommended
http://astrobio.terc.edu/index.html
G.
Purchasable: Astrobiology-related activities from Universe at Your
Fingertips (UAYF). UAYF and its
companion volume, More Universe At Your Fingertips (see below) are volumes
of
hands-on activities developed by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific,
and
used as essential resources in the Project ASTRO training workshops around
the
country, and in classrooms nationally and internationally. UAYF is also available in Spanish.
Recommended
http://www.astrosociety.org/education.html
1. Cosmic Calendar, Activity H-2: Using a 12-month calendar to scale the age of the universe.
(there are many ways to create a scale model of the age of the
universe,
the size of the solar system,
the evolution of life
this would be a good adjunct to an activity that
scales evolution)
2. Timeline and Scale Model of the Age of the Earth, Activity H-2:
(this model uses a different scale system from the model above in Section A)
3. Designing a Planetary Probe, Activity I-1: Planetary information sheets needed
4. Decoding an Extraterrestrial Message, Activity I-2: using clicks and beeps to simulate a
digital-type message.
5. Invent an Alien, Activity I-6: using imagination and artistic license to create a life form to
live in prescribed alien conditions.
H.
Purchasable: Astrobiology-related activities from More Universe at
Your
Fingertips (MUAYF)
1. Follow the Falling Meteorite, Activity E-5: learning triangulation to find meteorites
2. Sending a Message into the Unknown, Activity I-7:
I.
Purchasable: NOVA Origins Video and Educational Outreach
Materials
(NOVA
s
4-hour Origins program can be purchased as a video or dvd set, and
interviews, clips, and interactive web items can be downloaded from the
website
below. Demonstrations and
lessons
based on the production were created at the Pacific Science Center
(www.psc.org) in Seattle,
Washington,
and are available on a cd-rom package. An Activity Guide for teachers
comes
with this cd. Many of the activities do have a hands on component, but
like the
full curricula mentioned on this list (Voyages Through Time, and
Astrobiology: An Integrated Approach), these are
embedded in the context of an entire production. Thus we have not listed and annotated the individual
activities. Recommended
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins
J.
Purchasable: Life in the Universe, Activities Manual by Prather,
Offerdahl, Slater
(although this Activities Manual was designed for
college
level study, and may accompany the college astrobiology text, Life in
the
Universe by Bennett, Shostak & Jakosky, many of the activities will be appropriate for middle and
high
school students. The greater
proportion are desk and paper activities, rather than out-of-seats or
hands-on. The authors
indicate
that most will take 2 – 3hours, so they would need to be split up
for
typical school classroom use)
Recommended
1. The Universe is a
Really
Big Place (activities on scales and scale factors, including solar
system
and
universe. Good variations on other scale
models) Recommended
2. The Nature of Life (variations on the Looking for Life activity Recommended
3. The Extreme
Environments
of Earth and the Creatures That Live There (good questions and data
in this desk/paper
activity) Recommended
4. The Evolving Earth:
Geologic and Biologic Time (good adjunct to other more hands-on
geologic
time line/evolution
of
life activities) Recommended
5. Designer Genes for a Designer World (may be too
advanced
for middle-high school)
6.
Living a Polar Lifestyle: The importance of Water for Life (best
done
in 3 sessions)
Recommended
7.
Remote
Sensing: What Can We See when
We
Can
t Touch? (best done in 3 sessions)
Recommended
8. To Terraform or not to Terraform
Mars,
That is the Question (this question and activity may best be
preceded by a discussion about the best use of limited financial resources)
9.
Interstellar Real Estate:
Defining the Habitable Zone (best done in 3 or more sessions)
Recommended
10.
The Rare Earth: How
Rare is
Earth-like Life? (may be
too
advanced for high school)
11. Wobbling Stars: How Extra Solar Planets are Discovered (may be too advanced for high school)
12.
The Drake Equation:
Estimating the Number of Civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy
(may
be
too advanced for high school)
13.
Is There Anybody Out There? (may be appropriate for high school,
probably too advanced for
middle school)
K. Purchasable: Steve Spangler Science Activities. This site has not been researched,
but
it shows up as a product resource for a variety of astrobiology
activities. Recommended
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com