Back to Icy Worlds: Mission Planning
Icy Worlds – U1, Lesson 1: Setting Mission Objectives
In this lesson: Students will explore the questions that NASA seeks to answer about the Earth, Sun, solar system, and the universe. They will also explore the scale of the universe, with a focus on our solar system. Finally, students will explore the focus mission for this year’s NASA Student Challenge and why this mission is important to NASA.
Lesson Level Question: How does the mission we are planning fit into the solar system and NASA’s larger set of exploration questions?
Engage
Students will create a list of questions as they explore the scale of the universe.
Explore
Students will investigate the universe and make a “Universe Inventory.”
Explain
Grades 6-8: Students will create a distance scale model of the solar system at a given scale.
Grades 9-12: Students will create a distance scale model of the solar system at a scale that will vary from student to student.
Elaborate
Students will learn about the mission that forms the basis of this year’s NASA Student Challenge and discuss it in small groups.
Evaluate
Students will discuss their answers to the “big picture” questions as a class and develop a class consensus answer to each question.
Extend (optional)
Students will explore a different scale model activity from the Night Sky Network.