Back to Icy Worlds: Astrobiology
Icy Worlds – U3, Lesson 2: Extreme Environments
In this lesson: In this lesson, students will use what is known about extreme forms of life on Earth to speculate about potential areas for extreme life on Mars. Then, they will use these understandings to speculate about the potential for past or present life on Europa.
Lesson Level Question: What can we learn from extreme environments on Earth to plan where and how to look for life on other planetary bodies?
Engage
Grades 5 – 8: Students will view several extreme environments on Earth and create a diagram of an organism that could survive that environment.
Grades 9 – 12: Students will view a cross-section of Earth’s crust where several extreme environments exist. They will then create a diagram of an organism that could survive that environment, including what types of considerations the organism must account for.
Explore
Grades 5 – 8: Students will use card sets to learn more about Earth’s extremophiles and environments on Mars).
Grades 9 – 12: Students will use card sets to learn more about Earth’s extremophiles and environments on Mars and predict what type of extremophiles could be found on other planetary bodies.
Explain
Grades 5-8: Students will make a claim about the most likely location on Mars for evidence of life and extremophile type that they would expect to find there.
Grades 9-12: Students will explore the idea of an ecosystem supporting different numbers and types of organisms and how changing environmental conditions impacts each of these factors.
Elaborate
Students will apply what they have learned in this lesson about extremophiles and what they learned in previous lessons to make a claim about life on Europa.
Evaluate
Students will make formal claims about potential life on Europa.
Extend (optional)
Students will research various categories of extreme life found on Earth, and report out to their classmates.